by Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake)
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Never Buying Stark Again, 2008-09-11
I'm done with the Stark mystique, and it's time to yell out that the emperor has no clothes. I quit reading the new Richard Stark books after I was able to skim "Flashfire" and not have a problem following the plot, because Stark is somebody who spins a Plot Wheel with every book. Spin--here's the part where they plan the heist. Spin--here's the part where they steal the money. Spin--here's the part where somebody pulls a double-cross and takes the money. Spin--here's the part where Parker/Grofield (face it, Grofield is what Parker would have been if Stark knew he was writing a series) set out to get the money back. Spin--here's where they buy untracable cars/guns (usually within a chapter or two of each other) with which to fight the double-crosser. Spin--here's a set of chapters leading to the big confrontation. Spin--climax, ending, etc., etc. It's always the same, with the only variation being a slight rearranging of said events, and that's what "Lemons Never Lie" is good for, and why it fooled me at first; once The Usual started taking place, I was able to skim the second half of the book and knew exactly what was going on. Seen it before and all that. The only thing I can admire about Stark is his economy of writing (thought in "Lemons" he was a little wordy). I think anybody who wants to write a crime novel should memorize "Comeback"--it's the best variation on The Usual. All the shouts of Stark's brilliance must be called out as readers just saying he's good because everybody else says he's good. Stark may have been brilliant at first, but then he started writing the same book over and over again. What blows me away is how Stark often says how upset Parker would get at having to do the same thing over and over again.
One of these days, Mr. Westlake will wake up with Parker standing over his bed holding a piece of piano wire.
And Parker won't be happy.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
kids book, 2008-02-26
this book is a sorry excuse for anything interesting. Its so shallow. No surprises, . This is not Stark at his avg least of all his best.
He needs to stick to the Parkers format.
A very poor effort.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Not Parker but the next best thing, 2007-12-29
Another good Stark novel. A little light weight compared to the Parker books but still a good read.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
A good Stark/Westlake book, 2007-09-21
I have read quite a few of Westlakes 'Stark' books over the years. They are always enjoyable. Westlake often takes the side of the crook and constructs a heist and then writes events surrounding the escapade. 'Lemons' is no different. If you haven't read one of the Stark books, mostly set around his professional 'Parker', this is just as good as any of these books to start with.
The story is about an actor, Alan Grofield, who supports a small theater in the middle of nowhere with his theiving. The book starts with him in Las Vegas where he goes to meet up with a crew led by a chap named 'Myers'. The plan laid out is so crazy that Grofield walks out. Myers, who sets up the plan, gets upset with Grofield and the rest of the story situates between the two.
Once again, if you have read enough of Westlakes work, nothing here really will jump out at you. This is just another one of his almost formulaic light thrillers. The joy of reading one of these are in encountering the 'hard-boiled' characters and in following the development of the undertaking.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Short, Enjoyable Caper Novel, 2007-09-08
LEMONS NEVER LIE is a crime novel written by Richard Stark aka Donald Westlake in 1971. It's a highly enjoyable read about a stage actor named Alan Grofield who commits crimes on the side to fund his theater projects. This book starts as a lighthearted caper story, but eventually turns into a rather grim story about retribution.
This novel is quite short (under 200 pages of text) and can literally be read in a few hours. Westlake is a legendary writer in American crime fiction, and the prose and dialogue in this book is absolutely first-rate. Based on LEMONS NEVER LIE, I can see why Westlake has often been described as the precursor to Elmore Leonard and Quentin Tarantino. The only downside to this novel is the rather bland, subservient nature of the female characters.
I think it's great that Hard Case is republishing these titles and LEMONS NEVER LIE makes me interested in reading more of Westlake's other work. I recommend this story to anyone interested in reading classic noir fiction.
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