The Green Eagle Score (1967)

greeneagle1967Parker looked in at the beach and there was a guy in a black suit standing there, surrounded by all the bodies in bathing suits.  He was standing near Parker’s gear, not facing anywhere in particular, and he looked like a rip in the picture.  The hotel loomed up behind him, white and windowed, the Puerto Rican sun beat down, the sea foamed white on the beach, and he stood there like a homesick mortician.

In which Parker teams up with an amateur and an old pro to steal the payroll at an Air Force base.

Less action oriented than any book in the series since The Jugger, The Green Eagle Score is largely concerned with studying how people interact and react in a drawn-out, tense situation–in this case, the long period of time between the conception of a heist and its execution. Parker stays cool as a cucumber, of course, but the strain on certain parties involved sets up the inevitable moment when the heist goes wrong.

The Green Eagle Score falls somewhere in the middle of the Parker spectrum. Its buildup is long and drawn out, and may tax the patience of certain readers, but its got a terrific, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink finale that makes the read well worth the time spent.

I’ve got an unproduced script for The Green Eagle Score. At one point, John Travolta was rumored to be associated with the project, but it never happened.  I would love to share it with everyone if I can get permission.  Anyone know how to get in touch with Alexander Ignon?

Known printings and cover gallery here

To The Rare Coin Score, the previous book in the Parker series

To The Dame, the Alan Grofield novel that follows The Green Eagle Score chronologically

To The Black Ice Score, the next book in the Parker series