Customer Reviews

The Hook

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If he were alive today, Mr. Hitchcock would be proud. "The Hook," reminiscent of "Strangers on a Train," is a powerhouse in a small package. Only 280 pages, this book packs such a wallop it doesn't need to be any more wordy. With only a small handful of characters, each finely drawn, Mr. Westlake keeps things simple very effectively, without having to resort to an overly populated cast. The story starts out as a simple case of quid pro quo. Two writers meet: successful Bryce Proctorr, whose story-telling well has dried up, and the less well-known Wayne Prentice, able to write but not able to sell. They strike a bargain. Proctorr will publish Prentice's latest book under his own name and split the $1 million advance 50/50. But Proctorr has a hook: "My wife must be dead." Unlike other books of this sort, Westlake takes us to places in the human mind we would rather not go, places rife with psychological landmines. We watch in horror as the two writers' lives slowly become one. The shocking ending is quite startling and unexpected, yet not entirely surprising. I didn't seriously believe the author would go there ... but he did.

It must be over twenty years since authors Bryce Proctorr and Wayne Prentice first met. When they were both aspiring and promising they hit the same haunts, but that was years. Their careers took off in different directions with Proctorr being one of the giants and receiving millions per book while Prentice has faded into the inkwell of nothingness using pen names to hide his dismal selling record. Sales are everything and the computer maintains the history whether it is dismal or not. Now coincidentally, they run into each other doing library research.

Suffering from writer's block, which he blames on his ugly divorce, Bryce offers a lucrative deal to Wayne. Wayne writes the book using Bryce's name instead of Tim Fleet or some other alias and they split the multi-million dollar pot. However, Bryce adds one condition, namely that his ex-wife Lucie must die.

Like his previous novel THE AX, Donald Westlake HOOKS his audience from the start and never lets go until the novel is finished. The psychological suspense story line leaves Wayne stunned and questioning the Faustian deal he accepted. The two writers turn the tale into an exciting novel that will leave readers wanting Mr. Westlake to publish his next book much faster than the three-year gap between this story and his preceding work.

Harriet Klausner

Cleverness is no substitute for a plausible story with convincing characters. Donald E. Westlake's THE HOOK is a psychological thriller about a murderous collaboration between two novelists. It is also a tutorial on how not to write a suspense novel. Throughout the book, Westlake's antiheroes discuss the difficulty in writing good fiction and cite failings in their own prose, such as inconsistent characters and a novel's premise that is at best a short story. The joke is on the reader for the much acclaimed Westlake is far too talented not to be referring to his own book.

Naming his protagonists Proctorr and Prentice for proctor and apprentice and titling their fictional works, The Domino Doublet, Two Faces in the Mirror, The Shadowed Other, does not make the grade as philosophical inquiry, psychological insight or character development. Instead of a meaningful intelligent story the reader gets gamesmanship.

Westlake places concept over believability resulting in an impossible premise that requires inconceivable behavior by the characters. After a quick set-up in Chapter 1 and an early climax in Chapter 8, Westlake spends much of the book's other twenty-nine chapters explaining his characters and excusing himself. In Chapter 17 he admits as much when he writes, "Some behavior is wrong, some reaction is wrong. It's a rip in the fabric of the novel, but it's necessary to get the story where it has to go, so the novelist merely sighs and shakes his head and does it." In real life, both Proctorr and Prentice would be in custody by Chapter 9. After numerous dead ends, Westlake surrenders and leaves his story's conclusion to the reader to resolve.

Still one has to admire Mr. Westlake's fearlessness as he writes about a literary star's work being published, regardless of merit, solely on the strength of the author's name and past sales.

