Lemons Never Lie (Hard Case Crime) | Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake)

Lemons Never Lie (Hard Case Crime) | Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake) | Short, Enjoyable Caper Novel

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Lemons Never Lie (...

	Lemons Never Lie (Hard Case Crime) Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake) Hard Crime Case, 2006 - 221 pages average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Summer stock actor/part-time thief in a humdinger caper

Alan Grofield, one of Parker's crew, has bought a summer stock theater (a renovated old barn) in Mead Grove, Indiana. Of course the only theater-goers are doctors wives and schoolteachers. Grofield is forced to work on the side as a thief to keep his enterprise afloat.

Himself an actor, Grofield deplores violence and death. Unfortunately the members of the criminal underclass don't share his mellow life view. Grofield teams up with Myers, an explosives nut job. They botch robbing the payroll at a plant in Monequois, New York, near the Canadian border.

Low-keyed but methodical and cunning, Grofield may not win your sympathy but he's a memorable crook. Donald Westlake (aka Richard Stark) writes seamless, laconic dialogue. His descriptions of robbing an old Mosler safe or sealing a deal to buy the getaway truck for the heist are precise and vivid. The layering of these details builds the suspense. The humor is deadpan. This is a solid bet as a change of pace from the typical Westlake caper novels.

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Short, Enjoyable Caper Novel

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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A good Stark/Westlake book

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.

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Not Parker but the next best thing

Another good Stark novel. A little light weight compared to the Parker books but still a good read.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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