Customer Reviews

The Fourth Dimension Is Death (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries) (Sam Holt)

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Donald Westlake's writing is a tonic. He is a great craftsman, a wonderful observer of modern life, a first-rate writer of dialogue, an engaging storyteller, a sneaky and brilliant plotter and a tremendously funny fellow. His four books written under the name of 'Samuel Holt' are smart, light and engaging; wonderful diversions that don't feel like a waste of time when the book is finished. Grab a Sam Holt and take a break. Spend some time with a master writer who just wants to have a little fun.

This is the fourth Sam Holt Adventure, like all the others it is a standalone adventure and nothing major of the past novels is given away. However it is still a good idea to read them in order, just to get to know the Sam Holt character and appreciate his frustrations to at this novel's point be not only unemployable due to type casting but as the actor who got away with murder. The first novel is One of Us Is Wrong.

In the Fourth Dimension is Death Sam Holt still can't land another acting gig, still being typecast as Jack Packard. A lookalike actor is making fun of his former character playing Packard in grocery store commercials so obviously the show's owners are taking legal action and Holt's name is added to the lawsuit to receive damages. Holt really isn't bothered too much about the commercials that is, until Dale Kay the loser actor playing grocery store Packard, attacks him outside of his home and he is forced to defend himself and restrain Kay. Kay blames Holt for destroying his acting career through the lawsuit. Unfortunately for Holt the fans who gave him a lift home called the police so when Kay is found murdered the next day there's a record of the altercation and Holt is a suspect. He knows he won't have much of a problem getting cleared criminally but the greedy mother of Kay is suing him for damages suffered as a result of him murdering her son. America's ridiculous civil lawsuits mean the burden of proof doesn't need to be there like in a criminal trial. So of course if Holt doesn't work out who murdered his lookalike he'll always be known as the actor who got away with murder because of his fame. But Holt can't go out there as Holt so he's got to don the old wig and fake moustache to solve this one.

Donald E Westlake originally wanted to know if he could be successful if he started in the industry today (today being 1986) so planned on writing a series of six books under the pen name Samuel Holt to see how they would sell. Westlake wrote the first three novels in this series at the same time. Only himself and the publishers knew the secret, unfortunately when the first novel appeared in the bookstores, Westlake learnt his publishers had betrayed him and posters and displays everywhere told the public Samuel Holt is Donald E Westlake. In fact that was the only book published under the Samuel Holt name without Westlake's on the cover. Westlake saw no further point in continuing the series since the whole point was to see if an unknown pseudonym could make it, so he finished off the fourth book (this one) then never brought the Sam Holt character to the pages of his typewriter again. And that's a shame, as the Sam Holt character is just as good as Dortmund or Parker (found under his pen name which he revealed to the world after it was successful - Richard Stark). You'll learn all this stuff if you are buying the Felony & Mayhem republished in 2006 editions of each of the four novels (this story was originally published in 1989). The Felony and Mayhem editions all have an introduction by Donald E Westlake.

The other two books in the series are I Know a Trick Worth Two of That and What I Tell You Three Times Is False. If you forget their order remember the number is in each title. Westlake passed away in December 2008 so unfortunately this all we are likely to see.

This is a long delayed mystery written by "Sam Holt". An excellent series that Donald Westlake had intended to use to judge how much of his current success was due to name recognition. He was disillusioned when the publisher crossed him up and used his name in a "legally correct" way which effectively ruined his reason for a pseudonym. I have been eagerly awaiting the fourth since I found it existed. My expectations were met. You do not have to read the first three novels to follow the plot, but do it anyway. It will add to the depth of this book. A good series.

Same old dragged out story. A group of actors and others are gathered together in an old mansion in a storm no less. The conversation is stilted and we could care less about any of these people. Feels like the game of clue. I got 3/4 thru this and pitched it. Donald Westlake is an amazing writer, uh, except for here.