An action-packed crime novel starring Parker, the heister starring in the forthcoming Shane Black film Play Dirty! <p/> Richard Stark's Parker novels are the hardest of hard-boiled, classic crime novels where the heists are huge, the body counts are high, and the bad guys usually win. <p/> The Parker novels have been a huge influence on countless writers and filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino, Stephen King, George Pelecanos, Colson Whitehead, Lucy Sante, John Banville, and many more. Their stripped-down language and hard-as-nails amorality create an unforgettable world where the next score could be the big one, but your next mistake could also be your last. There's nothing else like them. <p/> 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. <p/> But cash isn't everything: Flashfire (which was the basis of the Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez film Parker) finds Parker going after a fortune in jewels in West Palm Beach. He's unexpectedly competing with a crew that has an unhealthy love of explosions, and when things go sour, Parker finds himself shot and trapped-and forced to rely on a civilian to survive.
