We are currently living through a golden age of serialized fiction. Television series are bolder and more complex than they ever were, movies are getting unsolicited sequels and are sometimes brought back from the land the dead to make it happen and even serialized novels are getting some attention. A common piece of feedback from satisfied audiences is: ''I wish I could have stayed a little longer with the characters, soak in their universe for as long as I wanted.'' Richard Stark's Parker series offers a particularly satisfying twist on serial fiction: instead of having a thematic, novel-to-novel approach, it has a straightforward timeline and as you pick up the net novel in the series, it's like Parker had been waiting for you, frozen in time. THE OUTFIT is the third novel of the Parker series and it's tying some loose ends of the first two volumes. You don't want to be one of Parker's loose ends, believe me!
Parker wakes up one day to the sound of a screaming woman and bullets grazing him by. He's been living under the radar for a couple of months, but The Outfit eventually got back to him. Parker never really stops working, even when he's on vacation. So he has a plan to take down the most powerful crime syndicate in North America and the time to execute that plan is now. Parker sits down and starts writing letters to former business associates around the continent and informs them that the time to hit The Outfit is now. Before Outfit boss Arthur Bronson knows it, his organization is getting robbed everywhere it has a presence. Bronson, who fancies himself a businessman, committed a cardinal sin of business: don't fuck with what you can't control.
THE OUTFIT could be read as a standalone novel, but it is better enjoyed it you have read THE HUNTER, and ideally enjoyed if you have read THE MAN WITH THE GETAWAY FACE too. There is no missing data in THE OUTFIT per se, but there is tension and high stakes you can only fully understand if you have read the first two novels. For long stretches in the novel, Parker is absent, yet Richard Stark has this way of writing that makes you feel the intangible power of his character. You undestand certain characters behave the way they do because they are friends with Parker, pros at high-profile robbery. Implicitness and allusions are one of Richard Stark's greatest strength as a writer.
Parker novels usually come with at least one groundbreaking idea and THE OUTFIT is no different. Richard Stark heavily criticizes the idea of organized crime in this novel, which is interesting because it's a romanticized notion even today. Stark draws The Outfit as a gang of high-profile prima donnas that structure and comfort made fat and lazy. The point Stark makes comparing Parker and Bronson is that self-respecting thieves work alone and don't rely on anybody to watch their back. They live a lean and mean existence and are motivated by something else than living large. In that regard, THE OUTFIT reminded me of Robert Greene's 48th law of power: assume formlessness. If your organization has no tangible shape, no one can take a hold of it.
THE OUTFIT can seem like it's 200 pages that belong in the middle of another novel at times. I strongly suggest to read THE HUNTER before reading it. Parker is thoroughly enjoyable, but the first novel is setting the tone so perfectly, it should be a mandatory reading before the series, like some prologue. I loved THE OUTFIT for disagreeing with an idea that would gain in romanticism from Mario Puzo's THE GODFATHER a few years down the line, to BREAKING BAD today. It's not just the contrarian me speaking (although it is a litle bit), Parker stands for something bigger, more idealistic than organised crime : honour, loyalty and the unwavering love of a job well done. That stands out to me in a crime fiction landscape where financial gain and white knight chivalry are both ends of the spectrum. Parker is a welcomed, textured in-between.