With the passing of Donald E. Westlake this past December, we knew he had one more completed novel for publication: GET REAL. Fittingly, it’s a John Dortmunder adventure, with the whole crew in tow. The best way to sell this novel is Westlake’s love for reality television — well, maybe not love, but he sure likes to take his shots.
The basis for our last run with this lovable crew of criminals is that they will be the focus of a new TV show, when a TV executive named Doug — whose current, semi-staged series, THE STAND, about a vegetable stand and the family who runs it, has run its course — is looking for something truly daring. He comes across Dortmunder’s crew and has the brilliant idea of filming them robbing a bank or pulling off some grand heist.
Dortmunder is pretty adamant that won’t happen and that the only thing they will rob will be a storage facility in the same building as the company Doug works for, with the idea being that would allow Dortmunder to also work on another job in the building at the same time.
This being a Dortmunder story, things never go as well as planned, especially when Doug’s boss wants to interfere by placing actors within the crew, forcing Dortmunder and his pals into a bit of a corner. None of them want their faces on TV and give bogus info, so nothing can be linked to them.
The novel is packed with Westlake’s trademark humor, especially the passages where Dortmunder and crew make unexpected visits to Doug’s apartment. What is even funnier are the interactions between the TV types who think all criminals are right out of the movies, then are totally shocked by how by-the-book and cold they can be. When Doug thinks he might be bumped off for the information he knows, it’s laugh-out-loud funny, showing that Westlake has not lost a step.
What is a bit weird is that the book takes place in the present, which would mean Dortmunder and his pals should not be able to pull off some of the events that happen, since they would all be in their 60s, at least, while another character would be in her 90s, still driving a taxi. But these are people who live in the world where the times might change, but they never age. GET REAL is a fitting conclusion to the crime series and a very nice way to close out Westlake’s career. —Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• ASK THE PARROT by Richard Stark
• THE AX by Donald E. Westlake
• BANK SHOT by Donald E. Westlake
• COPS AND ROBBERS by Donald E. Westlake
• THE CUTIE by Donald E. Westlake
• DIRTY MONEY by Richard Stark
• THE HOT ROCK by Donald E. Westlake
• THE HUNTER by Richard Stark
• I KNOW A TRICK WORTH TWO OF THAT by Donald E. Westlake
• THE JUGGER by Donald E. Westlake
• KILLING TIME by Donald E. Westlake
• KILLTOWN by Richard Stark
• LEMONS NEVER LIE by Richard Stark
• THE MAN WITH THE GETAWAY FACE by Richard Stark
• THE MOURNER by Donald E. Westlake
• THE OUTFIT by Richard Stark
• PITY HIM AFTERWARDS by Donald E. Westlake
• POINT BLANK by Richard Stark
• THE SCORE by Donald E. Westlake
• SOMEBODY OWES ME MONEY by Donald E. Westlake
• THE SOUR LEMON SCORE by Richard Stark
• THE SPY IN THE OINTMENT by Donald E. Westlake
• 361 by Donald E. Westlake
• WHAT’S SO FUNNY? by Donald E. Westlake
• WHAT’S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN? by Donald E. Westlake
