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A review by thefourthvine
Thieves' Dozen by Donald E. Westlake
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.