Slayground

In Slayground, the fourteenth book in Richard Stark's long-running series, Parker tries to flee the scene of his latest heist but finds himself trapped in a boarded-up off-season amusement park, cornered on all sides by both law enforcement and the mob. Despite the book's simplistic plot structure, Stark finds a way to make Parker's predicament totally believable, with scenes that are grounded in the action-hero tradition but are nonetheless highly realistic. And he incorporates complex secondary characters (with part of the story told from their vantage point) to give the narrative added texture. This is a short, tight and well-crafted action thriller.