Between Parkers 1961 debut and his return in the late 1990s, the world of crime changed considerably. Now fake IDs and credit cards had to be purchased from specialists; increasingly sophisticated policing made escape and evasion tougher; and, worst of all, money had gone digitalthe days of cash-stuffed payroll trucks were long gone.
But cash isnt everything: Flashfire and Firebreak find Parker going after, respectively, a fortune in jewels and a collection of priceless paintings. In Flashfire, Parkers in West Palm Beach, competing with a crew that has an unhealthy love of explosions; when things go sour, Parker finds himself shot and trappedand forced to rely on a civilian to survive. Firebreak takes Parker to a palatial Montana hunting lodge where a dot-com millionaire hides a gallery of stolen old masterswhich will fetch Parker a pretty penny if his team can just get it past the mansions tight security. The forests of Montana are an inhospitable place for a heister when well-laid plans fall apart, but no matter how untamed the wilderness, Parkers guaranteed to be the most dangerous predator around.
Like all of Starks Parker novels, Firebreak is a brutal yet compelling glimpse into the amoral world of crime and revenge.Booklist
The action [in Flashfire] is nonstop. . . . The awful fascination in these Parker tales comes from knowing the protagonist will always do whatever is necessary to protect himself and to achieve his goals.Wall Street Journal
