The Handle

Parker takes down a whole illegal casino in this action-packed entry in the classic hard-boiled crime series

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.

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.

In The Handle, Parker is enlisted by the mob to knock off an island casino guarded by speedboats and heavies, forty miles from the Texas coast. Working with his trusted colleague Alan Grofield, but dealing with double-crosses and double-dealings by others from the word go, Parker knows the line between success and failure on this score would be exactly the length of the barrel of a .38.