Richard Stark: Butcher's Moon (USA 2011)

From the Publisher:
The sixteenth Parker novel, Butcher's Moon is more than twice as long most of the master heister's adventures, and absolutely jammed with the action, violence, and nerve-jangling tension readers have come to expect. Back in the corrupt town where he lost his money, and nearly his life, in Slayground, Parker assembles a stunning cast of characters from throughout his career for one gigantic, blowout job: starting -- and finishing -- a gang war. It feels like the Parker novel to end all Parker novels, and for nearly twenty-five years that's what it was. After its publication in 1974, Donald Westlake said, "Richard Stark proved to me that he had a life of his own by simply disappearing. He was gone."

Featuring a new introduction by Westlake's close friend and writing partner, Lawrence Block, this classic Parker adventures deserve a place of honor on any crime fan's bookshelf. More than thirty-five years later, Butcher's Moon still packs a punch: keep your calendar clear when you pick it up, because once you open it you won't want to do anything but read until the last shot is fired.

Richard Stark: Butcher's Moon. A Parker Novel. With a new Foreword by Lawrence Block. University of Chicago Press, ISBN: 9780226770956 (April, 2011), 320 p., $15.00.