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Ex-con. Author. Actor. Legend. Edward Bunker is one of the acknowledged masters of crime fiction. Written in the late 1960's and discovered after Bunker's death in 2005, *Stark *is his first and perhaps his most explosive novel ever. 1. Oceanview, California. The girls are beautiful. The dope is cheap. The squares here are ripe for the plucking--easy money for a man with a plan. Ernie Stark is a hophead and a grifter out to make a big score. If he has to screw over everyone in town, he will. The problem is one more misstep will find him locked up for good. Violent, lightening paced and exotic, filed with the most wonderful cast of lowlifes you'll ever meet and dialogue that crackles, this is the lost novel for mystery lovers everywhere and the legion of fans of the legendary Edward Bunker. ** ### From Publishers Weekly Ernie Stark, self-confessed two-bit hustler, con artist, junkie, rides the razor in this rediscovered early novel from Bunker (1933–2005), who was once on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, but achieved true cult status playing Mr. Blue in Tarantino's film *Reservoir Dogs*. Compact, brilliantly detailed, set in the beach community of Oceanview, Calif., in 1962, this effort predates Bunker's sensational fictional debut, *No Beast So Fierce* (1973). A staccato introductory burst by James Ellroy aptly compares the action to a Gold Medal paperback original of the '50s. As a drug addict, Stark needs to keep clear his supply line from his dealer, Momo Mendoza, even as the brutal cop Patrick Crowley pressures him into setting up Momo. The mute killer Dummy lends some menace, and the beautiful Dorie Williams some allure. Stark thinks that Dorie has about her something childish and undefiled—or perhaps only half defiled. The scams, shoot-outs and sweat of desperation come straight from the street in this posthumous wild ride from a modern master of crime fiction. *(Jan.)* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### Review "The best first person crime novel I have ever read." --Quentin Tarantino on *Little Boy Blue* "Bunker is a true original of American letters." --James Ellroy, author of *The Black Dahlia * "Mr. Bunker has written a raw, unromantic, naturalistic crime drama more lurid than anything the noiresque Chandlers or Hammetts ever dreamed up."--*The New York Times *on *Dog Eat Dog*