As much as I have enjoyed various Donald Westlake novels over the year, I was unprepared three years ago for his superb "The Ax". That book combined an absorbing psychological study of a man with a thought-provoking look at one of contemporary society's genuine problems: marginalizing some of our most productive people by "downsizing" them during corporate mergers. And I wondered how Westlake would follow the success of that book. Frankly, I thought he would probably return to the genial comic crime novel. And when I started reading "The Hook" that is indeed what I thought he had done. And then ... a descent into a psychological inferno, making for even more compelling reading than "The Ax". I bought the book yesterday, started reading it after supper, and I could not let myself go to bed until I had finished it! Many authors seem to slide off into mediocrity after years or even decades of writing, but not Donald Westlake. He just keeps getting better.

This book is a textbook example of a good idea gone wrong -- not anywhere near enough character development or detail to make the story believeable or compelling. The only thing that keeps you interested is that there are the bare outlines of a good novel here. The idea that Bryce IMMEDIATELY suggests offing his wife and that the wife of the other character goes right along with this is ridiculous -- and if these characters really are that bloodthirsty it would be better to show how this manifests itself in their lives. That said, the relationship of the two men is interesting, although I think it would have been funnier if the poor writer "became" Bryce with the complicity of Bryce's literary agent. This is a fine book for a long plane ride, but if you want better Westlake go with "The Ax" (a brilliant, truly creepy book) or any of the Dortmunder books.

I have to say that this book surprised me. This is not the sort I normally pick up and I didn't think I would like it that much, but I did. I enjoyed it. The Hook reaches out and grabs you right from the beginning. The story is readable, engaging, compelling. Of course, there are some flaws (such as the Lady Macbeth-ness wife of one of the characters who thinks he has this great marriage), but the novel is so entertaining that it's easy to ignore them. The Hook is an interesting look at the world of publishing and novel writing. It is the story of two writers, one successful, one not and their deal to publish the work of one under the name of the other. The catch or "hook" is that the unsuccessful writer must kill the wife of the successful writer. The Hook is not great literature, but doesn't pretend to be. It's just an engaging story. I think most readers will enjoy The Hook, just as long as they are not looking for War and Peace.

What a good book this is! Westlake uses what must, by now, be a voluminous knowledge of the book publishing industry to put together an ingenious set up: best-selling author Bryce Proctorr, in the midst of a nasty divorce, has hit a blank wall creatively and the pressure is on, since his new book is months overdue.

Proctorr runs into an old friend, writer Wayne Prentice, at the library one day and hears Wayne's tale of woe: in the new publishing environment, the computer and sales figures rule everything--a midlist author can't hope to make it anymore if his sales continue to decline. Eventually, a new book by that author, no matter how talented, will meet with indifference by a publisher. To combat this, Prentice has been writing books under a pseudonym, "Tim Fleet," but now Fleet's sales figures have become caught in that same downward spiral.

Proctorr, whose deadline is looming, hatches a plan: he will take Prentice's new book, which will never find a willing publisher, make minor changes to names and incidents, and hand it in as his own, splitting the $500,000 advance. There's only one condition: Wayne must kill Proctorr's ex-wife, Lucie.

Events proceed from there and nothing works out quite the way we might expect. Along the way, there's a lot of rumination about the state of publishing and writing today--if you're an aspiring writer, this might not be the best book to read (it doesn't exactly paint a rosy picture of your chances of being published). And it all moves relentlessly to an extremely chilling and understated conclusion.

Westlake is an excellent writer and he continues to turn out amazing work. This book is highly recommended!

....because the 2 main characters are, figuratively, joined at the hip. By now everyone knows this is the story of Bryce Proctorr, a best selling author who has writers block, and the "deal he strikes with the devil" involving Wayne Prentice, an author who has books and ideas but is dropping off of the charts because he can't get published. The solution: Bryce turns in one of Wayne's novels as his own and they both split the $1+ million advance. The "hook": Bryce is going through a bitter divorce and doesn't want to split his half of the proceeds with his estranged wife Lucie. Hence, Wayne has to "ice" Lucie. This all takes place rather early on in the book and the bulk of the tale is really about how Bryce and Wayne become each other. The story moves quickly, the plot is good, and the book is a real good read that holds your attention. That's why I gave it 4 stars. However, the main characters, Bryce and Wayne are so very predictable and whiney you want to shake them. This might be one of the "false notes" that Peter M. talks about.

