Customer Reviews

The Hot Rock

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Within a few hours of being released on parole, John Dortmunder, a small-time thief and con artist is embroiled in a new caper. He has been commissioned to steal a valuable emerald for a newly-formed small African nation. John handpicks the men who will assist him in this heist, each of whom brings their special skills to the job at hand and their off-center behavioral traits. This is not exactly your gang that couldn't shoot straight. Rather, these misfits just seem to be the victims of events often beyond their control. No matter how much inventive planning goes into each robbery, they never seem to walk away with the prize. It is constantly back to the drawing board for Dortmunder and each robbery calls for more innovative and daring methods.

At times, the dialogue reads like the old "who's on first, what's on second" routine made famous by Abbott and Costello. At other times, the humor is much more subtle. Either way, you will find yourself chuckling or, if you are in the safety of your own home, laughing out loud.

Living in New York, I was amazed at how well Mr. Westlake knows the city and the outer boroughs. Having grown up in a rather obscure part of one of these boroughs, I think that unbeknownst to me, Mr. Westlake must have lived next door to me. He can describe stores and houses on the smallest side street with pinpoint accuracy.

This is not the type of book that I would normally seek out. However, I had recently read a short story by Mr. Westlake that caught my fancy. I liked the style of writing so much that I decided to try one of his books.

If you like a well written action caper that will have you laughing throughout, I suggest you pick up a copy of "The Hot Rock." As for me, I am going to order the next few books in the Dortmunder series as soon as I submit this review.

If you have not yet read The Hot Rock, you have an amazing treat ahead of you. With brilliant plotting, amusing characters and a strong sense of irony, The Hot Rock makes side-tickling fun of just about everything you can imagine. This book also introduces the character, John Archibald Dortmunder, who stars in the marvelous series of books that followed this one.

Dortmunder is about to get out of prison on parole, and is looking forward to the $300 that another inmate will pay him for his old cell. That plan is scotched when the warden decides to personally escort Dortmunder out of the prison. So there he is with regret for his lost $300 and poor prospects. Then it gets worse! A Cadillac chases him onto the sidewalk against a wall. And that's just the first three and a half pages!

Dortmunder's old pal, Andy Kelp, has lined up a job that requires Dortmunder to do the planning for the caper. A former British colony in Africa has recently become two independent nations, Talabwo and Akinzi, each run by a different tribe. The Akinzi have possession of the Balabomo Emerald, worth $500,000, and the UN Ambassador from Talabwo, Major Patrick Ito, is offering $30,000 a man (for up to five men) to retrieve the emerald which is now residing in the New York Coliseum at a Pan-African display. Dortmunder needs money, so he decides to take the job . . . if the major will pay a little walking around money in the meantime.

Soon, Dortmunder has developed a brilliant plan that requires some special props, which the major provides. Into the Coliseum go four of the five, and three return . . . minus the emerald. After this setback, the plot starts to get really complicated. The book is filled with hilarious characters including the optimistic Andy Kelp who loves to steal new cars with MD license plates and always assumes that everything will succeed just fine, the driver Stan Murch who loves to listen to traffic noises and talk about his travels routes while nursing a draft beer with salt to recreate the foam, the model train aficionado Roger Chefwick who loves to play in his basement, the easily distracted strong man Alan Greenwood, and the sleazy lawyer Eugene Andrew Prosker, Esq. whose greed knows no limits.

Most books like this build up the suspense around one heist. You get more than that for your money with this one. The action is nonstop . . . right up to one of the most imaginative escapes you will ever read about.

The book's ending scene is too delicious for words. I don't dare hint what it is all about . . . but be ready for something wonderful.

If you enjoy this book, be sure to go on to read Bank Shot, the next book in the series . . . which is almost as good.

After you finish, think about where else Murphy's Law (anything that can go wrong will) can cause problems to your best-laid plans. Then replan until there's no room left for Murphy.

If you haven't devoured the whole Dortmunder series by now, wait no longer: start with this one, and as soon as your stomach muscles recover, move on to the rest. This is the kickoff to the funniest mystery series ever written.

Our hero is Dortmunder, a very recent ex-con. His opponent is the Balabomo Emerald, a gem with a history, a price on its head, and, apparently, a nasty sense of humor. Hired by the representative of an African nation that wants the jewel for religious and political reasons, Dortmunder assembles a team of the finest, funniest men ever to make a dishonest dollar. They make attempt after attempt (as the blurb says, giving new meaning to the term repeat offender) at the job, striking by helicopter, train, and mesmerism, among others. Any one of the plans should succeed. But fate - or the emerald - has other ideas.

The plot is only part of the humor, though. In a way, the Dortmunder series is very like Terry Pratchett's Discworld series; they both rely on language and character as much as situations for laughs, and they both get incredible results from the strategy.

Seriously, this book (and the series it spawned) is a better antidepressant than any pharmaceutical I've ever encountered. If you're just now starting here, wow, do I envy you. (But how did you live this long without Dortmunder?)

When a valuable emerald is on display in New York City, it presents an opportunity for those who feel it's rightfully theirs, to steal it. The emerald in question is a religious icon, owned by a small African nation. A neighbouring African nation believes it's theirs and they want it back, so they hire John Dortmunder for the job of retrieving it. John Dortmunder is a master thief and has a knack for planning, but can't do it all himself, so he needs to call on others for their expertise. This is when the fun really begins.

What starts out as a simple case of robbery quickly develops into a comedy of errors as unforeseen circumstance follows plain bad luck. John Dortmunder and his men become determined to succeed at their task, which leads to a series of events ranging from amusing to farcical.

