I discovered this guy’s comic crime novels right out of college, and devoured about 15 of them in a row. He’s one of those writers whose narrative voice is so likable, the prose so smoothly delivered, that making it through one of his books is about as laborious as drawing a breath.
But I had drifted away from his output in recent years, and my recollection of his work began to drift, too, to “amusing if somewhat obvious”… and sometimes downright forced. But yesterday I picked up a book of his from 1969, Somebody Owes Me Money, purely to pass time until I fell asleep, and damn if I’m not in love with the guy all over again. (Er, y’know. With his writing.) I simply never stop smiling when I’m holding a book by Donald Westlake. And how many authors, really, give you that much pleasure and warmth per page?
Would love to know of any other dopers who are fans, or even those who have read him and were mildly amused at best. Or dare I say those whose interest I may have even piqued (?)
I’ve got all his Dortmunder books. My favorite is Drowned Hopes. That one got me laughing so hard my neighbor banged on the walls.
For some reason, I’m not really into his non-Dortmunder novels.
I went to see the movie version of What’s the Worst that Could Happen?, with Martin Lawrence. It was nothing like the book of course, just mainly a goofy Martin Lawrence vehicle. I thought the presence of John Leguizamo would have helped, but it didn’t. Should’ve known. I sincerely hope Lawrence doesn’t own the rights to Dortmunder. That would suck.
I have, oh 60 or 70 of Westlake’s books, under at least five different names. He has a pretty good bibliography on his website. (And search around on that site for news of his latest books.)
Westlake is one of the finest writers of the late 20th century, period, in any genre, of any type. I first encountered him with his light caper comedies of the mid-60s, the epitome of the subgenre. His prose is the smoothest and easiest to read of any author I’ve ever encountered. You never stumble over an imperfect sentence, yet it has depth and conveys place and character. I once read a 300-page book of his in 100 minutes without coming up for air, a feat never repeated. I must admit that while his Dortmunder books are his most popular they are not quite his best, and he’s certainly run them into the ground with repetition.
But that’s not all. His Parker books are the model for the straight-prose tough-guy genre, as dark as the Westlake capers are light. The first Dortmunder book, in fact, started out as a Parker but kept turning funny until he just gave up. Those books make perfect movies and it’s not wonder they’ve been filmed over and over. (See the link above for a list.)
William Gibson’s [Neuromancer, the book that launched cyberpunk, was always talked about as Chandleresque, but that’s nonsense. It’s a perfect combination of Westlake’s light and dark caper books. When you do your first novel it’s helpful to steal from the very best.
He is also by far the best adapter of his own works. Compare Cops and Robbers to the junk they’ve made of the Dortmunder books, even The Hot Rock.
There is nobody else I know of who is the master of two such diverse genres as these. Westlake is not nearly as massively acclaimed as he should be outside of the mystery field. He is simply brilliant.
Well, please pass on my admiration for his/her expertise. We editors can endure a lot to make a paragraph read smoothly. (Though I can’t believe your friend was pulling his/her hair out with Westlake’s prose!)
Expanso, I’d agree that the Richard Stark novels are at least as good as the DW farces. I still recall the thrill a few years ago of finding a new Parker in the bookstores after his “retirement” of, what was it, two decades? Butcher’s Moon remains one of the best urban shoot-em-ups ever, imo.
The Dortmunder books, I think, endure out of sheer lovability. They’re wonderfully plotted and great fun, but their comedy isn’t what you’d call cutting-edge. I love browsing the review blurbs on these books- “Side-splitting!” “Laugh-out-loud hilarious!” No, Steve Martin’s pieces are laugh-out-loud hilarious. Westlake is the king of what he does, but let’s keep out superlatives in perspective here.
Nice guy, too. He appeared on a panel at Lincoln Center a few years ago, and my daughter and I buttonholed him in the lobby beforehand, where I explained that this 11-year-old was big fan of his, and asked him he’d autograph some of my first editions for her, which he not only did but also spoke to her and was extremely gracious at my somewhat obnoxious interruption of his time and tongue-tiedness of my daughter. A wonderful, gifted writer. Among his better non-Dortmunder books is BROTHERS KEEPERS, which is what I had autographed.
After checking out the linked bibliography, I appear to have read 27 of Westlake’s novels, mostly those written under the Westlake name.
Along with the Dortmunder books (how can you not like those?) a couple of favorites jumped out at me. Kahawa was a sort of Dortmunder goes to Africa and steals Idi Amin’s coffee type of thing. Humans was more metaphysical and concerned the battle of Heaven and Hell for souls.
Westlake sure is a prolific fellow. I wish I could produce like that.
Just for the record, that bibliography is oddly incomplete.
It omits all of Westlake’s short story collections and all of his children’s books. It also omits the four books he wrote under the name of Samuel Holt. I think there have also been one or two new Westlake books out since he last updated the list as well. I’ve also seen reference to at least one other early name he used for soft-core porn, too.
He almost certainly has put out 90 books and may be over 100.