One of my goals in 2021 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.
The Hunter is the first of the Parker series written by Richard Stark (the psudonym of Donald Westelake)
Parker is a career criminal who was beyrayed on a job. When he gets out, he can only think of one thing: retribution.
My father gave me this book for xmas, and I was excited to read it, as I had been on a bit of a noir reading kick. It was interesting to read this book so soon after a noir classic, Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep. This book was written much later, and it has a much more modern feel. The Hunter was a little hard to get into bc it is much more violent and misogynistic with lots of violent acts and thoughts. None of the characters are likable and I found myself hoping that Parker could redeem himself, I did eventually get into the rhythm of this book, and over all I would say that I did enjoy it despite it being a difficult read. I would try another of the Parker books bc this book might suffer from first book syndrome. The idea and the characters are there, but the execution is clunky. Although I didn’t love this book, I would recommend this to those who are reading noir mystery/thrillers, fans of classic crime books, or anyone who admires Donald Westlake’s work.
This book is featured in my Feb Wrap Up.