Over on Existential Ennui I’ve been making my way through Donald “Richard Stark” Westlake’s Parker novels for close to two years now, intermittently reviewing each one in turn. I followed my last review, of 1972’s Plunder Squad (Parker #15), with a review Joe Gores’s Parker-related 1972 crime novel Dead Skip, which I cross-posted on The Violent World of Parker, and I’ll be reviewing 1974’s Butcher’s Moon (Parker #16) before too long, as well as looking at various aspects of two different editions of that book. But alongside the Parkers I’ve also been reviewing Westlake’s Alan Grofield novels, and it’s the fourth of those, 1971’s Lemons Never Lie, that I’ll be turning to next.
Ahead of that, though, and in light of Trent’s recent post on the new University of Chicago Press editions of the Grofield novels, I thought it might be a good time to re-post on here my three previous Grofield reviews. Some TVWoP regulars may have already read these, but I figure there’s enough of you that haven’t to make the enterprise worthwhile. (Plus it saves me writing anything new this week.) In my opinion the reviews improve as they continue (they certainly increase in length, if that’s any indication of anything), as I develop my thoughts on and theories about the novels, but give ’em a read and see what you think, beginning with…
The Damsel, Hodder & Stoughton UK, 1968
The Damsel (1967)
Finally polished this one off over the weekend, the first of Richard Stark’s four novels starring actor-turned-heister Alan Grofield. Chronologically The Damsel follows on from the eighth Parker novel, The Handle, at the end of which Grofield is left by Parker in a Mexican hotel room recovering from bullet wounds. The Damsel picks up almost immediately after that, as a girl, Elly, swings into Grofield’s room through the window and the two of them embark on a cross-country Mexican adventure to stop the assassination of a South American dictator.
Doesn’t sound much like a Parker novel, does it? And the Stark four-part structure aside, it’s really not. There’s some violence, but on the whole the tone is light and often played for laughs—except without actually being terribly funny. I’d read various reports that the Grofield novels kind of fall between two stools: not as hardcore as the Parkers, not as funny as some of the Westlakes. On the strength of The Damsel, that criticism sounds about right to me.
Which isn’t to say the novel is completely without merit. It’s a decent enough read, and actually comes into its own in part three, where we get the Stark Cutaway to, variously, the dictator, General Pozos; his son, Juan; Luke Harrison, the former governor of Pennsylvania (who is plotting to kill Pozos); his son, Bob; and Dr. Fitzgerald, Elly’s father and the man tasked with actually offing Pozos. Westlake does something interesting here, moving from one character to the next tag-team style: Harrison sees Pozos’s yacht out at sea, and in the following chapter we jump to the yacht; Bob sees Acapulco below him as he flies in on a plane, and then in the next chapter we jump to his father’s house below.
Unfortunately it feels as if Westlake loses interest in the final part, which is slightly tossed off and perfunctory. So I’m not sure if I’ll bother with the next two Grofield books, The Dame and The Blackbird. I have a lead on a first edition of The Dame, so if that pans out I’ll try it, but if not, I’ll just read the final Grofield, Lemons Never Lie, which is reportedly much closer in tone to the Parker novels.*
The Damsel, Signet US, 1969
* Obviously I did persist with the Grofield novels, else I wouldn’t be posting reviews of the subsequent books on here…
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This is the only Grofield story I haven’t read all the way through. The Dame and The Blackbird were disappointing as a whole, which is too bad because both books have EXTREMELY brilliant parts to them. I especially liked the first half of The Dame before Grofield manages to get away the first time, and The Blackbird was great up until the point where Grofield arrives in Canada. I’m assuming there are portions of The Damsel I’ll like just as much. I’ll give it another go around one of these days, if for no other reason than to complete the series.
JGA
I reckon you’re right on the money with parts of the Grofields being really good, JGA. As you’ll see when I post the next couple of reviews, it felt to me as if Westlake never really knew what to do with Grofield, which is why the books come across as less sure-footed than the Parkers, and why they’re so patchy. Still, even subpar Westlake is better than nothing; if you enjoyed bits of The Dame and The Blackbird, you’ll definitely enjoy bits of The Damsel too.
I’ve always held my tongue on the Grofields because of my love for 96% of all things Westlake (based on my owning 100 DEW books), and unfortunately this subseries falls into the 4% for me. They are my least favorite Westlake titles, probably due to unrealistic expectations of a Parker-ish nature, and the only thing I like about them is that you find out that there is a sensitive side to the Parker ‘gang’, but that’s really about it. The books just never seem to go anywhere, and almost seem like it’s DEW wanting to have a character who does regional theatre, and explore that theme a little, with some crime on the side. If I had to rate the continuing character series of DEW it would go: Dortmunder, Parker, Samuel Holt, Mitch Tobin, Sara Joslyn (Trust Me On This & Baby Would I Lie) and the Grofield series. But I also admit that it’s been at least 15 years since I’ve attempted the Grofields….I read them in order of Starks and perhaps my memory is more impatience about getting to the next Parker, rather than the feeling of being stuck in neutral with Grofield…..
Well, I can’t say I’m going to ignite in you a hitherto unrecognised passion for the Grofields with these reviews, Jeffrey, but you never know: you might end up feeling nostalgic enough to give them another go…
You’re correct, Nick, as it won’t be passion…but you’ve already ignited my curiosity, as I’ve found other things I didn’t like have transformed into things positive…and vice versa, over the years…Grofield just might be worth a second look now that we’re getting your reviews….it’s not like they aren’t winking at me on the shelf there….
