Admired for his ability to create scenarios and characters that are instantly recognizable yet vividly fresh, Don Winslow emerges from a self-imposed retirement with a half-dozen new stories in “The Final Score” (on sale today).

“Score” coincides with another Winslow book tie-in: The upcoming Valentine’s weekend release of the big screen “Crime 101” based on Winslow’s 2020 novella of the same name starring Australia’s Chris Hemsworth and Ireland’s Barry Keoghan.

“Final Score” has also been marked for a film adaptation with its story “Collision” which was bought by Amazon with Jake Gyllenhaal (“Road House,” the AppleTV+ series “Presumed Innocent”) set to star and produce.

In 2012 Winslow adapted his novel “Savages” for the big screen with Blake Lively, Aaron-Taylor Johnson and Benicio del Toro starring. Matt Damon long ago was attached to star in a film version of Winslow’s “The Force” about corrupt NYPD cops. Leonardo Di Caprio had optioned Winslow’s “Satori” and currently Austin Butler (“Dune 2”) has a director and is to star in the film version of Winslow’s “City on Fire.”

“I’ve been very lucky, very fortunate,” Winslow, 72, said in a phone interview. “Because literally, everything I’ve ever written has been either optioned or purchased for films or television.”

Yet for all the star power his name attracts, Winslow will never write with a specific actor in mind.

“No, absolutely not! But if I were to have an actor in mind, or a film or TV series in mind, when I start to write only bad things can happen. You know what I mean?

“I’m going to write either a bad novel or a bad film treatment. Because they’re different breeds of cat entirely. So, while I know that that’s probably going to happen (a film or series sale], I have to completely disregard it and write it as what it is: It’s a novel. Or it’s a short story. It’s on the page — and not on the screen.”

As for waiting, sometimes many years, for the film or series to actually be made, “It doesn’t drive me crazy. Probably because I love writing books. I love writing stories.

“So, by the time I’ve done it, I’ve taken satisfaction from it. If it then has another life on film or TV, great. And if it doesn’t, I’m OK with it.”

And yes, he’s been asked to “do a Hitchcock” and make a brief screen appearance. “That’s not going to happen,” he insists.

Because — he wants to be mysterious?

“It feels like I’d be crossing a boundary that I don’t want to cross. So, so far, I think permanently, the answer will be no.”

With a body of work, a large body in fact, that’s centered on violent people, “Sometimes,” he discovered, “people express surprise at how ‘normal’ I am.

People are not afraid him?

“They’re not.”

Chris Hemsworth stars in “Crime 101.” (Photo Merrick Morton/Amazon MGM Studios)