Donald Westlake was one of the great American mystery writers of the last 50 years.  Named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America and the recipient of an Edgar Award for best novel of the year, when he died in 2008 he had more than 100 books to his credit.  Often writing under a pen name, he wrote 23 novels featuring a hard-boiled criminal named Parker.  We never do learn Parker’s first name, but beginning with “The Hunter” in 1961 and this book, the second in the series, we learn a lot about his personality and nature.  Rational, calm, cool, careful, and totally without sentiment, Parker goes about his business of planning and carrying out heists, robberies, and burglaries in a methodical fashion.  Despite his skill in this business, things often go afoul either due to his partners’ screw ups or some uanticipated snafu.

The books are totally enjoyable if you like noir detective stories sparely written without flowery language or unbelievable plot twists.  “The Outfit” is unusual in that it is written from the viewpoint of the ‘bad guy’ not the law.  In this tale, Parker has just undergone a plastic surgical redo of his face in order to escape the long arm of The Outfit, a branch of the Mob who is trying to kill him after he stole $40,000 from them.  The book opens with Parker waking up from a deep sleep to just escape a bullet meant for him.  Angry at The Outfit, he appeals to his ‘bad guys fraternity’ to move from their ‘don’t touch the Outfit’ philosophy’, to hit every club, joint, and operation The Outfit is running.

It’s a fast paced and well done story.  If you haven’t read Richard Stark, do so immediately.  You’ll enjoy siding with the bad guy as Parker does his thing.