The offbeat characters portrayed in the book add an extra dimension of humour and helps create an upbeat atmosphere throughout. There's a car nut who, of course, is their getaway driver, a gentle and possibly just a bit loopy (toot-toot) model train lover, a Casanova-type pretty boy and a stock standard right-hand-man. All of them thoroughly professional yet, sort of oozing a not-quite-right feeling about them.

We're treated to a light-hearted caper in and around New York City in the book that introduces John Dortmunder to us. You can't help but like these rogues as they stumble from bad situation to worse. It's an amusing comedy that should have you smiling as you read the last page.

"The Hot Rock" is one of the funniest novels I have ever read. This tale is not only a humor filled and entertaining rollick, it is an excellent mystery story. "The Hot Rock" is the first in Donald Westlake's series of humorous crime novels starring John Dortmunder.

The story begins with John Dortmunder being released from prison. John had schemed to sell his prison cell, the only one with hot water, for three hundred dollars. The warden ruins John's scheme by insisting he accompany John to the outside gate and back into civilian life. This is quickly followed by an encounter with John's friend Kelp, who decides to surprise Dortmunder and meet him upon his release. In doing so, he startles Dortmunder and almost runs him over with his car. These auspicious circumstances are just the first in a long series of Dortmunder plans going awry.

"The Hot Rock" centers around a caper offered to Dortmunder and Kelp by the government of the small African country of Talabwo. Several years ago a British colony split into two countries, Talabwo and Akinzi. During the split, Akinzi got the city that held the famous Balabomo Emerald, a large pure stone worth over five hundred thousand dollars. The stone had always belonged to Talabwo and they considered it a sacred symbol. Instead of starting a war to retrieve the emerald, they decided to hire professional thieves to steal it.

Dortmunder is famous for his ability to plan and organize criminal activities. He is a master planner who carefully analyzes the situation to learn all possible barriers to the crime. John organizes the execution of a crime like clock work. John's plans function like military missions, always in exquisite detail, activities of his team synchronized to the second. He also tends to have bad luck. Somehow an intervening variable or some random unexpected action affects the outcome.

I highly recommend "The Hot Rock". This is an excellent, well written novel that is highly entertaining.

Westlake's Dortmunder novels are one of my main reasons for living. If I was just a brain in a jar somewhere and the docs asked me whether or not I wanted them to pull the plug, I'd say, "Are there any new Dortmunder books? If so, I'd like to hang on."

My favorite Weslake book. Persistence gets you somewhere, but not always a happy ending. Good NYC atmosphere. Interesting characters that most people would like. And yes, funny.

Past Twilight R Hemingway

This was the first in the Dortmunder series that I read.....you can see my review of Bad News to get the full sense of how I feel about these books. To not be redundant I will just say you can not go wrong in reading anything by Mr. Westlake and you will not be disappointed in the telling of the Dortmunder capers and the characters you meet along the way. I have enjoyed them as books on tape!

John Archibald Dortmunder. Perfect casting.

I read this book so many times, I know it by heart.

And I agree wholeheartedly with an earlier review by A. G. Ryder. I'd hate to check out of this mortal coil early, just in case Westlake has another Dortmunder novel going to press. It would be unbearable to miss that wit, those characters, those unbelievable blunders.

I don't know how Westake does it, but just keep doing it Donald.

It was inevitable with the success of Westlake's first comic caper The Fugitive Pigeon and subsequent top comic caper sellers The Spy in the Ointment and Who stole Sassi Manoon? combined with the success of hard boiled crime Parker series (under his pen name Richard Stark) that Westlake would combine the two worlds. In his own words in the forewords of later Dortmunder novels Westlake told us that originally Parker was supposed to do these Hot Rock capers but after Parker had a long hard talk with Westlake, Westlake came to the conclusion Parker wouldn't operate his crimes in this way. So John Dortmunder was born and as is often the case, arguably ended up being a lot more popular and successful than his sibling.

The Hot Rock has a bit more action than the rest of the Dortmunder series due to the fact that we have quite a number of capers opposed to the usual one per book. In fact if Westlake wanted to he probably could have released them independently as short stories. Being the first novel in a series that would span three decades only ended by the death of Westlake himself in December 2008, Dortmunder is a little different to the character that would be further developed and polished and we would come to know. He's a bit closer to Parker in aspects such as using tommy guns and making people dig their own graves. As the Dortmunder series develops he seems to have more of a public conscience and his morals in subsequent novels seem he would not do capers that involve violence. This anomaly is perfectly understandable though when you remember the Hot Rock was originally going to be a Parker novel. So the question you may ask then is, is the 1970 first published Hot Rock story just as funny as the rest of the series? Rest assured, the answer is, sure is!

Basic plot of Hot Rock is after being released from prison and missing out on $300 dollars owed to him by a fellow prisoner due to the Warden, Dortmunder is a bit strapped for cash. So when Andy Kelp approaches him to plan a heist on behalf of an African country wanting to steal an emerald that belongs to a rival country on display in a New York museum he agrees. However as those familiar with the series know, Murphy's Law often applies to Dortmunder's capers and if something can go wrong, it does. So as the emerald seems to mock Dortmunder and his gang caper after caper is needed unless they plan to let the emerald beat them.

A few aspects let the storyline quality down just a notch, such as the driver Stan Murch being able to drive (fly) anything including a helicopter when he's never done so before. I also thought how they tackled the bank caper was a little convenient and seemed like Westlake couldn't come up with anything better so just settled for that method. Those minor things only drop the book half a star, I'd rate the Hot Rock 4 and a half. Any fan of the series is going to want to own this though just to read how this sensational series began.