Ask the Parrot — Richard Stark

The coldblooded criminal known as Parker tries, and fails, to stay under the radar in rural New England: “Nobody does the noir thriller better than Stark.” -- San Diego Union-Tribune

In Ask the Parrot, the followup to Nobody Runs Forever, ruthless thief Parker is back on the run, dodging dogs, cops, and even a helicopter. His escape brings him to rural Massachusetts, where he is forced to work with a small-town recluse nursing a grudge against the racetrack that fired him. Even in hiding, Parker manages to get up to no good. It'll be a deadly day at the races . . .

“Richard Stark's Parker crime novels are the ultimate page-turners.” -- Jonathan Ames, The Boston Globe

“Parker is a blunt instrument of a human being.” -- John Hodgman, Parade

“Often funny, laced with Stark's brutally morbid humor . . . fast-moving, tense scenes that drip with potential violence before, inevitably, exploding into actual violence.” -- Christopher Bahn, AV Club