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A review by thefourthvine
What's So Funny? by Donald E. Westlake
3.0
It's sort of hard to rate this one fairly; I understand that there's another Dortmunder book coming out in 2009, but this still feels like the end of an era, given Westlake's death. So there was something of a nostalgia factor at work here.
But, overall, this is just another middling Dortmunder novel - which means it's fun, yes, but not laugh-out-loud funny, the way some of the earlier novels are, and not as complex and devious as most of middle ones are.
Part of the problem is that the formula is starting to show. (No, part of the problem is that there is a formula; the early and middle books lacked that.) It's easy to predict the plot; you take threads A, B, and C, and if you've read other books in the series, you know exactly how it will end up. Part of the problem is that these last books just don't have the edge that the early ones did.
But still - Dortmunder and company are good companions for an afternoon, and this book is fun and engaging, if not exactly off the charts. I'd recommend it for people who have read all the books before [book:Bad News] and still aren't satisfied - and for anyone who is sad that with Westlake gone, Dortmunder is now a very limited commodity.
But, overall, this is just another middling Dortmunder novel - which means it's fun, yes, but not laugh-out-loud funny, the way some of the earlier novels are, and not as complex and devious as most of middle ones are.
Part of the problem is that the formula is starting to show. (No, part of the problem is that there is a formula; the early and middle books lacked that.) It's easy to predict the plot; you take threads A, B, and C, and if you've read other books in the series, you know exactly how it will end up. Part of the problem is that these last books just don't have the edge that the early ones did.
But still - Dortmunder and company are good companions for an afternoon, and this book is fun and engaging, if not exactly off the charts. I'd recommend it for people who have read all the books before [book:Bad News] and still aren't satisfied - and for anyone who is sad that with Westlake gone, Dortmunder is now a very limited commodity.