Slayground Audiobook By Richard Stark cover art

Slayground

A Parker Novel, Book 14

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free + $20 Audible credit

$8.99/mo. after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Get this deal
Offer ends on July 5, 2026 at 11:59 PT.
More purchase options

Slayground

By: Richard Stark
Narrated by: Joe Barrett
Get this deal

$8.99/mo. after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends July 5, 2026 at 11:59pm PT.

Buy for $14.71

Buy for $14.71

The hunter becomes prey, as a heist goes sour and Parker finds himself trapped in a shuttered amusement park, besieged by a bevy of local mobsters. There are no exits from Fun Island. Outnumbered and outgunned, Parker can’t afford a single miscalculation. He’s low on bullets - but, as anyone who’s crossed his path knows, that definitely doesn’t mean he’s defenseless.

©1971 Richard Stark; Foreword © 2010 by Charles Ardai (P)2000 AudioGO Hard-Boiled Mystery
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

People who viewed this also viewed...

The Hunter Audiobook By Richard Stark cover art
The Hunter By: Richard Stark
Engaging Premise • Suspenseful Tension • Brilliant Strategist • Character Development • Unique Storytelling

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant
We join Parker, Grofield, and Lauffman in the middle of an armored car robbery. Lauffman drove way too fast, losing control, rolling the car. Grofield and Lauffman were out cold in the front seat. Parker got out, looking for any type of escape. All he saw was an amusement park across the field; Fun Island. He took the sachel of loot and ran for it. Flashback two weeks ago: An old retired thief named Dent called Handy with a possible job for Parker to look at. The old man told Parker he got a haircut at the barbershop last week, looked in the mirror seeing the back of his head, and the elevens were up. You know what that means, Parker? ‘It means you’re finished.’ See references [1] [2] below. Parker said nothing but glanced at the man’s neck and saw it was true. Dent took Parker out to a seldom traveled road. They sat in the car talking until an armored car went by. Parker said, “That’s the job?” So much for the setup of the story. No police came in, which Parker knew was odd. Four guys, two cops, two mob guys, saw Parker go over the fence into the amusement park. Parker figured the men who saw him were going to make a play for the money themselves. Parker had only one five-shot revolver. The continuing story is extraordinarily unique. Caught inside the amusement park with the mob and police coming for him. How is Parker going to get through this? It’s a great story. Parker is at the top of his ingenuity game.

[1] The “elevens are up”, i.e., the phrase refers to the two tendons on the back of the neck, which, on an elderly alcoholic, stick out like two ones ‘making the number 11.’ The elevens denote fatal illness and ‘there’s not much more time.’
[2] Another interesting related phrase is “the snake is out”, i.e., a reference to the vein that runs along the ‘left temple of a man’s head,’ which is invisible until a drinking man gets into his fifties when it ‘gets to acting up.’

Fun Islans!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Parker novels are a great find. They are short and sweet. Best of all is there are a bunch of them.

Good from start to finish.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
good old Parker at it again! narration was pretty good story is definitely dated but what fun!

just wow!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Narrator grabs and holds listener throughout. What at first may seem a far-fetched premise unfolds to not only be credible but fully engaging.

Tension-filled, gripping story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Parker has to be my favorite crook. It is interesting how many movie plots resemble Parker novels. Bruce Will ain't got nothing on Parker.

Heist Noir

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews