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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Early Westlake available again, April 27, 2005
This review is from: 361 (Mass Market Paperback)
Just when Raymond Kelly was returning from military service, just when he was ready to settle down and spend some time with his family -- his brother, his father, his brother's wife whom he's heard all about and is excited to see in person for the first time -- just then, that's when it all went wrong.
One occasion of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and a month later he wakes up in a hospital room minus a father, a sister-in-law and an eye. With no family left but his brother, Bill, they set to find out who is responsible and wind up discovering a little more about their family than they ever guessed, including the surprising significance of their father's last word. But blood must avenge blood, so Ray and Bill spend a lot of the novel playing a Holmes and Watson with attitude.
The prose in 361 is so fast that I had to slow down my reading just to keep up. It is a fascinating example of the development of Westlake's craft. Most of the Westlake I've read came from a much later period of his career (1980s or later), and I've not read any of the Richard Stark novels, but this book seems like it would suit Parker fans more than those of his comic mysteries. The many fans of other Hard Case Crime novels, however, will eat it right up.
Only his third novel, 361 is not as solid and confident (or as funny) as the only other earlier work I had read -- the Edgar Award-winning God Save the Mark, published just five years later in 1967. What carries it along wonderfully, however, besides the pure power of the storytelling, is the sense that, behind the typewriter is a writer intensely trying to make an impression on the reader. And, as usual, he succeeds.
One thing was decidedly familiar, reminding me of the Donald E. Westlake style his fans know and love: the number of surprises present in this story allow for plenty of leeway in telling the story. You start to think he's going one way, and he goes another. Or he'll spring something unexpected, hiding it within a paragraph of description or "stage business" (as opposed to giving it its own paragraph like most writers do), thus guaranteeing that the reader does a mental "double-take." That's the kind of writing that makes me celebrate. And that's the kind of writing you can expect from 361.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hard-Drinking, Chain-Smoking Drama, December 27, 2005
This review is from: 361 (Mass Market Paperback)
Ray Kelly is 23, just discharged from the Air Force. Met by his dad in New York City, they leave for pop's home in upstate Binghamton. Thirty-eight miles outside of New York City, a Plymouth pulls along side and starts shooting. When the smoke clears, Ray's father is dead, and Ray is in the hospital missing an eye.
Originally written in 1962, "361" is vintage pulp fiction, a minor classic from Don Westlake, one of the masters of the hardboiled crime novel. Written in the vein of Jim Thompson, Dashiell Hammett, and Earle Stanley Gardner, Westlake takes the reader on a no-nonsense odyssey of revenge as Kelly pieces together the jigsaw of the father's life he never knew. Ray, now teamed up with brother Bill, chain-smoke their way from hotel room to hotel room, washing down the smoke with "Old Mr. Boston" straight from the bottle as they track down dad's assasins. As the mystery not surprisingly leads to the mob, one wonders if perhaps Mario Puzo didn't take inspiration from "361" in writing his classic "The Godfather".
Writing styles and culture have changed considerably in the past forty years; one of the hidden jewels in reading early works of Westlake and his ilk is the refreshing peek back into life before political correctness mania. But whether you read it for the plot twists and turns, the hard, unadorned prose served cold, or simply as a nostalgic walk down fiction's memory lane, "361" is prime pulp fiction, a quick thrill to savor and enjoy.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An unacknowledged minor classic, June 24, 2005
This review is from: 361 (Mass Market Paperback)
It seems as if Donald Westlake has always been with us. When one has a career that has straddled six decades, one tends to leave that sort of impression. Westlake also seemed to have burst on the scene as a grandmaster; looking at his early work, one is struck by the richness of its voice, even as he was still finding and developing it. While he has built his career on smartly written, lighter crime fiction, one must not forget that he has a dark side that is not limited to his regular offerings under his Richard Stark pseudonym. This is by no means a recent development; it is easy to forget that some of Westlake's early work was extremely dark and foreboding.
Westlake's 361, an early example of his grim and gritty side, has been reissued by the rapidly-becoming-indispensable Hard Case Crime imprint. That any of Westlake's work should be out of print is an unpardonable omission, and to see this grim book --- originally published in 1962 --- back on the rack after an absence of too many years is a welcome occurrence, indeed.
It begins with young Ray Kelly, fresh out of a stint with the Air Force, being picked up by his father for a reunion of sorts. The reunion is cut short when Kelly's father is murdered in front of him. Kelly, himself grievously injured, begins an obsessive hunt for the men who killed his father and changed his life forever. Aided by his brother Bill, Kelly begins a tortuous journey through their father's past, a past that is littered with deceit and disappointment. The subtle focus here, however, is the transformation of Kelly from a peacetime Air Force veteran who is eager and excited with life's prospects to a violent and ruthless killer who knows no limits in his pursuit of revenge.
Westlake's developing mastery of dialogue is on display here. While his reach exceeds his grasp at times, it is instructive to watch Westlake's talent unfolding, in many ways for the first time, on the pages of 361. One also finds here that Westlake, then as now, is a keen observer of the culture and mores of the surroundings --- to wit, New York and its upstate suburbs --- that have served as a rich and ready backdrop for his novels.
While an early work of Westlake's, 361 is not a deficient one, but rather an unacknowledged minor classic that hopefully will be accorded its proper recognition. Recommended.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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