I found the auxiliary characters, particularily the women, to be much stronger. Bryce, for one, appears to be drawn toward strong women. Certainly Lucie has the fire and passion that he seems to lack. His ex- wife, Ellen, comes across much stronger than him when he "confesses" (his confession was a real reach for me). Even his lover, Isabelle, leaves him. Wayne gets off no easier with his companion. Susan, his wife, at first blush seems to be somewhat timid and not the risk taker. The way she pushes him to apply for a college teaching position is a safe move. But, once she becomes aware of his involvement, she turns right away into the stronger of the two and a bit more Machiavellian. In the end, the way Wayne becomes Bryce, she actually becomes Lucie.

While this is a little darker than "High Adventure" or "The Hot Rock", it is fast paced and yet does have it's pitfalls. Wayne's method of murder was a little unbelievable, to say the least, in the way it was planned and brought about (or I should say the lack thereof in planning). Nothing comes of the detective's investigation, so he is a useless character. And the ending, while somewhat inevitable, appeared hurried to me. Still, all in all, on a long flight from DC or NY to LA, this is a great read and the perfect book for the trip. Enjoy.

I have to be a bit of a dissenter on this book and I agree with some of the comments of "Konrad". In fact, the only reason I gave it 4 stars is due to Westlake's undeniable ability to hold the reader's interest throughout the book, (which is kind of a threshold test for any novel) as well as his fascinating insights into the publishing industry. However, I was hoping for something as good as The Ax, which I thought to be a masterpiece, and this was just not in that class. For one thing, the humor in The Ax was absent here.

One of the major problems I had with the book was what I would call the "false notes". This was particularly ironic, since Westlake refers to these "false notes" himself right in the middle of the story (although presumably not referring to his own work). I could not possibly improve on Westlake's own description of the problem, so I'll just quote him:

"There are moments in almost any novel when it's necessary to move a character from one position to another, so that you can go on with the story... [I]n order to make the transition, the writer has to bend something out of shape. Some behavior is wrong, some reaction is wrong. It's a rip in the fabric of the novel, but it's necessary to get the story where it has to go."

I thought that the book abounded with these false notes--instances where characters simply did not act (or react) in ways that I considered to be realistic based on who they were, and each time it was jarring. For example:

False note No. 1: Susan's agreement to go along with Bryce's plan to kill Lucie.

No. 2: That Wayne would actually carry out the plan and particularly in the way he did (although, as Westlake admits, if he didn't, there would be no story).

No. 3: That Bryce would spill the beans to his ex-wife.

No. 4. That Susan would want to suddenly move into Bryce's apartment (especially at $6,000 a month on their income, and because why would Wayne ever agree to that and risk identification by the doorman?).

No. 5. That the New York Review of Books would ask Wayne, an (almost) unheard of author, to interview the famous Bryce Proctorr, because "he had written the same sort of the novel in the past."

Somehow, none of these scenes sat right with me. Finally, I also thought that the ending was rather abrupt and hurried. For example, what happened to Detective Johnson's investigation. Despite all of this, I don't think any readers would be bored--but don't expect another "Ax" either.

How often do you find yourself chuckling at the end of each chapter in a suspence novel? It may have been for tension relief, or even accidental, but it was there.

Early in the novel I saw shades of "Sacred Monster". As it turns out, I was not far off. Donald Westlake did an exceptional job of bringing the reader right where he wanted him at each step of the novel.

Again, I don't know if it was intentional of not, but the last chapter writes itself. It is as if Donald Westlake is Wayne, helping us to finish what he began.

Seldom have I read a novel as riveting as this one. As much as I enjoy his humor, such as the Dortmunder series, no one else does suspence as well as he can.