The Hunter
(Also published as Point Blank and Payback)

THE HUNTER AND THE HUNTED- They thought they had killed him but Parker had survived their bullets to become the most dangerous game of all--the beast at bay.  The prey had suddenly become the hunter and now Parker was stalking them. And he had only three things on his mind-- Mal--Mal had double-crossed him on a heist out on the West Coast.  then he'd run off with Parker's share of the loot and left him for dead. Lynn--Lynn was his wife but she'd played the Judas ewe by setting him up for the slaughter.  She was living in New York City somewhere now, with Mal. The syndicate--They had a lot of his money.  Mal had welshed on a debt and paid off with Parker's share of the heist. Parker wasn't so much vicious as primitive.  He believed in the oldest law of all--a life for a life!

The original Parker novel, the most frequently reprinted, twice filmed (officially), and perhaps the most brutal.  Offensive on several levels, but primarily because we are introduced to a main character (hero is not the right word!) with a total disregard for any human life that gets in his way.  We've had thieves as protagonists before, but they were usually charming, witty, dapper fellows who never took from anyone who didn't deserve it, and who amused us with complicated and marvelous schemes.

Not so with Parker.  He is a thug who kills a prison guard to escape confinement, even though he's only got one month left of his sentence.   His heist schemes are not generally all that clever--he just finds a way to get his money and knocks off anyone that he can't get rid of by a less risky and incriminating method.    

Despite being repellant as a human being, Parker is fascinating.   His mind works logically, but most readers cannot imagine being so completely heartless and selfish (at least I hope not).

Highly recommended to those strong of stomach and those who enjoy authors like Jim Thompson and James Ellroy--bear in mind however, that due to the straightforward nature of Parker's thinking, the plot of The Hunter, and the other Parker novels, is far less complicated than the works of those two masters.

AVAILABILITY:  The Hunter is in print as Payback, a tie-in to the Mel Gibson movie.  This printing includes a nifty new introduction by the author.

It is also available under its original title from Books on Tape.

To The Man With the Getaway Face, the second book in the Parker series

Donald Westlake's introduction to the Gregg Press edition of The Hunter

To Point Blank, based on The Hunter

To Payback, based on The Hunter

Back to The Violent World of Parker