Richard Stark: The Hunter (USA 2008)

From the Publisher:
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 Brinks 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 eponymous 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.

In The Hunter, the first volume in the series, Parker roars into New York City, seeking revenge on the woman who betrayed him and on the man who took his money, stealing and scamming his way to redemption.

Richard Stark: The Hunter. A Parker Novel. University of Chicago Press, ISBN: 9780226770994 (September, 2008), 208 p., $14.00.

Richard Stark: Point Blank (UK 2008)

From the Publisher:
"The funnies call it the syndicate. The goons and hustlers call it the Outfit. You call it the organization... But I don't care if you call yourselves the Red Cross, you owe me forty-five thousand dollars and you'll pay me back whether you like it or not."

Doublecrossed, shot and left for dead in a burning house by his wife and one-time partner, Parker is out for revenge. He's also out for his share of the take. And if Mal Resnick has bought his way back into the Outfit with Parker's money and no longer has it, and if the Outfit doesn't see things Parker's way, then the Outfit is going to have to think again, because Parker means what he says.

Richard Stark: Point Blank. Allison & Busby, ISBN: 0749079614 (March, 2008), 190 p., £6.99.