Don't Ask

Rating:
Summary: An essentially perfect comic caper novel.
Review: This book is wildly successful at all levels. Tightly plotted, it has more surprising turns than a roller coaster. The comedy is deft and clever, and the characterizations are vivid, amusing, and engrossing. A genuinely brilliant tour de force.

Rating:
Summary: An essentially perfect comic caper novel.
Review: This book is wildly successful at all levels. Tightly plotted, it has more surprising turns than a roller coaster. The comedy is deft and clever, and the characterizations are vivid, amusing, and engrossing. A genuinely brilliant tour de force.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected!
Review: This is the first Westlake book I have read. I had heard how great a writer he was. I really did not care for the book. It had a few funny places but there appeared to be to much detail and I could not begin to say the sames of many of the people in the book. This made it much harder to follow the story line. I may try one more book and if like this one---no more!

Rating:
Summary: If you read only one Dortmunder novel, this should be the 1.
Review: Westlake's continuing character, hapless thief John Archibald Dortmunder, suffers his penultimate humiliation in this novel, and gets his most satisfying revenge. Dortmunder's jobs always go wrong, and this time he is actually kidnapped and held prisoner by the people he tried to rob. Dortmunder escapes, and grimly pursues the most hilarious vengeance ever conceived by an author. This is Westlake at his best. Consistently funny, cynical, sharp and breathtakingly well-written. If you have never read a Dortmunder novel, start with this one. If you're an old fan, this is the one to come back with.