Donald E. Westlake's Brutal Alter Ego

On Westlake's comedic capers and Richard Stark's noir heists.

Donald E. Westlake was a versatile talent, which is a problem most writers would kill to have. In the early 1960s, Westlake had begun making a name for himself with comedic capers full of wit, irony, and clever plotting. But bubbling under his light, funny prose was a darker voice that didn’t crack jokes, didn’t soften the edges, and had no interest in redemption. That voice needed its own artistic outlet. So in 1962, Westlake invented the pseudonym Richard Stark.

Stark's debut was The Hunter, the first novel in what would become the Parker series. Parker is a professional thief. He’s methodical, ruthless, and completely amoral. The book opens with Parker double-crossed and left for dead, and from page one the tone is stripped of sentiment and driven by ice cold logic. Where Westlake wrote clever criminals in chaotic situations, “Stark” wrote stone-faced men in tightly coiled heists where death was simply the cost of doing business.

“I couldn’t write about Parker in the same voice I used for Westlake’s books,” Westlake explained in interviews. “He didn’t have a sense of humor. He didn’t even have introspection.” The name "Richard Stark" wasn’t chosen by accident. Westlake said it sounded “like the writing: lean, mean, and stripped down.” It was also inspired by actor Richard Widmark and the word “stark” itself, which was a nod to the brutal minimalism of both character and prose.

There were personal reasons, too. Westlake was a playful, ironic writer by temperament but, like many authors, he had a darker creative streak that didn’t fit within the market expectations he’d already established under his own name. Stark allowed Westlake to split his projects between one author for edgy darkness, the other for clever chaos.

And then there was the business angle. In the 1960s, paperback originals were a gold rush for crime writers, and having multiple names meant more shelf space. More books, more money (not a lot’s changed for writers today, especially indie authors). Editors didn’t want to flood the market with too many titles under one name. “It was partly economic,” Westlake once admitted. “If I wanted to sell more books, I had to invent more writers.”

The tone and structure of the books followed suit. Westlake’s novels often included mistaken identity, absurd mishaps, or crooks undone by their own ego. A perfect example is my favorite Westlake novel, and Robert Redford movie, The Hot Rock. Stark’s Parker novels, by contrast, are procedural machines: tightly plotted, emotionally spare, and deadly serious. Violence in a Westlake book might be a punchline; in a Stark book, it’s the reason for being.

The Stark books, particularly the early Parker novels, developed a cult following and saw strong sales, especially overseas. The French loved them. What else is new? Filmmakers adapted several, including Point Blank (1967) and Payback (1999). But Westlake’s comic novels, especially the Dortmunder series, reached a broader mainstream American audience.

In the end, the split worked. Stark allowed Westlake to go deep into the underworld without apology. And Westlake gave Stark just enough oxygen to make him unforgettable.

Whatever your flavor, Westlake produced legendary work.