Parker (fictional criminal)

Parker is a Donald E. Westlake character who appears in his Richard Stark-signed novels. Parker is a quintessential professional criminal. His first name is never mentioned in the novels in which he appears, and there are many details about him which remain unknown (like his tradition of waiting for people by sitting on sofas in dark rooms). Parker is scary, not just because he is cold, methodical and efficient, but because Westlake is very successful in making him believable. Parker does not pull off extreme stunts or become unreal; he just does his stuff, always taking the most direct route to it.

Novels

• The Hunter (1963, aka Point Blank, Payback)
• The Man With the Getaway Face (1963, aka The Steel Hit)
• The Outfit (1963)
• The Mourner (1963)
• The Score (1964, aka Killtown)
• The Jugger (1965)
• The Handle (1966, aka Run Lethal)
• The Seventh (1966, aka The Split)
• The Rare Coin Score (1967)
• The Green Eagle Score (1967)
• The Black Ice Score (1968)
• The Sour Lemon Score (1969)
• Deadly Edge (1971)
• Slayground (1971) — First chapter shared with The Blackbird, a novel in Westlake's Alan Grofield series.
• Plunder Squad (1972)
• Butcher's Moon (1974)
• Child Heist (1974) — Not really a novel, but a fictitious book within a book. In Jimmy the Kid, a novel in Westlake's John Dortmunder series, the gang plans a caper based on this Parker novel they have. Chapters alternate between Parker committing a kidnapping and the Dortmunder Gang screwing it up as they try to imitate him.
• Comeback (1997)
• Backflash (1998)
• Flashfire (2000)
• Firebreak (2001)
• Breakout (2002)
• Nobody Runs Forever (2004)