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lprnana6572's review against another edition
5.0
Love the Dortmunder books and these short stories were fun.
slinky179's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
My intro to Dortmunder. Took a few stories, but I had a lot of fun. My favs were Too Many Crooks and Now What?
mschlat's review against another edition
4.0
A fun, light read. This is my first exposure to Westlake's more humorous work; almost everything else of his I've read has been Parker novels. I will probably pick up some Dortmunder stuff in the future.
isovector's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't realize this was a collection of short stories until about three short stories in! Before that I was very confused. But it turns out that short stories are the right length for Dortmunder; he's sorta fun, but quickly loses his welcome --- so lots of short little scenarios are the perfect medium.
Some of these are quite good, others are not. All in all it's not an amazing read, but if you're in it this deep, you might as well.
Some of these are quite good, others are not. All in all it's not an amazing read, but if you're in it this deep, you might as well.
thetruthatallhazards's review
funny
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
heists!!
thefourthvine's review
3.0
This is an interesting read, mostly on a meta level; it's fascinating to see how structurally different these stories are from Westlake's full-length Dortmunder books. Basically, this book is an excellent education in how to craft short stories as opposed to novels.
So on that level, the book is awesome. Unfortunately, a lot of the things I truly love about the Dortmunder series don't work as well in short form; there can't be any complicated plotting, for example, and the partners in crime mostly don't appear in these stories. So mostly these are - well, vignettes, almost, little pieces of Dortmunderiana, if I can use the term. It's great if you're jonesing for a Dortmunder fix, but I'm not, not right now. In a way, I wish I'd saved these stories for a while.
Still, there are some stories that stood out for me. The last one is probably the most interesting - and, again, this is mostly a meta level. Westlake at one point thought he'd lose the rights to the name "John Dortmunder" to a movie studio, so he started looking for another name for the character. He came up with John Rumsey. He never had to use the substitute name, but he did write a short story using Rumsey and co (Algy, Stan Little, Big Hooper) just to see how it would go. It's like a perfect little canonical AU, and it's also a great story.
Basically, I'd consider this collection well worth reading for fans of the series. Anyone else won't find much to appreciate here.
So on that level, the book is awesome. Unfortunately, a lot of the things I truly love about the Dortmunder series don't work as well in short form; there can't be any complicated plotting, for example, and the partners in crime mostly don't appear in these stories. So mostly these are - well, vignettes, almost, little pieces of Dortmunderiana, if I can use the term. It's great if you're jonesing for a Dortmunder fix, but I'm not, not right now. In a way, I wish I'd saved these stories for a while.
Still, there are some stories that stood out for me. The last one is probably the most interesting - and, again, this is mostly a meta level. Westlake at one point thought he'd lose the rights to the name "John Dortmunder" to a movie studio, so he started looking for another name for the character. He came up with John Rumsey. He never had to use the substitute name, but he did write a short story using Rumsey and co (Algy, Stan Little, Big Hooper) just to see how it would go. It's like a perfect little canonical AU, and it's also a great story.
Basically, I'd consider this collection well worth reading for fans of the series. Anyone else won't find much to appreciate here.
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