You got to love Parker, recovering after a face job to reinvent himself after run-ins with The Outfit, he just wants to get back in the game, pull a job, a little heist. But then things get complicated, the finger can’t be trusted, the doctor might reveal the new face, the stick up crew isn’t experienced and professional.

Good help is hard to find, and there’s always an Alma on the job, always someone who will try to double cross…

The result: well let’s just say that there was unavoidable blood shed. That’s the way of the dollar, that’s the way of the gun, that’s the way of the USA.

The sequel to Point Blank, Parker remains hardboiled, amoral and surprisingly in Stark/Westlake’s prose almost lovable. The career criminal as everyman.