Rating: 
Summary: Highly Original
Review: Burglars such as John Dortmunder can accept getting caught and turned over to the police, it goes with the territory. So it was with an air of inevitability that Dortmunder allowed himself to be handcuffed by the police after making the mistake of getting caught while robbing billionaire Max Fairbanks. What is totally unacceptable is, while in custody and about to be taken to the station, the same Max Fairbanks brazenly steals Dortmunder's `lucky' ring.John is determined to recover his ring and won't rest until he has it. The fact that he's up against a billionaire with virtually unlimited resources isn't enough to alter his resolve. So we follow caper after caper as John and his old friend Andy Kelp make their attempts which occur in New York City, Washington D.C. and then, in a rousing finale, in Las Vegas. This is the 9th book in the Dortmunder series and is an outstanding story that contains all the humour and characters of the previous books, but is different for one important reason. It looks as though John's luck may have changed, although he won't hear of it. It's the paradox between the luck Dortmunder thinks he is experiencing and the luck he's actually having that provides many of the more amusing moments. Donald Westlake's John Dortmunder series has provided me with some of the most consistently entertaining reading of any author I have read in recent years. The books are complete farces, yet have been presented with the greatest imagination possible. What's The Worst That Could Happen picks up this precedent and carries it even further. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good laugh.
Rating: 
Summary: Dortmunder's famous luck
Review: Hilariously clever, Westlake's 1996 John Dortmunder thriller turns on luck as the ingenious but luckless burglar's soulmate, May, receives a bequest, "a small box, such as earrings might come in, or a kidnap victim's finger."
In it is her dead uncle's "lucky" ring which fits Dortmunder perfectly. Wearing it, he embarks on a burgling job. But the corporate beach house is not empty. The owner, Max Fairbanks, one of the world's richest men, greets Dortmunder with a gun. Whimsically topping off his coup, Fairbanks announces to the police that Dortmunder has stolen his ring and gleefully appropriates Dortmunder's lucky piece.
A mistake. Dormunder, personally affronted, begins a single-minded quest to retrieve the ring by escaping the police and returning to the house, now disappointingly empty - of people, that is. Consoling himself with a rich haul, Dortmunder plots his next move, undeterred even by the prospect of pursuing Fairbanks beyond the bounds of his New York world. Meanwhile the burglary is the start of a spectacular downhill slide for Fairbanks.
Westlake's prose hurtles along with the twists of the plot as loot fairly jumps into the hands of Dortmunder's gang (growing larger at every turn) while the ring continues to elude him. The final caper unleashes a veritable army of New York's thieves on an extremely suspicious and watchful Las Vegas. This is Westlake at his funniest.
Rating: 
Summary: Whose Bad Luck Is It?
Review: In If you have read any of the previous novels about John Dortmunder, the imaginative planner for many a heist, you know that he lacks only one element to have a perfect life . . . some good luck. In What's the Worst That Could Happen? Talented crime caper author Donald E. Westlake reveals many ironies about our views on luck. As the book opens, Dortmunder is offered $500 to pretend he is someone else at a deposition. He spends a week memorizing his lines, and is ready to go. Then he friend cancels the whole thing. So there's no $500 coming. As usual, such a setback sets Dortmunder in motion to find a new source of "easy" and illegal income. May, Dortmunder's girl friend, receives a FedEx package, and is puzzled. Unexpectedly, her uncle, Gideon Gilbert Goodwin has died. Her sister, June, has decided to send her Uncle Gideon's "lucky ring." May remembers Uncle Gid as "the one who smelled like horse manure, I think. He was out at the track all the time." The ring was not too thrilling. It was "gold-looking but wasn't gold . . ." and "displayed on its flat surface three thin lines of tiny stones -- chips, really -- . . . that were probably glass." The top line was discontinuous with a blank in the middle. May's annoyed because she sees this as a gambit by June to get May to call her. The ring also doesn't fit her. She asks John to try it on. "You could use a little luck." The ring fits perfectly on the ring finger of his right hand. "So there you are," she said. "Your lucky ring." Immediately, the phone rings and a friend, Gus, offers him the chance to work on a burglary that night. A billionaire, Max Fairbanks, "is in Chapter Eleven, so the house his corporation owns . . . is under control of the bankruptcy court, so nobody's supposed to go there, so it's empty." Unfortunately, Max has decided to sneak into the house to entertain Playboy's Miss September, Tracy Kimberly, for one last time before he loses the house. When Gus and Dortmunder break in, Max lifts his head from Tracy's navel, takes a gun from a bedside drawer, and catches Dortmunder in the act. When the police come, Max notices that Dortmunder's "lucky" ring has the same symbol on it as his corporation uses. Max tells the