American Crime S.

5 total works

The Black Ice Score

by Richard Stark

Published 1 January 1974

A corrupt African colonel has converted half his country's wealth into diamonds and smuggled them to a Manhattan safe house. Four upstanding citizens plan to rescue their new nation by stealing the diamonds back--with the help of a "specialist"--Parker, that is. He has the best references in town. Will Parker break his rule against working with amateurs and help them because his woman would be disappointed if he doesn't? Or because three hired morons have threatened to kill him and his woman if he does? They thought they were buying an advantage, but what they get is a predated death certificate.

"Crime fiction stripped down--as it was meant to be. . . . Oh, how the pages keep turning."--Philadelphia Inquirer

"Old master that he is, Stark does all of them one better."--Los Angeles Times

Point Blank

by Richard Stark

Published 1 January 1974

The hunted becomes the hunter. Meet Parker, the ultimate professional. Parker is a master thief, and a man with a heart of steel. He believes in the oldest law of all - a life for a life. His one-time partner, Mal, tried to pull a fast one, making off with Parker's share of the takings after a successful heist, as well as his Parker's wife, Lynn. Big mistake. They thought they had left him for dead, but Parker survived their bullets and now he's out for revenge and prepared to do whatever it takes. The prey has become the hunter, and now Parker is stalking them, leaving a trail of carnage in his wake. Haunting and brutal, "Point Blank" was made into the cult classic movie starring Lee Marvin as well as the more recent "Parker" starring Jason Statham, and remains one of the most distinctive crime thrillers ever written.

The Jugger

by Richard Stark

Published 1 December 1985

You probably haven't ever noticed them. But they've noticed you. They notice everything. That's their job. Sitting quietly in a nondescript car outside a bank making note of the tellers' work habits, the positions of the security guards. Lagging a few car lengths behind the Brink's truck on its daily rounds. Surreptitiously jiggling the handle of an unmarked service door at the racetrack. They're thieves. Heisters, to be precise. They're pros, and Parker is far and away the best of them. If you're planning a job, you want him in. Tough, smart, hardworking, and relentlessly focused on his trade, he is the heister's heister, the robber's robber, the heavy's heavy. You don't want to cross him, and you don't want to get in his way, because he'll stop at nothing to get what he's after. Parker, the ruthless antihero of Richard Stark's mystery novels, is one of the most unforgettable characters in hardboiled noir. Lauded by critics for his taut realism, unapologetic amorality, and razor-sharp prose style - and adored by fans who turn each intoxicating page with increasing urgency - Stark is a master of crime writing, his books as influential as any in the genre.
The University of Chicago Press has embarked on a project to return the early volumes of this series to print for a new generation of readers to discover - and become addicted to. This season's offerings include volumes 4-6 in the series: "The Mourner", "The Score", and "The Jugger". In "The Jugger", Parker travels to Nebraska to help out a geriatric safecracker who knows too many of his criminal secrets. By the time he arrives, the safecracker is dead and Parker's skeletons are on the verge of escaping from their closet - unless Parker resorts to lethal measures.

The Green Eagle Score

by Richard Stark

Published February 1973

Here's Parker--planning to steal the entire payroll of an Air Force base in upstate New York, with help from Marty Fusco, fresh out of the pen, and a smart aleck finance clerk named Devers. Holed up with family in a scrappy little town, the hoisters prepare for the risky job by trying to shorten the odds. But the ice is thinner than Parker likes to think--and Marty's ex-wife is much more complicated.

"Parker is refreshingly amoral, a thief who always gets away with the swag."--Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly

"Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible."--Washington Post Book World

The Man with the Getaway Face

by Richard Stark

Published 1 June 1984

Master thief Parker visits a plastic surgeon in Nebraska to hide the face that the New York syndicate wants to destroy, but now, with a whole new face, Parker sets out to plan the perfect heist of an armored car, but somehow things still keep going wrong.