Richard Stark's Parker novels are the hardest of hard-boiled, classic crime novels where the heists are huge, the body counts are high, and the bad guys usually win.

The Parker novels have been a huge influence on countless writers and filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino, Stephen King, George Pelecanos, Colson Whitehead, Lucy Sante, John Banville, and many more. Their stripped-down language and hard-as-nails amorality create an unforgettable world where the next score could be the big one, but your next mistake could also be your last. There's nothing else like them.

Between Parker's 1961 debut and his return in the late 1990s, the whole world of crime changed. Now fake IDs and credit cards had to be purchased from specialists; increasingly sophisticated policing made escape and evasion tougher; and, worst of all, money had gone digital-the days of cash-stuffed payroll trucks were long gone.

But cash isn't everything: Flashfire (which was the basis of the Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez film Parker) finds Parker going after a fortune in jewels in West Palm Beach. He's unexpectedly competing with a crew that has an unhealthy love of explosions, and when things go sour, Parker finds himself shot and trapped-and forced to rely on a civilian to survive.