brian 's Reviews > The Mourner

eh... my least favorite parker book yet. it's also the first 'freak of the week'; that is, one that has nothing to do parker's backstory -- kind of like a mediocre x-files that has nothing to do with the alien mythology and you feel like you might've wasted 44 minutes of your life but it's also okay because it's the x-files and even the clunky stupid bad ones are good (except for the few 'funny' episodes). but the mourner will get 3 stars simply because it's a parker book and all parker books are inherently good creations. and there are some good things in here... but it'd be just fine, dear parker reader, to skip over from the outfit to the score. (assuming, of course, that you are a parker reader and are reading 'em in chronological order... because you are reading all the parker novels, aren't you?)

and lemme use this space to briefly discuss a tiny aspect of that 'inherent goodness' i was yabbering on about: location, location, location. yeah, i've kinda become obsessed with the repetition* of similar locations in these parker books. parker, the ultimate lone wolf, lives in various resort hotels (when not on a job) and seedy shitbag motels (when on one) and stark's great at creating that just-right flavor for both of 'em. i'm partial to the shitbags with their fire escapes and their time/blood/semen stained carpets and those wonderfully crappy beds... and also those small towns parker ends up in when he ventures outta NYC or miami. those towns. i love those towns. towns surrounded by miles of scrubby flatlands, towns with two stoplights, towns of greasy spoons and fleabag motels and sheriffs with orval faubus-like folds of fat at the back of their necks. good good stuff.

alright, well. onto the next one.

next up: the jugger


*i'm kind of obsessed with repetition in general. i've been listening pretty hardcore over the past few weeks to my buzzcocks albums and i think pete shelley shares a similar obsession: that final sequence of songs on a different kind of tension (which, for my money, is a greater sequence than the final bit of abbey road), that wonderful repetition of hollow inside, a different kind of tension, i believe, does something very weird and very satisfying to my brain.