The Damsel
Donald E. Westlake is one of the greats of crime fiction. Under the pseudonym Richard Stark, he wrote twenty-four fast-paced, hardboiled novels featuring Parker, a shrewd career criminal with a talent for heists. Using the same nom de plume, Westlake also completed a separate series in the Parker universe, starring Alan Grofield, an occasional colleague of Parker. While he shares events and characters with several Parker novels, Grofield is less calculating and more hot-blooded than Parker; think fewer guns, more dames. Not that there isn’t violence and adventure aplenty. The Damsel begins directly after the Parker novel The Handle. Following a wounded Grofield and his damsel on a scenic, action-packed road trip from Mexico City to Acapulco, The Damsel is full of wit, adrenaline, and political intrigue. With a new foreword by Sarah Weinman that situates the Grofield series within Westlake’s work as a whole, these novels are an exciting addition to any crime fiction fan’s library.
Series
Featured Series
4 primary booksAlan Grofield
Alan Grofield is a 4-book series with 4 primary works first released in 1967 with contributions by Richard Stark, Sarah Weinman, and Donald E. Westlake.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
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Grofield character branch off of the 24 book long Parker series. About what you would expect, an enjoyable and fast read.
Love the Parker novels and found this when looking for a new one in a secondhand bookstore.
Grofield is very much in the Parker mould - though as the jacket points out, he's a lot more suave and charming, if not equally cunning and ruthless. Likewise Stark's writing style is as urgent and uncomplicated as in the Parker novels.
The book started off brilliantly and kept me interested, watching the cat and mouse between Grofield and the eponymous ‘damsel' (who perhaps isn't as helpless as that might suggest). However, the second half of the book dragged with a shift in focus to other characters, and overall was a bit of a saggy finale.
