Slayground - Softcover

Stark, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340165294 ISBN 13: 9780340165294

Publisher: Coronet Books, 1973

Synopsis

The hunter becomes prey, as a heist goes sour and Parker finds himself trapped in a shuttered amusement park, besieged by a bevy of local mobsters. There are no exits from Fun Island. Outnumbered and outgunned, Parker can't afford a single miscalculation. He’s low on bullets—but, as anyone who’s crossed his path knows, that definitely doesn’t mean he’s defenseless.

“Nobody tops Stark in his objective portrayals of a world of total amorality.” —New York 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

About this title

Review:

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

"Parker . . . lumbers through the pages of Richard Stark's noir novels scattering dead bodies like peanut shells. . . . In a complex world [he] makes things simple."
--William Grimes "New York Times "

"Richard Stark's Parker novels . . . are among the most poised and polished fictions of their time and, in fact, of any time."
--John Banville "Bookforum "

"Parker is a true treasure. . . . The master thief is back, along with Richard Stark."
--Marilyn Stasio "New York Times Book Review "

"Whatever Stark writes, I read. He's a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude."
--Elmore Leonard

"Donald Westlake's Parker novels are among the small number of books I read over and over. Forget all that crap you've been telling yourself about "War and Peace" and Proust--these are the books you'll want on that desert island."
--Lawrence Block

"Richard Stark writes a harsh and frightening story of criminal warfare and vengeance with economy, understatement and a deadly amoral objectivity--a remarkable addition to the list of the shockers that the French call roman noirs."
--Anthony Boucher "New York Times Book Review "

"Parker is a brilliant invention. . . . What chiefly distinguishes Westlake, under whatever name, is his passion for process and mechanics. . . . Parker appears to have eliminated everything from his program but machine logic, but this is merely protective coloration. He is a romantic vestige, a free-market anarchist whose independent status is becoming a thing of the past."
--Luc Sante "New York Review of Books "

"I wouldn't care to speculate about what it is in Westlake's psyche that makes him so good at writing about Parker, much less what it is that makes me like the Parker novels so much. Suffice it to say that Stark/Westlake is the cleanest of all noir novelists, a styleless stylist who gets to the point with stupendous economy, hustling you down the path of plot so briskly that you have to read his books a second time to appreciate the elegance and sober wit with which they are written."
--Terry Teachout "Commentary "

"If you're a fan of noir novels and haven't yet read Richard Stark, you may want to give these books a try. Who knows? Parker may just be the son of a bitch you've been searching for."
--John McNally "Virginia Quarterly Review "

"The University of Chicago Press has recently undertaken a campaign to get Parker back in print in affordable and handsome editions, and I dove in. And now I get it."
--Josef Braun "Vue Weekly "

"Whether early or late, the Parker novels are all superlative literary entertainments."
--Terry Teachout "Weekly Standard "

"The UC Press mission, to reprint the 1960s Parker novels of Richard Stark (the late Donald Westlake), is wholly admirable. The books have been out of print for decades, and the fast-paced, hard-boiled thrillers featuring the thief Parker are brilliant."--H. J. Kirchoff "Globe and Mail "

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

Parker . . . lumbers through the pages of Richard Stark s noir novels scattering dead bodies like peanut shells. . . . In a complex world [he] makes things simple.
--William Grimes "New York Times ""

Richard Stark s Parker novels . . . are among the most poised and polished fictions of their time and, in fact, of any time.
--John Banville "Bookforum ""

Parker is a true treasure. . . . The master thief is back, along with Richard Stark.
--Marilyn Stasio "New York Times Book Review ""

Whatever Stark writes, I read. He s a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude.
--Elmore Leonard"

Donald Westlake s Parker novels are among the small number of books I read over and over. Forget all that crap you ve been telling yourself about "War and Peace" and Proust these are the books you ll want on that desert island.
--Lawrence Block"

Richard Stark writes a harsh and frightening story of criminal warfare and vengeance with economy, understatement and a deadly amoral objectivity a remarkable addition to the list of the shockers that the French call roman noirs.
--Anthony Boucher "New York Times Book Review ""

The UC Press mission, to reprint the 1960s Parker novels of Richard Stark (the late Donald Westlake), is wholly admirable. The books have been out of print for decades, and the fast-paced, hard-boiled thrillers featuring the thief Parker are brilliant. --H. J. Kirchoff "Globe and Mail ""

"A dimestore shiv of a book about what happens when corrupt cops tip off the mob about a car accident in which an incompetent wheelman flips a getaway car next to an amusement park called Fun Island. (Hint: Master thief/antihero extraordinaire Parker survives; a lot of other people die."--SethMnookin "The Millions ""

About the Author:

 

Richard Stark was one of the many pseudonyms of Donald E. Westlake (1933–2008), a prolific author of noir crime fiction. In 1993, the Mystery Writers of America bestowed the society’s highest honor on Westlake, naming him a Grand Master.

About this edition

• Publisher: Coronet Books
• Publication date: 1973
• ISBN 10: 0340165294
• ISBN 13: 9780340165294
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 157