Customer Reviews

Cops and Robbers

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Involving,full of action,humorous but sad.Absolutely to read

I have been trying to obtain all of Westlake's classic comic capers for a while now, a lot are hard to find, Cops and Robbers is no exception but believe me, it's well worth the time and money. Just in case you are unfamiliar with the term Comic Caper, a lot of Westlake's earlier independent storylines were classified with this title by his fans and the media. These books usually have a main character or two who is basically a nice guy/s but not always the most moral or ethical person. This person usually has a sudden monumental hurdle come their way and to achieve their goal or get their normal life back, has to deal with a range of eccentric characters along the way. The majority of these comic capers are crime capers.

In Cops and Robbers a couple of New York policeman named Tom and Joe have had a rather hard life. Each day they carpool into Manhattan together watching Yuppies in their cars travelling in air conditioned comfort and wonder why life is so unfair. It is during one of these mornings that Joe tells Tom not long ago he walked into a convenience store in his uniform and robbed the place. These two decide that some crimes are justifiable, and decide as cops, due to their access they can pretty much commit any crime they want. They are also fully aware they will go to jail if they are caught so decide to limit themselves to just one crime. And if they are going to commit a crime it better be a big one. What to steal, what to steal? Tom and Joe will come with a grand plan, but to pull it off they're going to have to contact the mafia.

Cops and Robbers has very likeable main characters. Written in 1972 it does show its age at times such as obviously they'd now have mobile phones and things like this, but then again their scheme probably couldn't work in today's modern world anyway. A very enjoyable novel, of Westlake's comic capers I've read so far this is one of my favourites.

If you haven't already done so check out Westlake's other comic capers. The best three at an absolute masterpiece level are, Smoke, The Spy in the Ointment and a New York Dance (also published as Dancing Aztecs). Other comic capers also worth checking out are The Fugitive Pigeon, The Busy Body, God Save the Mark, Who Stole Sassi Manoon?, Help I am Being Held Prisoner, Castle in the Air, Enough and High Adventure.

this comic crime caper will make you laugh out loud and chew your fingernails at the same time. I'm convinced Donald E. Westlake is a genius....or at least immensely talented. He creates great characters whose dialogue sounds like real people talking, and his way with a plot is intricate, complex, and fun.

In Cops and Robbers, Joe and Tom are two of New York City's finest and also friends living next to each other on Long Island. It is summer and the city is hot; Joe and Tom, both married with families, are tormented by the city, the people they arrest every day, and the difference between the have and the have nots, especially since they number among the latter. Carpooling into the city together, they begin to fantasize about a scheme which would allow them to escape what they see as the deterioration of New York and the daily grind of their jobs. Soon the fantasy begins to seem not only real but possible, and before they know it they are committed to a plan so outlandish it seems destined to fail. By now your moral compass is compromised; you know Tom and Joe are doing wrong but you really like them and you don't want them caught. This is where the nailbiting comes in; Westlake is a master at creating scenes made up of little ordinary moments that build unbearable suspense. Part A of Tom and Joe's scheme will leave you gasping and puzzled; Part B will make you squirm. Joe and Tom are two wonderfully realized characters, as real as people you know, and you'll miss them when the book ends.

My first exposure to Westlake was God Save the Mark, another look at the ironic side of crime, with a very different but just as affecting "hero." Now I am delightedly making my way through his entire collection. Treat yourselves; join the Westlake readers club. You won't be sorry.

Tom and Joe are two New York cops who are getting tired of being cops. So, they plan to heist a New York brokerage firm of bearer bonds and sell them to the mob. But the big problem is, where to store the bonds until the Mafia buys them, and how to keep the mob from silencing them after the bonds are sold.

This is an atypical Westlake book. It's certainly not as funny as the Dortmunder series but it is clever and entertaining. The way the two cops solve their problems of safekeeping and getting away from the mob are clever. I didn't like this as much as other Westlake novels, but I'd still recommend it.

I enjoy Westlake's humorous Dortmunder series, and I really like his Parker mysteries (written under the pseudonym Richard Stark,) so I was expecting more from this 1972 "comic caper." Contrary to these others, this book contained little that I found funny. Although the cops' plot is very clever, and the story has a few surprises, the narration often drags even though it is a short book. There are lots of digressions concerning the cops' lives and inner thoughts, perhaps designed to provide motivation or rationalization for their wanting to pull off a two-million-dollar heist. Dortmunder and his nefarious buddies are interesting, eccentric characters, but I can't say the same for Tom and Joe. Some may say that the novel is just dated, but I would disagree. The conditions for cops in New York have not changed so much over the years, and Westlake's Dortmunder series, initiated around the same time, is not out of date. I rate this effort as just o.k. As an aside, Westlake also wrote the screenplay for the movie version, but it was not a very successful or highly rated production.

My first Westlake book, read years ago. I still remember scenes from it with delight. It is fast-paced, and full of Westlake's trademark wisecracks about New York, policemen, and people in general. When I read it in 1973, it got me hooked on Westlake. IIt was a great read then. The movie was not well done at all. I read it again several years later, and it doesn't hold up real well over time as so many things have changed, but it's still a good read and a good introduction to early Westlake.

This book is over thirty years old, and in a lot of ways evokes mental images of grainy color film from early 1970's cop movies like "French Connection," or "Serpico". Not that the plot has anything to do with those movies, it just has the feel of that time and place. A more innocent, slower read than what you would pick up today.

I have read a lot of Westlake, and he is allways enjoyable. Westlake has made a career out of writing from a certain vantage point not too many other authors attempt. He follows the efforts and travails of the bad guys. This book, "Cops and Robbers," follows two police officers who are bored with their mundane lives. Events pile up on each other and they come to realize that the badge they carry gives them opportunities to steal, or pull off a big heist. Once this idea gets into their heads, it is too much for them and the story follows their plans to pull off a big one.

As I said earlier, this is a slower book than I would expect to find todays mystery thriller writers produce. It is deeply concerned with the two officers motives where as today, the author would jump right into the action. Some of the plot structure I deeply disagree with, but it still works in the end if you suspend your cynical side.

Westlake has not put out a book that I have come across yet which would put me into the position of saying dont try reading it. And Cops and Robbers is no different. Good, simple, fun.

I read this twenty or more yeaars ago and have re-read it 2 or 3 time. It's good clean fun, well written and entertaining. It is like junk food for the brain but that's not all bad... not at all.