The Man with the Getaway Face

I'm still not fully clicking with the series as a whole (just don't get the schemes) but I dig hanging out with this professional monster. Also really enjoyed the section about Stubbs escaping from “on ice.”

If you're looking for a crime novel with a lot of punch, try the Man with the Getaway Face. It is well paced and tautly written. Although one or two plot strands drag a little.

Stark's recurring amoral character, Parker, is surgically altered. The reason: to escape the mob and a contract on his life. Desperate for cash, he decides to join his old associates Skimm and Handy McKay to rob an armored car in New Jersey. Parker and Handy soon realize that the finger for the job, Skimm's girlfriend Alma, intends to betray them. Moreover, an employee of Dr. Adler (who performed Parker's surgery) threatens to rat Parker out to The Outfit. Adler has been murdered, and Adler's employees think Parker is to blame.

It's a noir novel about a very hard man. Parker makes the complex world simple.

Cross and double cross
who wouldn't be suspicious?
broads can't be trusted.