The fantasy of neatness …

… About Last Night | The opposite of random. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… I am not infrequently drawn to the Parker novels at times when my own life is more chaotic than usual. While I’m not obsessive about much of anything, I do prize order—I’m a native-born list-maker—and I don’t much care to be reminded that I actually have very little control over the world and my place in it. Neither does Parker, but unlike the rest of us, he’s prepared to do something about it, up to and including murder. Surely that is the ultimate source of his appeal: he does as he pleases, and gets away with it. Moreover, he does it in the name of order—his order. The world exists to satisfy his wants, which he pursues in a  manner so disciplined that it is all but impossible not to admire, however backhandedly.