I’ve read all Donald E. Westlake’s Parker novels and Slayground is my favorite. Parker is a professional thief and the series describes a sequence of capers where Parker steals stuff. But Slayground is different. Parker accidentally witnesses a drug transaction and flees into an abandoned amusement park. The drug dealers enter the amusement park intent on killing Parker. But they don’t know who they’re dealing with. Surprises abound.

Back in the early 1980s, Westlake gave a talk at the downtown Buffalo Library. I listened to the speech and got in line for the book signing. Westlake kindly signed the dozen books I’d brought. At that time, it had been years since he’d written a Parker novel so I asked him about that. Westlake said, “I started writing a Parker novel, but it turned out funny. It turned out to be The Hot Rock.”

Now that Westlake is gone, there won’t be any more Parker novels. And the world is poorer for that.

This is not as good as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ JOHN CARTER novels. But Kline’s works have charms of their own as Michael Moorcock’s affectionate introduction makes plain. Again, Planet Stories must be commended for bringing these titles back into print. I do miss the Roy Krenkel covers that graced the ACE editions.