police that the ring belongs to him, and steals it from Dortmunder. Although the ring has little real value, Dortmunder doesn't want to lose it because it's a gift from May. After one of the most hilarious escapes from the police that you will ever read about, he sets about recovering the ring. In a rare reversal of fortune, Dortmunder always succeeds in pulling off each caper . . . reaping lots of loot in the process, but he cannot recapture that "lucky" ring. The people who are getting lucky are Dortmunder's friends who help him with the capers. Andy Kelp does best because he even finds a girl friend in the process. Gradually, Max realizes that it is Dortmunder who is after him, so all the resources that a billionaire in bankruptcy can muster are arrayed against Dortmunder. The final showdown comes in Las Vegas in a hilarious caper that will remind you of many of the great Hollywood movies about knocking off casinos. By the time you are done, you'll be wondering who and what are really lucky and about what. Perhaps Dortmunder should realize that his good luck begins and ends with May. After all his previous relationship had been an unfortunate marriage to and divorce from a nightclub entertainer named Honeybun Bazoom in San Diego. The main problem with the book is that Dortmunder is a lot funnier when he's having more problems. A lot of the tension that creates laughter is lost by having him successfully ripping off Max in New York, Washington and Las Vegas. After you finish reading this book, think about where you have good luck . . . always!
Rating:
Summary: Whose Bad Luck Is It?
Review: In If you have read any of the previous novels about John Dortmunder, the imaginative planner for many a heist, you know that he lacks only one element to have a perfect life . . . some good luck. In What's the Worst That Could Happen? Talented crime caper author Donald E. Westlake reveals many ironies about our views on luck. As the book opens, Dortmunder is offered $500 to pretend he is someone else at a deposition. He spends a week memorizing his lines, and is ready to go. Then he friend cancels the whole thing. So there's no $500 coming. As usual, such a setback sets Dortmunder in motion to find a new source of "easy" and illegal income. May, Dortmunder's girl friend, receives a FedEx package, and is puzzled. Unexpectedly, her uncle, Gideon Gilbert Goodwin has died. Her sister, June, has decided to send her Uncle Gideon's "lucky ring." May remembers Uncle Gid as "the one who smelled like horse manure, I think. He was out at the track all the time." The ring was not too thrilling. It was "gold-looking but wasn't gold . . ." and "displayed on its flat surface three thin lines of tiny stones -- chips, really -- . . . that were probably glass." The top line was discontinuous with a blank in the middle. May's annoyed because she sees this as a gambit by June to get May to call her. The ring also doesn't fit her. She asks John to try it on. "You could use a little luck." The ring fits perfectly on the ring finger of his right hand. "So there you are," she said. "Your lucky ring." Immediately, the phone rings and a friend, Gus, offers him the chance to work on a burglary that night. A billionaire, Max Fairbanks, "is in Chapter Eleven, so the house his corporation owns . . . is under control of the bankruptcy court, so nobody's supposed to go there, so it's empty." Unfortunately, Max has decided to sneak into the house to entertain Playboy's Miss September, Tracy Kimberly, for one last time before he loses the house. When Gus and Dortmunder break in, Max lifts his head from Tracy's navel, takes a gun from a bedside drawer, and catches Dortmunder in the act. When the police come, Max notices that Dortmunder's "lucky" ring has the same symbol on it as his corporation uses. Max tells the police that the ring belongs to him, and steals it from Dortmunder. Although the ring has little real value, Dortmunder doesn't want to lose it because it's a gift from May. After one of the most hilarious escapes from the police that you will ever read about, he sets about recovering the ring. In a rare reversal of fortune, Dortmunder always succeeds in pulling off each caper . . . reaping lots of loot in the process, but he cannot recapture that "lucky" ring. The people who are getting lucky are Dortmunder's friends who help him with the capers. Andy Kelp does best because he even finds a girl friend in the process. Gradually, Max realizes that it is Dortmunder who is after him, so all the resources that a billionaire in bankruptcy can muster are arrayed against Dortmunder. The final showdown comes in Las Vegas in a hilarious caper that will remind you of many of the great Hollywood movies about knocking off casinos. By the time you are done, you'll be wondering who and what are really lucky and about what. Perhaps Dortmunder should realize that his good luck begins and ends with May. After all his previous relationship had been an unfortunate marriage to and divorce from a nightclub entertainer named Honeybun Bazoom in San Diego. The main problem with the book is that Dortmunder is a lot funnier when he's having more problems. A lot of the tension that creates laughter is lost by having him successfully ripping off Max in New York, Washington and Las Vegas. After you finish reading this book, think about where you have good luck . . . always!
