PRAISE FOR BREAKOUT AND RICHARD STARK:

Writing once again as Richard Stark, Donald E. Westlake delivers an immensely pleasurable entry in the Parker se- ries. . . . Simply put, Breakout is great escapist fi ction.”—Book- list, Starred Review

This fi fth book about master criminal Parker since his wel- come return from a 20-year hiatus is packed so tightly with the painstaking details. . . . that it comes as a shock to real- ize the volume isn’t bigger than it is. . . . Watching artists like Stark and Parker at work is a great pleasure, which an increasing audience will be delighted to share.”—Publishers Weekly

His prose is sharp and glinting; he can create a complete sketch of a doomed character in a single page with about as much deftness as any writer I’ve ever seen; and he had an ability to shift tones, dramatic to comedic, from book to book—and even from page to page—that many others, both in and out of the genre, just don’t possess.”—Michael Weinreb, Grantland

The Nobel Prize for literature should go to the American comic- mystery writer Donald Westlake. Enough with honor- ing self- consciously solemn, angst- ridden and pseudo- deep chroniclers of the human condition. Westlake is smart, clever and witty—a prolifi c craftsman—and quite deep.”— William Kristol, The Weekly Standard

[T]here is nothing more fun than reading all the Parkers in order. . . . Crime fi ction, crime movies, and crime comics today wouldn’t be the same without Richard Stark.”—Ethan Iverson, Do the Math PARKER NOVELS BY RICHARD STARK

The Hunter (Payback) Deadly Edge The Man with the Getaway Face Slayground The Outfi t Plunder Squad The Mourner Butcher’s Moon The Score Comeback The Jugger Backfl ash The Seventh Flashfi re (Parker) The Handle Firebreak The Rare Coin Score Breakout The Green Eagle Score Nobody Runs Forever The Black Ice Score Ask the Parrot The Sour Lemon Score Dirty Money

GROFIELD NOVELS BY RICHARD STARK

The Damsel The Dame The Blackbird Lemons Never Lie

Information about Richard Stark books published by the University of Chicago Press—and electronic versions of them—can be found on our website: http:// www .press .uchicago .edu/. BREAKOUT

A Parker Novel RICHARD STARK

With a New Foreword by Chris Holm

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 © 2002 by Richard Stark Foreword © 2017 by Chris Holm All rights reserved. Originally published by Mysterious Press.

University of Chicago Press edition 2017

Printed in the United States of America

25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

ISBN- 13: 978- 0-226- 50820- 7 (paper) ISBN- 13: 978- 0-226- 50834- 4 (e- book)

Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data

Names: Stark, Richard, 1933–2008, author. | Holm, Chris F., writer of foreword. Title: Breakout : a Parker novel / Richard Stark ; with a new foreword by Chris Holm. Description: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2017. Identifi ers: LCCN 2017011471 | ISBN 9780226508207 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780226508344 (e- book) Subjects: LCSH: Parker (Fictitious character)—Fiction. Classifi cation: LCC PS3573.E9 B74 2017 | DDC 813/.54—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn .loc .gov/2017011471

♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper).