Customer Reviews

The Ax

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Westlake's ingenious plot of a downsized executive's attempts to reenter the industry is underscored with the macabre. The protagonist, Burke Devore, makes a dalliance with death, as he literally kills of the competition for a position in industrial paper sales.

Westlake's novel couldn't be more disturbingly apropos, with hundreds of organizations laying off thousands of workers. His everyman protagonist struggles to find a job, but realizes, after collecting his competitors' resumes through a bogus help-wanted ad, that he doesn't have what it takes professionally. The reader can't help but be moved by his strife, and that's when the twist comes in. Devore decides to kill the top seven competitors, and he has all he needs: names and home addresses from the resumes.

Westlake maintains the everyman in Devore as he becomes a murderer. His character is sickened by the first killing, but gains confidence with each murder. Occasional comic mishaps and brushes with law enforcement caused me to turn each page with giddy anticipation, both anxious and afraid to see if Devore would succeed or be caught.

Westlake's writing is direct and clear, and his ending dovetails nicely with the rest of the novel. It's a short one, yet enjoyable, even if you're not into dark comedy.

What do you do when you are over fifty years old, and the company for which you have worked for nearly a quarter of a century is downsizing and gives you the ax? One would think that you would simply get another job. Wrong! In this era of corporate downsizing and fierce competition, that may be easier said than done. Ask Burke Devore.

Burke Devore, unemployed now for nearly two years, would like nothing better than to get a job commensurate with his experience as a product manager for a paper mill corporation, but as I said, competition is fierce. Desperate in his quest for the american dream that seems to have turned into a nightmare from which he cannot wake, his middle class life is spiraling out of control. He must regain control by whatever means necessary. Burke Devore, thinking out of the box, simply decides to eliminate the competition...literally. Our erstwhile serial killer is mad as hell, and he isn't going to take it anymore.

This darkly satirical and provocative novel is a veritable page turner. Moreover, there is an underlying social commentary that permeates the plot, which serves to make the reader complicit with the protagonist, as he moves forward with his deadly agenda. Well written and original in concept, it makes for a book well worth reading, especially by those who enjoy mysteries and novels of suspense.

When Burke Devore loses his job, he finds it difficult for a 50-year-old to get another in the competitive market out there. He needs a job in his line of expertise, but realises that there are many people in his same predicament. His solution is to narrow the odds in his favour by eliminating the competition, literally. He places an ad in a trade magazine in order to collect resumes of people in a similar situation to him. Then, anyone he decides has better qualifications than his is marked for elimination.

This chilling story describes the desperation that drives an apparently normal middle-aged man with a wife and grown children to embark on a killing spree. We're taken along for the ride as he tries to justify to himself the need for these murders to take place, his agony of guilt after each one, but then, frighteningly, his ability to overcome the guilt before planning the next one. Indeed, he begins to pride himself on picking up a new skill! As Burke goes from one victim to another, he depersonalises what he is doing by using his victim's initials when referring to them rather than their names.

Although this is fiction, it seems an altogether likely scenario of the thought patterns of the real-life serial killers, and the unbelievable justifications for their murders. This is a frightening story in the absolute cold-bloodedness of the murders by a man who, in all outward appearances, comes across as a very gentle man.

Donald Westlake writes straight from the heart. Only "the Ax" is from the darker rivers of the heart. Anyone who has ever been "downsized" or stood on an unemployment line can relate to the feelings of one Burke Devore, a downsized project manager at a paper mill plant, who, by placing a phony ad in a trade journal, acquires all the resumes of those potential competitors who might apply for the same job as him. He simply "eliminates the competition". We might all think about it in our darker fantasies, but Burke goes ahead and does it.

I read this book because it was constantly referenced in the Amazon.com reviews of another Westlake book ("The Hook"). Both books have similarities and differences that abound. The secondary charcters are stronger in "The Hook" than here. We really don't dwell all that much on Burke's wife and even less so on his kids. Yet, like in "The Hook", there is a sense of desperation on the part of the main characters. In both cases, the action is fast paced and we find ourselves hungrily turning the pages.

So, why not 5 stars? A couple of reasons: When Burke's son is brought up on charges of breaking into a software store and the police search his house, they come across the resumes he has collected. The police are already investigating a few of the deaths by this time, yet they fail to make the connection. I wanted to shake Detective Burton because he can't seem to put 2+2 together. He ends up, like the detective in "The Hook", as being almost a wasted character. Some of the murders committed by Burke are committed in a public venue, especially the first one where he shoots a man at his own mailbox and one of the later ones where a person is bludegeoned to death in a parking lot. Yet, no one sees anything. Still, this book has a certain quality, if that is the right word, where we find ourselves rooting for this dark underdog and that, on its own, is reason enough to read "The Ax" and enjoy!

A year after being "downsized", former paper mill worker Burke Devore is unemployed and desperate. Reading of a dream job in a trade journal, Burke conceives a plan. Running ads in "The Paperman", he solicits resumes for a position with a fictitious paper company located in his region. Using the resumes he receives in response to the ad, Burke identifies his rivals for the real job. Then, working his way along "the learning curve of murder", Burke methodically hunts and executes them, in hopes of reducing his competition.

Westlake walks a fine line, but manages to make Burke a sympathetic character--it's hard not to feel for Burke, a killer who weeps for his victims and rejoices when a potential target finds a job. But it's also hard not to be scared by his methodical ways, his casual brutality, and his rationalizations for murder. Relentless and oh so very plausible, this book should shake even the most jaded reader.

We've been deluged in recent years by books and movies about serial killers that make various attempts to explain their horrific crimes. The causes often lie on terrible childhood abuse. But what if someone committed a series of murders because he was desperate for a job?

That's right, Burke Devore in Donald Westlake's chilling and suspenseful new novel becomes a killer because he's out of a job. A middle manager for years at a paper mill, he's been downsized, and as his insurance and unemployment run out, he and his family sink into increasing fear and despair. His wife works two lousy part-time jobs, his son takes to burglary and is arrested. And Burton just can't get hired in his field.

It wasn't supposed to be like that. After all, as he puts it so trenchantly, he's middle class, and so, unlike the poor or the very rich, isn't used "to the idea that life has great swings" of fortune. Instead, "the middle class is used to a smooth progress through life." If you give up the highs, you're supposed to be protected from the lows.

Like your company dumping you after years of loyal and productive service--and then offering to retrain you as an air conditioning repairman. Now, who'd bother hiring a man over 50 with a few months of training over someone younger who really wanted to do that job?

Fully aware of the surplus of middle managers in his own field, and with more of them "chasing fewer and fewer jobs," Devore craftily finds out who his toughest competition is. And after narrowing the list down to those in his New England region or New York, sets out to kill each one so that the next time a plum job comes up in his area, he'll go to the top of the list.

It's an audacious, brutal, and crazy scheme, and Westlake's great gift is drawing you into the domestic and professional tragedy of Devore's life so well that you become weirdly complicit in his quiet rage. You don't want Devore to kill anyone, yet you don't want him to get caught by the police. This disturbing tension propels the book forward over the few gaps. While Devore's relationship with his wife is fully realized, his connection with his two children is less so. And in the brief moments when the tension lets up in this harrowing novel, you may wonder a little about Devore's past.

Downsizing, as Devore points out, has to be one of the stupidest business ideas in this century: "trashing productive people from productive careers in productive companies." Taut and creepy, THE AX brings newspaper headlines about downsizing to life in a way only as richly experienced a writer as Donald Westlake can do. It's no surprise, then, that in 1993, the Mystery Writers of America named this author of 40 books a Grand Master.

In this time of economic 'downsizing', whats a person to do if they lose their job and can't find new employment? If you are Burke Devore in The Ax, you simply kill off the competition. Devore's 'simple' plan is to locate a job that he would be perfectly qualified for, determine possible competition through a scam advertising false employment, then murder the competitors before finally killing off the incumbent employee and taking his job. Devore comes to the morally skewed conclusion that these people are the problem coming between him and his old life, and feels that he is justified killing them in "self-defense"

Adding to Devores problems is his wifes confession of infidelity, and his sons arrest for burglary. Westlake does such a good job depicting the misery and the intangible factors corresponding to losing ones job that you feel for Devore, while not condoning his actions. Will he get away with his plan or will he bail out or be caught? My only quibble is the prose style which is very top heavy on narrative and light on dialogue, which makes it somewhat slow at a few points. Overall, a gripping, well written, satirical look at life in today's economic climate that is made that much more chilling because of its plausibility.

I read The Ax over a vacation week this past September. It was the first book I ever read by Donald Westlake. I had read many reviews of his books over the years and he seemed to be fairly well regarded by critics. I loved The Ax. It kept your interest from start to finish and really made you think about moral questions. In particular, in a society that creates a set of values that pays little attention to the individual...corporate society...why should an individual behave in a fashion other than selfish interest. It is an animal morality....humans should do whatever they need to do to survive. But the book raises legitimate questions. All in all, a very wonderful page turner....whether you read it to think about it, or read it for diversion.

This was my first Donald Westlake novel and surely not my last. I picked it up after reading Stephen King's much praised "On Writing". At the end of King's book, he gives a list of his all-time favorites and this was one of them. I am a huge King fan so I checked this one out at the library and will be adding the hardback to my collection.

This is a story that hits close to home, being that I'm currently on the market for a decent job after being laid off from a promising career.

I could not put this book down. I brought it to doctor's visits, restaurants, read it in the car when my husband was driving (feat in itself!) and into the bathtub with me.

Westlake succeded in fleshing out a man on the verge of losing everything in the wake of being laid off from a sixteen- year job and brings to light the corporate swine that ultimately makes those kinds of decisions. In a world of tough competition in the job market, Westlake gives new definition to the term "Dog eat dog world".

The pace was fast and had you rooting for the main character which in this case was the killer. A very difficult thing to do for any writer but Westlake does it flawlessly.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good dark comedy-thriller.

Burke Devore was a paper company manager for twenty-five years until the day he loses his job through corporate downsizing. For two years he is unemployed, attending many interviews but losing out to other people in the same situation as him with slightly better skills or experience. His marriage is disintegrating and his son is in trouble with the law. He finally has had enough and comes up with a brilliant plan to become employed again by getting rid of his competition. He does have a lot of time to kill after all!

There has been a movie made of this story. It is however in French and the setting has changed to Paris. The Ax (Le Couperet) does have subtitles, and there's not a lot of dialogue anyway plus if you've read the book you already know what's going on. Obviously not as good as your imagination reading the book but interesting to see.

This is a brilliant novel with an extremely interesting and unique idea. I will definitely think twice the next time I have to send in a resume. I have read most of Westlake's work now after discovering him through this brilliant novel. He's a great author, although nothing shares this unique storyline, check out his other novels as well! Cops and Robbers, Smoke and Help, I am being held prisoner are all great places to start!