Photo: David Livingston/Getty Images (2009)
Sample of authors
Koontz, Dean R.
Dean Ray Koontz is an American author of suspense literature. He was born in Everett, Pennsylvania, and grew up in a dysfunctional family with a violent, alcoholic father and a suppressed mother. He found comfort in reading and watching movies, and he began to write short stories, which he sold to friends and relatives when he was eight years old. He attended Shippensburg State College (now...
Literary figures
Parker
Gender: Male
One of the most horrible anti-heroes in crime fiction is the professional criminal and psychopath Parker (he doesn’t have a first name), created by Richard Stark (pseudonym for Donald E. Westlake). He doesn’t have a permanent home, is well-built, his face looks like it has been carved in cement, his hair is brown and stripy, and he kills without any consideration or conscience. The only time he sh...