Bank Shot

This is but one of several novels by Westlake with Dortmunder as the main character; and what a character. He is marginally smarter than his colleagues in crime, but they are always screwing things up or having bad luck. He's always complaining and sort of expects the worst. They've made some bad movies about some of this series of books, but the books are wonderful. Read anything with Dortmunder in it - "Drowned Hopes" was probably my favorite, but "What's the Worst That Could Happen" and his most recent one "Bad News" are also classics.

No matter how painstakingly John Dortmunder plans his burglaries, there always seems to be some fly in the ointment. It is the nature of the foul-ups and the brilliant changes of plan that make the Dortmunder series so enjoyable.This time Dortmunder and his mixed-bag crew are planning to steal a bank. That's right, not rob a bank, but actually, physically, steal a bank.As you can imagine, to achieve such an ambitious task takes a fair bit of planning not to mention luck. Dortmunder is a master planner, so they've got that bit covered, unfortunately the luck side of the equation is a tad skinny, and this is where the laughs are provided.Donald Westlake is a master of farce, and Bank Shot certainly doesn't disappoint. This is a great diversion with an interesting caper brought to us by likable, amusing characters.

John Dortmunder is a careful guy who is always looking for a reasonable way to make crime pay. Between major jobs, he's pulling the old "give me a deposit for the encyclopedia" con, working door-to-door in the suburbs. During the recession in the early 1970s, he can earn a pretty decent living doing this. But Mae (his live-in girl friend) knows that Dortmunder needs something to occupy his mind. So when the crazy ex-FBI agent kid shows up with a nutty scheme to steal a whole bank, she encourages Dortmunder to plan it out. From that humble beginning, the humorous complications just keep piling on in unexpected ways!Donald Westlake is a master of setting up the absolutely ridiculous situation. He uses the Dortmunder character as a surrogate for the reader's perspective, so you can laugh at how you would react in the same situation. Like Jane Langton, he also likes to have fun with pointing out how people miss what is just under their noses.The book is also a satire on all of those great theft stories, like The Thomas Crown Affair, in which little is what it seems. The difference is that this is The Thomas Crown Affair Meets the Three Stooges. Dortmunder's gang is as rag-tag a group as you can imagine, but they manage to keep stumbling forward.I particularly admired how the same story element of the bank's mobility is reused time and again for different plot and humor developments. Mr. Westlake is a most imaginative writer!One of the book's most interesting themes is that a piece of good luck is always met by a piece of bad luck, and vice versa. These reversals take the story off in all kinds of unexpected ways (not unlike the unfolding of The Sting). The basic plot revolves around a quite clever idea, using a bank office located in a mobile home as a large version of the letter in "The Purloined Letter." If you were planning to steal a bank, where would you hide it? I know that my drives will never be the same in the future. I'll be looking for places to hide banks!Mr. Westlake does a marvelous job of keeping the reader in suspense about how the story will end. I suspect that few will guess the book's final three scenes. This audio cassette version of the book is very well in presenting the dry humor necessary to carry off the wonderfully witty fictional pictures Westlake draws in your mind. After you finish this story, I suggest that you think about places where you could accomplish your goal better by taking on a larger goal. For example, if you want enough money to retire at age 55, how about setting a goal of being able to create more wealth whenever you want? That idea may sound ridiculous, but public companies can issue more stock . . . and have more cash . . . in all but the worst market environments. So starting a company that can go public could better fulfill your retirement goal than just focusing on the retirement goal itself. Where else can raising the bar be helpful?Can you take your best shot to the bank?

If you share a bedroom with someone, don't read this book in bed! Keeping a room-mate awake by laughing aloud long and frequently could be hazardous to your relationship! One of Westlake's most preposterous and believable plots. (How does he do that?)

I have read most all of Westlake's Dortmunder books, and I would have to rate this as the best. It is incredibly funny and clever. But what ever you do, don't see the horrible movie based on the book and starring George C. Scott. What a terrible shame that that mess of a movie was made when the book offered the perfect film vehicle