Parker is asked by the Outfit to put a guy out of business permanently, who runs a casino on a private island. Of course, he's no killer, but he will burn/bomb the place to hide his theft. He's a cool cucumber in negotiating the economics of his heist. The planning is great, with Parker's usual no nonsense approach, and of course, things go wrong, putting everyone in grave danger (is there any other kind? :-)) A 4-star story with a 2-star ending although Parker does go all out, and then some, to rescue his crew. ( )

Parker and the Island Casino
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (December, 2011) of the Pocket Books paperback (1967)

Richard Stark was one of the many pseudonyms of the prolific crime author Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008), who wrote over 100 books. The Stark pseudonym was used primarily for the Parker novels, an antihero criminal who is usually betrayed or ensnared in some manner and who spends each book getting revenge or escaping the circumstances.

In The Handle, Parker is hired by his old adversaries The Outfit to rob and destroy an off-shore casino that is taking away their gambling business. Parker enlists various allies for the job, including parttime actor Alan Grofield (making his 2nd Parker appearance). Of course the job goes bad and everyone is hard-pressed to get out alive. In the end, Parker gets Grofield to a Mexican hospital to recover and that sets the scene for Grofield's own spin-off series which starts with The Damsel (1967).

Narrator Stephen R. Thorne does a good job in all voices in this audiobook edition.

I had never previously read the Stark/Parker novels but became curious when they came up in my recent reading of The Writer's Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives (Sept. 2020) by Nancy Pearl & Jeff Schwager. Here is a (perhaps surprising) excerpt from their discussion with author Amor Towles:

Nancy: Do you read Lee Child?
Amor: I know Lee. I had never read his books until I met him, but now I read them whenever they come out. I think some of the decisions he makes are ingenious.
Jeff: Have you read the Parker books by Donald Westlake [writing as Richard Stark]?
Amor: I think the Parker books are an extraordinary series.
Jeff: They feel like a big influence on Reacher, right down to the name. Both Reacher and Parker have a singular focus on the task in front of them.
Amor: But Parker is amoral. Reacher is just dangerous.
Jeff: Right. Reacher doesn't have a conventional morality, but he has his own morality. Parker will do anything he has to do to achieve his goal.
Amor: But to your point, Westlake's staccato style with its great twists at the end the end of the paragraphs, and his mesmerizing central character - these attributes are clearly shared by the Reacher books.

The 24 Parker books are almost all available for free on Audible Plus, except for #21 & #22 which aren't available at all.

Trivia and Links
There is a brief plot summary of The Handle and of all the Parker books and adaptations at The Violent World of Parker website.

Although the 2011 Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition shares the same cover art as the University of Chicago Press 2009 reprint, it does not include the Foreword by author Luc Sante. ( )

All in on these Parker stories ( )

“One thing I know. Some nights, the handle in that place is a quarter million bucks.”

Parker is back, and this time he’s taking on an island! An island names Cockaigne, off the coast of Texas. And he's doing it on behalf of the Outfit? Makes for strange bedfellows indeed... But throw in ol’ Alan Grofield, and you’ve got yourself one heck of a caper!

But, like most Parker books, it’s a bit of a rocky ride, especially for Alan! “For the fifth time tonight, for the fifth time in his life, Grofield had been shot. This one, he was afraid, this one was was much worse than the other four.” Yeesh. It's a short, quick read, but fun and exciting! In my opinion, you can never go wrong with a Parker novel! ( )

These books are so, so great. This one has the honor of having the best line so far in a Parker novel. It's in Part 3, Chapter 5. ( )