“This was not a joke.” Parker walks away from this escapade $25,000 richer but phew-ee what a way to make a living. This time round he’s commissioned to plan, rather than execute, the theft of a collosal stash of diamonds from a Manhattan safe house, a job that’s already been discussed with a previous tealeaf who is rejected as unsuitable but who nevertheless just can’t stop himself from trying for a slice of the pie. That, plus African politics, and the kidnapping of Parker’s plus one, Claire – by a group of men superbly ignorant of the sort of man they’re dicing with – makes for the sort of one-off, late night thriller you hope to stumble upon on TV. This one is lean even by Richard Stark’s usual standards but I can’t help suspecting David “Heist” Mamet might have been inspired by the total lack of unsentimentality, if not the pared-down prose. Points too for the back stories of each of the doomed players.
