The Seventh (1966) – Pocket Books

A Parker Novel

Also published as The Split.

___Parker felt a cold rage pouring through him. The bastard was right there, right up there on the roof! It had to be him again, hanging around, hanging around, taking his stupid potshots at Parker just as though he knew what he was doing. Right up there on top of the goddam building, and instead of going up and taking the stupid bastard apart piece by piece until the honey fell out, Parker was running like a rabbit the other way.
___Because of the cop. Because the maniac on the roof was so stupid he’d stand up there and shoot off a gun with a cop on plant inside the same damn building.
___So he was up there, and by rights Parker had him cold, but instead of having him cold Parker was forced to let him go. And more than that. He didn’t want the law to get its hands on the silly bastard yet, either, so he was going to have to make a distraction, he was going to have to cover for the bastard.
___He had to make it possible for the bastard to get away.

Buy it here:

Pocket Books, 1966 (PB)
Gold Medal (as The Split), 1968 (PB)
Gregg Press, 1981 (HC)
University of Chicago Press, 2009 (PB)
E-Book, 2011
Audio Book,

 

Cover Gallery:

The Split (MGM), 1968
Despite the incredible cast, The Split was underwhelming, as is often the case when Hollywood tries to turn Parker into something he isn’t. That isn’t about the color of Jim Brown’s skin, he could have been a fine Parker, especially since neither he nor Parker were very good at grieving. The problem, as usual, is adding layers of complexity and “humanizing” emotion to the character, none of which is evident in this scene. There’s also this thing with mainstreaming the plot, which makes it far less interesting than the de hombre a hombre dueling in the book.

The Parker Novels
University of Chicago Press Editions (Amazon Links)

     
     
     
     

The Grofield Novels
First Edition Hardcovers (Amazon Links)

   

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