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A review by pattydsf
What's So Funny? by Donald E. Westlake
3.0
It has been almost two years since I read a book by Westlake and more than that since I last encountered John Dortmunder. Westlake has been dead for seven years and I miss his sharp wit and way with words. He knew how to write crime fiction and was prolific. Good Reads lists 148 works and Wikipedia lists 17 pseudonyms. I can’t imagine how he managed to write all these books.
John Dortmunder was always my favorite Westlake character and I was sure I had read all of his capers. Turns out I had missed two. This novel was the next to last Dortmunder story. It is a typical caper where everything that can will go wrong and the reader has a great time anticipating how the band of merry thieves will screw up this time.
If you haven’t encountered John Dortmunder and his hapless cronies, I highly recommend that you find time to read at least one of Westlake’s tales. The Hot Rock is the first and was made into a movie with Robert Redford. This was not good casting. John is a nebbish and Robert is not. I liked The Hot Rock, but my favorite is Drowned Hopes. You can start anywhere, one robbery is not dependent on another.
John Dortmunder was always my favorite Westlake character and I was sure I had read all of his capers. Turns out I had missed two. This novel was the next to last Dortmunder story. It is a typical caper where everything that can will go wrong and the reader has a great time anticipating how the band of merry thieves will screw up this time.
If you haven’t encountered John Dortmunder and his hapless cronies, I highly recommend that you find time to read at least one of Westlake’s tales. The Hot Rock is the first and was made into a movie with Robert Redford. This was not good casting. John is a nebbish and Robert is not. I liked The Hot Rock, but my favorite is Drowned Hopes. You can start anywhere, one robbery is not dependent on another.