A review by nigellicus
Drowned Hopes by Donald E. Westlake

5.0

Truly great Dortmunder caper where he is invited to help an old cellmate who happens to be a terrifying sociopath recover stolen money from the bottom of a reservoir. It's not really Dortmunder's thing, but seeing as if he doesn't the old cell-mate intends to resort to dynamite and flood a valley full of unsuspecting citizens, he feels obliged to make the effort. There follows a series of attempts to get down to the money and to get the money up. None of them go smoothly. Complications accrue and increase, as does the cast of characters involved, with lots of old familiars and a few new faces, such as Wally the round moist computer guy and Doug the diver, and with each disaster Dortmunder becomes more and more reluctant and has to be persuaded back to the job with extreme measures lest Tom the cellmate decide to go ahead with the whole dynamite thing.

Daft as a brush but full of a kind of remorselessly hilarious logic, Drowned Hopes is pure wet brilliance. It's even got that line about no dogs in a reservoir which set at least one friend of mine wondering about a certain film title.