I’m curious as to why Lemons Never Lie wasn’t just published as a Parker novel, as it easily could have been after with some slight modifications and reference changes. After all, all things considered, it suits Parker’s world/demeanor far more in my opinion. Would’ve made a terrific 17th entry into the original series.
JGA
Also, @ Nick…
I’ve long since read just about everything Parker/Grofield/Dortmunder related on your site. It’s this site’s companion, most definitely. Great work. I’m sure others who aren’t familiar with your work will enjoy the Grofield reviews as much as I did some time ago.
JGA
Jeffrey: Go on. You know you want to. Scratch that itch…
JGA: Aw, ta for the kind words. The two other Grofield reviews of mine you’ve already read are, I hope you agree, an improvement on this first one, at least. (Trent’s review of The Damsel on TVWoP is much better than mine.) Re your Lemons Never Lie point, I can’t answer that one, but the novel’s striking similarity to the Parkers is something I’ll be addressing in my (eventual) review…
Of the Grofield books, I’ve only read The Dame and Lemons Never Lie. I didn’t really care for the Dame, there were parts I liked but overall it was kind of blah. I liked Lemons Never Lie better. It was more like the Parker novels. Though I didn’t keep the book, but turned it in at a local used bookstore for credit, something I wouldn’t do with the Parker novels.
My thoughts on The Dame are up now, Matthew, and they’re not, unsurprisingly, dissimilar to yours. As to Lemons Never Lie, I’ll reserve most of my comments on that until I get round to my review, but you’re right: it’s the most similar of the Grofield novels to a Parker novel, although whether that’s a good or bad thing is, I think, open to debate.
Just finished The Damsel–I’m reading all the first generation Parker novels in order (I started with Flashfire a few months back because that’s the first one the library had, and you know how these things go). To me, that means also reading the Grofields that are follow-ups to Parker novels. I think I’ll put off The Dame for a while–not sure about The Blackbird. I couldn’t resist the great cover for the new paperback edition of Lemons Never Lie.
I like the character, I like the book well enough, but it does feel awfully slight compared to the best Parkers, and even the lesser ones. For example, I don’t know how the hell Westlake thought The Jugger was worse than this. It’s much better. But I guess to him it was more about how close the book came to what he was aiming at, and The Damsel probably came out about as well as he expected, and The Jugger didn’t.
In one sense, Grofield is easier to write, I think–easier to cast, too–I can never make up my mind about what actor I’d cast to play Parker, but I had Grofield pegged as Alan Alda the moment he shows up in The Score. Honestly, talk about the role you were born to play and never did.
Westlake said that what made Parker different from most of his characters, and from Westlake himself, is that he knows exactly who he is. Actors (and writers) tend to have a more flexible sense of self–they have to. They need to encompass multitudes. Parker won’t be anything but Parker, but Grofield can be anyone–from minute to minute, he’s always playing a part, and he only cares about how juicy the role is, not whether it’s heroic or villainous. He has a conscience, of sorts, but it’s not something you want to rely on too much–honestly, I might prefer to rely on Parker in a pinch, because at least you know Parker’s got a code.
Grofield just has a rough working script he keeps improvising inside his head in reaction to what’s happening around him. The weird contradiction about him is that he claims to hate movies, but he sees the world in in cinematic terms as much as theatrical. He plays a thief, he plays a knight errant, he plays a lover, he plays a husband–all the world’s a stage for Alan Grofield. Or a film set. Maybe the real reason he won’t do movies is he wouldn’t have creative control (hey, one more way he’s like Alda, who ended up taking over M*A*S*H).
Interesting idea for a character, but not sure Westlake ever developed him much further than we see by the time of The Handle. Guess I’ll find out. But I do think that the Parker-verse is somehow enhanced by having this weird little annex–Grofield reminds us that the world is what we, as individuals, make of it, much more than the other way ’round. Parker lives in a hard violent world because he’s hard and violent–he looks for that, expects it, and of course finds it. Grofield can be standing in the same room with Parker, and his world is entirely different. Also violent, but not so hard. Which makes him more flexible, but less–focused. Harder to write a really good book around. But an interesting experiment, and when you write as many books as Westlake did, experimentation is the only way to keep from being a hack. Say what you will about The Damsel–it isn’t hackwork. And it keeps you guessing. One thing it has in common with the Parker novels–you think you know what’s coming–and then it turns out you don’t.
Thanks for the thoughts, Chris. Intriguing stuff! And do let us know how you get on with the other Grofields.
I’ve got a bunch more Parkers to read first. The Rare Coin Score is next on my list, and I managed to get a Fawcett Gold Medal edition, via Amazon Marketplace. :)
One of my personal favorites, and my favorite Parker cover.
Back in mymilitary days I was hictnihg a ride with the Vehicle techs in an old school Duece and a Half when we went through some bruch and snapped off a big branch and some onld fence up into the engine area. It immediately started to chug and then it started to cough and sputter and eventually died. Of course it happened at 2am in the middle of no-where during an exercise. And of course it was raining. We tried to radio for assistance but were informed it would have to wait until the morning. (Great) A quick triage identified that part of the fence we ran over had a hetal post and it had damaged the intake, carb and exhaust manifold on the GMC inline 6. The techs threw up their hands in disgust and curled up for the night. I pulled their tools. The carb had a broken housing and the float had broken off. I repaired the housing with JB weld and reattached the float using a rivot tool. The to really ghetto fix the thing, I welded the intake and manifold using some welding rod in the back and jumper cables off the 24 volt batteries. Looked like crap but worked like a charm. We chugged into camp a short time later.In the end I was charged $150 for not being qualified / authorized to make repairs on the truck. Gotta love Armed Forces guidelines