Donald Westlake, screenwriter of The Grifters, author of The Hot Rock, What's the Worst That Could Happen? and dozens of other novels, is one of my favorite thriller writers. Pick up any of his books at random, and you can learn something valuable from it, as well as be guaranteed hours of first-rate entertainment.
Under the pseudonym Richard Stark, Westlake also writes about no-nonsense thief Parker. The character has appeared, always with a different name, in a handful of movies, some of them good (Point Blank) and some of them not (Slayground). There are currently 23 Parker novels, and many of them epitomize what their author does best. They're fast, lean, gripping and darkly, darkly funny.
Here are five lessons I've learned from Westlake/Stark:
1. Choose a strong title.
Some of the early Parker novels have titles so terse that they don't really stick in the memory: The Score, The Outfit, The Seventh, The Hunter. I have trouble keeping track of them in my head. But after a 24-year break from writing about Parker, Stark brought him back in Comeback. Which was followed by Backflash. Followed by Flashfire, Firebreak and Breakout. The titles are down to one word, but they're evocative and the progression from one to the next is clever without being distracting.
2. Waste no time getting the story started.
In the early books, the first sentence always started with "When...
When the woman screamed, Parker awoke and rolled off the bed. He heard the plop of a silencer behind him as he rolled, and the bullet punched the pillow where his head had been. — The Outfit
When he didn't get any answer the second time he knocked, Parker kicked the door in. — The Split
Even without that gimmick, the openings are always active and engaging.
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