The Damsel, Donald E. Westlake
The Damsel, Donald E. Westlake
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The Damsel

Author: Donald E. Westlake

Narrator: R. C. Bray

Unabridged: 4 hr 55 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/01/2013

Synopsis

Donald E. Westlake is one of the greats of crime fiction. Under the pseudonym Richard Stark, he wrote twenty-four fast-paced, hard-boiled 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 Damsel begins directly after the Parker novel The Handle. Following a wounded Grofield and his damsel on a scenic, action-packed road trip from Mexico City to Acapulco, The Damsel is full of wit, adrenaline, and political intrigue.

About Donald E. Westlake

Donald E. Westlake, the winner of three Edgar Awards and a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, died on New Year's Eve, 2008. He was 75.

About R. C. Bray

R. C. Bray is an Audie and AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator. An accomplished producer and voice-over artist, his voice can be heard in countless TV and radio commercials. He lives in New England with his wife and three children.

Reviews

Goodreads review by James on December 22, 2015

One of my favorite crime fiction series is the Parker series, written by Donald Westlake under the name Richard Stark. Stark wrote twenty-four of these novels featuring the humorless, amoral professional criminal, Parker, who usually recruited or was recruited by other professionals to pull off robb......more

Goodreads review by Kemper on September 22, 2020

Alan Grofield is laying in a hotel bed in Mexico City trying to recover from a gunshot wound in the back with a suitcase full of stolen money in the closet when a strange woman looking to escape some thugs comes into his room though the window. We’ve all been there, right? This is a series spun off of......more

Goodreads review by Dave on June 12, 2020

So I guess I wouldn’t recommend you pick this up to read without knowing who the main character is. So, in short, read some of Richard Stark’s Parker series, where Alan Grofield is one of the guys Parker hires on various heists. And he’s obviously popular or Stark wouldn’t have written a four book s......more

Goodreads review by Mike (the Paladin) on March 19, 2021

I'm a fan of Stark's (Donald E. Westlake's) Parker novels. They are what I call a sort-of guilty pleasure, the "bad guy" with whom you can sympathize...or at least enjoy his story. Parker is NOT a nice guy. However in reading his adventures you may have encountered Alan Grofield...he's a different s......more

Goodreads review by Jim on October 24, 2016

Spin-off series are often a bust. Not in this case, so the first book earns an extra star. I really like the Parker books although I'd never want to meet him in real life. Grofield is nothing like him. He's a thoroughly likable hoot & he manages to get into plenty of trouble which he gets out of one......more

Quotes

“An unconventionally but effectively constructed novel, ranging from the hardest-boiled action-objectivity to character introspection in depth.” New York Times Book Review

“Ingenious thriller about a shot actor and an escaping girl.” Times Literary Supplement

“Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible.” Washington Post Book World

“Nobody does the noir thriller better than Richard Stark…His lean style and hard-edged characters, not exactly likable, but always ” San Diego Union Tribune

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