Tangled Web UK Review September 2009
Get Real: A Dortmunder Novel by
Donald E. Westlake
hbk out August 09
Published by Quercus
at £18.99
This is unfortunately Westlakes’ last ‘Dortmunder’ novel, as
the author died last New Year’s Eve.
The series was a tongue-in-the-cheek saga about a chronically depressed thief
in New York, who with his small gang of equally criminal cronies, get up to strange
activities in the pursuance of their illegal trade.
This last story is also a sarcastic dig at the current ‘reality shows’
on television, which are about as spontaneous as designing a German automobile.
Through Dortmunder’s pal Stan, who is their get-away driver, the gang is
persuaded by the producer of a TV reality show, to be filmed during an actual
heist, for which they would be well-paid. The only problem would be evading jail,
so they have the bright idea to rob the parent company of the TV station.
In the building where they rehearse, they find a locked floor which they are convinced
is stuffed with money and their antics to get inside form a major part of the
plot.
It is a very amusing tale, without violence or obscenity, and is a fitting epitaph
for a one of America’s most famous writers.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
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