Plunder Squad A Parker Novel

Download or read book Plunder Squad written by Richard Stark and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-09-15 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Hearing the click behind him, Parker threw his glass straight back over his right shoulder, and dove off his chair to the left.” When a job looks like amateur hour, Parker walks away. But even a squad of seasoned professionals can’t guarantee against human error in a high-risk scam. Can an art dealer with issues unload a truck of paintings with Parker’s aid? Or will the heist end up too much of a human interest story, as luck runs out before Parker can get in on the score?

Download or read book Flashfire written by Richard Stark and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-07-15 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between Parker’s 1961 debut and his return in the late 1990s, the whole world of crime changed. Now fake IDs and credit cards had to be purchased from specialists; increasingly sophisticated policing made escape and evasion tougher; and, worst of all, money had gone digital—the days of cash-stuffed payroll trucks were long gone. But cash isn’t everything: Flashfire and Firebreak find Parker going after, respectively, a fortune in jewels and a collection of priceless paintings. In Flashfire, Parker’s in West Palm Beach, competing with a crew that has an unhealthy love of explosions. When things go sour, Parker finds himself shot and trapped—and forced to rely on a civilian to survive. Firebreak takes Parker to a palatial Montana "hunting lodge" where a dot-com millionaire hides a gallery of stolen old masters—which will fetch Parker a pretty penny if his team can just get it past the mansion’s tight security. The forests of Montana are an inhospitable place for a heister when well-laid plans fall apart, but no matter how untamed the wilderness, Parker’s guaranteed to be the most dangerous predator around.

Download or read book Deadly Edge written by Richard Stark and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-09-15 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deadly Edge bids a brutal adieu to the 1960s as Parker robs a rock concert, and the heist goes south. Soon Parker finds himself—and his woman, Claire—menaced by a pair of sadistic, strung-out killers who want anything but a Summer of Love. Parker has a score to settle while Claire’s armed with her first rifle—and they’re both ready to usher in the end of the Age of Aquarius.

Download or read book Backflash written by Richard Stark and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-04-15 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the publication of Butcher's Moon in 1974, Donald Westlake said, "Richard Stark proved to me that he had a life of his own by simply disappearing. He was gone." And readers waited. But nothing bad is truly gone forever, and Parker's as bad as they come. According to Westlake, one day in 1997, "suddenly, he came back from the dead, with a chalky prison pallor"--and the novels that followed showed that neither Parker nor Stark had lost a step. Backflash finds Parker checking out the scene on a Hudson River gambling boat. Parker's no fan of either relaxation or risk, however, so you can be sure he's playing with house money--and he's willing to do anything to tilt the odds in his favor. Featuring a great cast of heisters, a striking setting, and a new introduction by Westlake's close friend and writing partner, Lawrence Block, this classic Parker adventure deserve a place of honor on any crime fan's bookshelf.

Download or read book Butcher's Moon written by Richard Stark and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-04-15 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sixteenth Parker novel, Butcher’s Moon is more than twice as long as most of the master heister’s adventures, and absolutely jammed with the action, violence, and nerve-jangling tension readers have come to expect. Back in the corrupt town where he lost his money, and nearly his life, in Slayground, Parker assembles a stunning cast of characters from throughout his career for one gigantic, blowout job: starting—and finishing—a gang war. It feels like the Parker novel to end all Parker novels, and for nearly twenty-five years that’s what it was. After its publication in 1974, Donald Westlake said, “Richard Stark proved to me that he had a life of his own by simply disappearing. He was gone.” Featuring a new introduction by Westlake’s close friend and writing partner, Lawrence Block, this classic Parker adventure deserves a place of honor on any crime fan’s bookshelf. More than thirty-five years later, Butcher’s Moon still packs a punch: keep your calendar clear when you pick it up, because once you open it you won’t want to do anything but read until the last shot is fired.

Download or read book Comeback written by Richard Stark and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-04-15 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The long-awaited return of the legendary thief created by Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake) in “a riveting tale of betrayal and escape” (Chicago Tribune). Foreword by Lawrence Block After the bloodbath of Butcher’s Moon, the action-filled blowout Parker adventure, Donald Westlake said, “Richard Stark proved to me that he had a life of his own by simply disappearing. He was gone.” And for nearly twenty-five years, he stayed away, while readers waited. But nothing bad is truly gone forever, and Parker’s as bad as they come. According to Westlake, one day in 1997, “suddenly, he came back from the dead, with a chalky prison pallor”—and the resulting novel, Comeback, showed that neither Stark nor Parker had lost a single step. Knocking over a highly lucrative religious revival show, Parker reminds us that not all criminals don ski masks—some prefer to hide behind the wings of fallen angels. “Parker has not lost his touch—or his nerve . . . In a world of warped values, an honest crook like Parker is a true treasure.” —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review “Comeback is brisker, faster, and funnier than the earlier novels . . . Elmore Leonard wouldn’t write what he does if Stark hadn’t been there before. And Quentin Tarantino wouldn’t write what he does without Leonard . . . Old master that he is, Stark does all of them one better.” —Los Angeles Times “Energy and imagination light up virtually every page, as does some of the best hard-boiled prose ever to grace the noir genre.” —Publishers Weekly

Download or read book Ask the Parrot written by Richard Stark and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The coldblooded criminal known as Parker tries, and fails, to stay under the radar in rural New England: “Nobody does the noir thriller better than Stark.” —San Diego Union-Tribune In Ask the Parrot, the followup to Nobody Runs Forever, ruthless thief Parker is back on the run, dodging dogs, cops, and even a helicopter. His escape brings him to rural Massachusetts, where he is forced to work with a small-town recluse nursing a grudge against the racetrack that fired him. Even in hiding, Parker manages to get up to no good. It’ll be a deadly day at the races . . . “Richard Stark’s Parker crime novels are the ultimate page-turners.” —Jonathan Ames, The Boston Globe “Parker is a blunt instrument of a human being.” —John Hodgman, Parade “Often funny, laced with Stark’s brutally morbid humor . . . fast-moving, tense scenes that drip with potential violence before, inevitably, exploding into actual violence.” —Christopher Bahn, AV Club