Put a Lid on It

Weary of torturous plots that didn't make sense that I've been suffering through because they were "highly recommended" by people with "reputations", I reached for and started reading "Put a Lid On It" by Donald Westlake who wrote the dark "The Ax" and "The Hook". Every word of this comic caper was a joy including the dedication. I won't give you the plot (it's readily available). But let me tell you no plot summary can tell you the subtle ironic messages about our presidential election process I found in this crime caper. The ending is funny and touching. Don't miss this.

This is vintage Westlake and a bitter satire of government. All of Westlake's characters have runs of bad luck and Franci (not Frank, thank you) Meehan is no exception. Meehan is a non-violent career criminal who has just been incarcerated at the Manhattan Correctional Center awaiting sentencing on a federal charge (how was he to know the truck he was hijacking was carrying registered mail in addition to computer parts). He is approached by Jeffords, obviously a lawyer, who makes him a strange proposition. Jeffords whisks Meehan off to the Outer Banks in a corporate jet. The U.S. president's campaign committee needs a burglary performed, and they've learned a lesson from Watergate: If you need a successful burglary, hire a professional burglar. Amateurs, they are, they pick one in prison. They want Meehan to steal a very incriminating videotape from a supporter of the opposing party. All charges will be dropped if he can pull it off. Meehan is no fool, however, hates to work with amateurs - that would violate one of the "ten-thousand rules" - and he works his own little sting in the midst of the large one. He enlists his own crew to lift the video from the estate of a wacko millionaire all the while trying to protect himself from incompetent but malicious forces (rent-a-thugs from the rival campaign and some errant Middle-Eastern types) who want the video for their own purposes. In this humorous crime caper, Westlake is at his cynical and impudent best.

I've been a fan since "What's the Worst That Could Happen?" and didn't think that the "good crooks" could get any better than Dortmunder, but I fell in love with Meehan. Clever, funny, and smart. I enjoyed this one from beginning to end. There were times when the humor was so subtle that I almost missed the joke. I like books that make me have to pay attention. This is another Westlake winner. I highly recommend it.

Westlake is up against the real crooks this time as he takes on the spindoctors, dirty tricks and honorable candidates of our national political scene. And you know he's going to win in the end by poking fun "RIGHT" and "LEFT!"Francis Xavier Meehan is a thief. He's also sitting in jail getting ready to be found guilty of "big time" federal charges because the ordinary truck he helped hijack wasn't full of the expected computer stuff from Mexico, but U.S. Postal Service mail. Then out of the blue a very non-lawyerly person claiming to be his lawyer shows up at the jail to see him and makes him a deal that he can't refuse. It seems as if the president, who is running for re-election has committed a slight political blunder, which just happens to be detailed on a video tape the opposition is going to release as a last minute dirty trick that will blow the election. So Meehan agrees to the offer which is to steal the tape and watch the federal charges disappear.So, do you really expect a bunch of politicians to ever do anything right - especially in a Westlake comedy of errors? Before long everyone from the opposition to international espionage agents know that something is brewing with Francis Xavier.There's no "little blue dress" in this political farce, but expect to see just about everything else. Westlake has returned to his classic comic crime style for this one and created a whole new cast of enjoyable characters that really deserve a second visit. Hint. Hint. This one has my total recommendation.

After the superb (and darkly satirical) social commentary of "The Ax" and the intense psychological morality of "The Hook" Donald Westlake has returned to old, familiar and very funny territory for him -- the humorous crime caper novel. Once again we have a likable, non-violent career criminal who finds himself getting in over his head. Francis (not "Frank") Meehan finds himself for the first time in his life in a Federal lockup awaiting trial for an accidental Federal crime (well, how could he have known there was registered mail, for goodness sakes, in that trailer truck supposed to full of computer gear?). And then fate intervenes. Or, more exactly, the political committee for the reelection of the President of the United States intervenes. Wishing to carry out a Watergate-type endeavor without all that unfortunate publicity, the presidential advisors have decided to employ a professional burglar instead of using amateur enthusiasts and spies. Enter (or, rather, exit from jail) Francis Meehan. And he and the reader are off and running. No, "Put a Lid on It" doesn't possess the emotional whallop of "The Ax" or "The Hook" but sometimes it is enough just to have a darned good time. It's fast, it's funny, and it even involves a joint Israeli-Egyptian Intelligence team. How can you go wrong?