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The Blackbird

An Alan Grofield Novel, Book 3

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The Blackbird

Written by: Richard Stark
Narrated by: R.C. Bray
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About this listen

Donald E. Westlake is one of the greats of crime fiction. Under the pseudonym Richard Stark, he wrote 24 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 third Grofield novel, The Blackbird shares its first chapter with Slayground: after a traumatic car crash, Parker eludes the police, but Grofield gets caught. Lying injured in the hospital, Grofield is visited by G-men who offer him an alternative to jail, and he finds himself forced into a deadly situation involving international criminals and a political conspiracy.

©1967 Richard Stark (P)2013 AudioGO Hard-Boiled Fiction Mystery
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What the critics say

"Never before has Grofield gone for so many rides with someone else at the wheel." ( New York Times)
"A pleasure.... [Stark]’s ability to construct an action story filled with unforeseen twists and quadruple-crosses is unparalleled." ( San Francisco Chronicle)
!Energy and imagination light up virtually every page, as does some of the best hard-boiled prose ever to grace the noir genre." ( Publishers Weekly)

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Needs a Female Character

This Richard Stark story is undeniably entertaining. Alan Grofield is a raucously fun adventurer - assisting his Federal Government in this one to uncover and stop a conspiracy of Third-world forces to develop a terrorism threat to Canada & the USA. The plot is a bit of an overreach (Grofield is a relatively low-level criminal - not a James Bond-like international superspy), but it's a fast-paced rollercoaster-ride. The setting is well-described, the action is well-scripted, and the dialogue is enjoyably humorous.
What the story really lacks, however, is a pretty girl for the protagonist to impress. Part of the fun of the character (in previous novels, at least) is his noncommital chivalry.

R.C Bray is.. R.C Bray.
Spot-on pacing, diction, timbre, cadence, tone, and voice-acting.

This installment in the 'Grofield' series rates 9 stars out of 10. It is a *Huge* bonus that it's available for free.. because 'The Blackbird' actually rates a Credit if you're looking for some distracting - if moderately silly - fun.

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