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Breakout
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Plot Summary of Breakout
"

Warner, Nov 2002, 23.95, 288 pp.
ISBN: 089296779X

Thanks to incompetent partners failing to do the assigned jobs during a pharmaceutical heist, master thief Parker using the name Kasper lands in the Stoneveldt Detention Center, a maximum-security holding jail in a Midwest state. Not noted for wanting to be a guest of any state, Parker selects two colleagues Tom Marcantoni and Brandon Williams to bust out of jail. The trio successfully escapes their incarceration.

However, before Parker can return to the haven of New Jersey, he reluctantly agrees to rob a wholesale jewelry company that keeps its inventory in an armory. Parker and his partners easily gain entrance to the supposedly impenetrable artifice, but leaving proves disastrous as their entrance-exit tunnel collapses. Through a pizza delivery, Parker escapes, but now prison officials and the police seek to capture the elusive thief while other demands on his time do not allow him to do what he most wants: relax in the Garden State.

In the usual amusing yet stark story line, Richard Stark provides a tremendous antihero crime thriller. Parker is as always a delightful criminal and his partners bring out the best or perhaps the worst in him. All this action leads to the star going home with such a small bounty that his girlfriend wonders whether itwas it worth the score. Another win for readers as this one evening sitting is a triumphant tale that shows how a talented author can use the English language sparingly to paint a masterpiece summed in one word Parker.

Harriet Klausner
"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Breakout
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%




Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story: - present (2000-2010)
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
The crook is.... - on the run from the law - committing armed robbery
Crime Thriller Yes
Crime plotlets: - escape/deal with prison
Mostly a criminal POV story Yes
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - accused criminal
Age: - 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use? - a little
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - police/lawman
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths? - 0 (not a murder mystery)
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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