Rating:
Summary: Dortmunder, funny as always.
Review: John Dortmunder is a burglar. While on what should have been an easy job he's caught by the pistol-toting homeowner and gets caught. That's bad enough, but the homeowner, wealthy Max Fairbanks, adds insult to injury when he claims that Dortmunder's lucky ring actually belongs to him. Big mistake. Dortmunder vows to get the ring back no matter what which leads to a series of funny capers where Max Fairbanks loses more and more wealth until the slam-bang finish in Las Vegas. I've been reading the Dortmunder novels for years and they never disappoint. They are always funny with a little cockeyed slant to them that Donald Westlake is famous for. They are just fun books to read and I'd recommend any of them.
Rating:
Summary: I can't wait to read more about my friends...
Review: One daren't talk of "the best ever" because Westlake keeps on surpassing himself, but it's the best so far! How nice to see Dortmunder actually making a profit.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a good first Dortmunder to read
Review: Professional criminal Dortmunder, who is characterized by his sad-sack appearance and his inoffensive demeanor, is suddenly a man on a mission after his ring is stolen by Fairbanks, a rich homeowner. Dortmunder was breaking into Fairbank's estate, and got caught. When the police arrive, Fairbanks can't resist an impulse to tell the police that the ring belongs to him, and Dortmunder is driven to try to recover his ring. He chases Faribanks from one domicile to another, always netting plenty of cash, but never attaining his goal. The climax involves clashing armies of crooks and security guards in Las Vegas.
The Good and the Bad:
I enjoyed the early portions of this book, in which the situations and the characters are both fresh and interesting. But as the book wears on, believability is stretched further and further, and an explosion of new characters leaves only enough time for a stereotypical understanding of each (as with the hulking thief named Tiny--- yawn!). The problem with continually escalating the stakes and the forces at play on either side is that eventually you're just repeating yourself, but louder. Westlake falls into this trap, and the climax is only mildly suspenseful. I would have liked to have seen Dortmunder himself in a wider variety of situations, so that we could more fully explore and appreciate his quirkiness, but sadly, that was not the direction that Westlake chose.
I picked up this book because I enjoy the Parker novels so much, but I don't think I'd give Dortmunder another try. To me, Stark is the real author and Westlake is the pseudonym.
Rating:
Summary: Joy
Review: These Dortmunders not only make me laugh out loud (which can be embarrassing when you're sitting alone on a bus or train) they bring joy. Does that seem goofy? Well here's to goofiness 'cause I can't help but feel better after reading 'em. They're paperbound treasure chests to me.
Rating:
Summary: Dortmunder's Revenge
Review: This is a jewel of a book from Westlake. When Dortmunder is caught in a heist, the victim manages to take the thief's "lucky" ring when the police apprehend him. Dortmunder's quest for his missing ring brings in all of our favorite characters from the series as he robs millionaire Fairbanks time and again. The book culminates in a Vegas heist that would do Ocean's 11 proud. Funny and exciting, this book is a must have for any Westlake/Stark fan.
Rating:
Summary: WtWTTCH not buying this? You Miss Out on an Interesting Book
Review: When career thief, Dortmunder is asked by a friend to rob a vacant holiday house in Long Island he agrees thinking what's the worst thing that could happen? Only the house is not vacant and billionaire media baron tycoon Max Fairbanks holds Dortmunder captive at gunpoint until the police arrive. The police ask Fairbanks if anything is stolen and upon seeing a ring on Dortmunder's finger he decides he will turn the tables on his intruder and steal his ring. He claims the ring is his and the cop makes Dortmunder hand it over. Pleased with himself Fairbanks figures, what's the worst that could happen? Fairbanks is humiliated and enraged. Vengeance and getting the ring back are all that occupies his mind, but Fairbanks is extremely powerful and hard to track down. This is an interesting book. A bit slow in parts but a good basic plot. If you like this and want a sensational Westlake novel read his book The Ax.
| 
