Richard Stark is one of the two pseudonyms used by Donald E. Westlake, a prolific, highly skilled crime novelist, who, under his own name, has written tough thrillers and humorous 'caper' novels, notably the Burglar series, featuring John Dortmunder, an amiable, generally ineffective thief. Under his other pseudonym of Tucker Coe, Westlake has written five novels featuring Mitch Tobin, a former policeman, drummed out of the force for corruption and for inadvertently causing his partner's death, for which he remains racked with guilt. Despite his mistakes, Tobin is tough, resourceful and silent, and is a somewhat lighter, more human version of Parker, the character that Westlake created as Richard Stark. A thief and killer, Parker is a career criminal with no morals, no fear and no time to waste on nonsense like emotions or warmth; a stoical, implacable figure whose sense of purpose, cold logic and tunnel vision make him a cross between a Zen master and a robot. If someone is in his way, they won't be for long. Stark's most memorable achievement is to convince the reader that, against their better judgment, they want Parker to succeed, turning him into the most extreme of anti-heroes, but still a hero, nevertheless.

Parker first appeared in 1962 in The Hunter, later filmed as Point Blank, starring the excellently-cast Lee Marvin. Betrayed, shot and left for dead in a burning house by his wife and former partner after a successful score, Parker is now out for revenge. He wants to get his hands on his wife, on Mal, his double-crossing partner and on his share of the money. If Mal has used his money to square things with the Mob, then Parker will have to tackle them too. Hugely effective and addictive, a seemingly impossible combination of power and restraint, this is, like Parker himself, impossible to resist.

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