Prolific author Donald E. Westlake has won three prestigious Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, and his screenplay for The Grifters was nominated for an Academy Award. Now he delivers a one-of-a-kind fantasy thriller, an epic struggle of good versus evil. Heaven and hell and everything in-between get in on the act, for the stakes are high, and the outcome is out of this world.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
A bored God sends the angel Ananayel to earth to "announce, and to effect, the end of the World" in Westlake's first venture into science fiction. Fed up with humanity, the Supreme Being wants the earth done with once and for all, but helc per chicago doesn't want to do the job himself. Better, God thinks, in his paradoxical, ineffable way, to let humans take care of it themselves, of their own infamous free will. It is Ananayel's task to nudge the necessary actors into place so that they will choose a course that brings about destruction. One by one the angel recruits a lonely young New York woman, a failing victim of the Chernobyl accident, a Chinese student activist, a vengeful former singer from Brazil, a Kenyan prostitute and a good-natured petty thief, and he encourages them none too subtly toward a critical showdown at a nuclear power plant in upstate New York. Satan, meanwhile, has been enjoying the antics of humanity, and sends an emissary of his own to block Ananayel's plot and save the world. Westlake evokes--both humorously and bitterly--the loneliness and hopelessness that color the human condition, posing the age-old question of what makes life worth living despite so much evil. Though he treats this issue only shallowly, Westlake ( Drowned Hopes ; A Likely Story ) lifts his tale with snappy prose and sympathetic characters.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
DONALD E. WESTLAKE has written numerous novels over the past thirty-five years under his own name and pseudonyms, including Richard Stark. Many of his books have been made into movies, including The Hunter, which became the brilliant film noir Point Blank, and the 1999 smash hit Payback. He penned the Hollywood scripts for The Stepfather and The Grifters, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. The winner of three Edgar awards and a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, Donald E. Westlake was presented with The Eye, the Private Eye Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award, at the Shamus Awards. He lives with his wife, Abby Adams, in rural New York State.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny and Dark,
This review is from: Humans (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a terrific novel that's both really funny and pretty dark. I'm a huge fan of Donald Westlake's work. I've probably read at least a dozen of his novels in the five or six years since I first discovered his books. Nearly all of them share some qualities that I've come to associate with his work: great characters, sharp dialogue, a strongly satirical tone and a twisted plot. Humans is no different. When God becomes angry with the Earth's inhabitants, he sends his chief angel down to gather a diverse group of eccentrics who will bring about the end of the world. Satan, who needs mankind's sins in order to stay in business, sends his minions to save mankind. It's a wild story with a lot of surprises. I highly recommend it, and I really hope some talented director decides to bring it to film - it would make a terrific movie.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hard to believe...,
By
This review is from: Humans (Mass Market Paperback)
this book would be unavailable as the millennium approaches. Westlake's best effort outside the mystery genre is a brutal, funny, and somehow charming epic. I hope someone reprints this book. It's a sad sign for civilization that awful movies like End of Days and Stigmata have been produced while this novel sits just begging to be turned into a screenplay.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Idea, But Weaker Characters Than Most of Westlake's Other Work,
By
This review is from: Humans (Hardcover)
I'm a huge fan of Westlake's work. I'm particularly a huge fan of his comic capers and although this is not one of those, it does add the odd bit of humour every now and then to this survival of mankind thriller. However compared to the majority of Westlake's work, Humans just lacks something. The plot is a great idea, it certainly reminds me of one of my other favourite authors, Christopher Moore, however Moore does write that genre better than Westlake did here. The main fault with this book is that the characters just aren't that interesting, and at times outright boring, therefore you just don't care about them, in fact with the Russian Chernobyl firefighter guy chapters, I found a struggle to push through.
If this novel could be found on the shelves of your local library, by all means pick it up (and if your a fan of Westlake's work you're going to want to) but the fact remains Humans (written in 1992) has now joined the ranks of his classic comic capers from the 60's, 70's and 80's and unless you stumble across a copy at a garage sale or being sold on ebay by someone who doesn't know its worth, you're going to be paying a collectors' price for it. It is worth that collectors' price? Simple answer, no! However so many of Westlake's other novels are so I'd grab one of those instead. Basic plot of Humans is that God is over his creation. He could wipe it out himself but decides to let humans use the free will he gave them to do it themselves. He sends an angel to earth to manipulate a few key humans who should bring about the earth's demise. Of course Satan has found humans quite entertaining throughout the years and doesn't want his entertainment to end so sends forth his own minions to save the planet. If you haven't already done so also check out Westlake's comic capers. The best four comic capers at an absolute masterpiece level are, Smoke, The Spy in the Ointment and a New York Dance (also published as Dancing Aztecs) and Cops and Robbers. Other great comic capers worth checking out too are Gangway!, God Save the Mark, Who Stole Sassi Manoon?, Help I am Being Held Prisoner, the Fugitive Pigeon, Enough, Somebody Owes Me Money and High Adventure to name just a few! Of course Westlake doesn't just write comic capers and if you never read anything else, you've also got to check out his absolute masterpiece which is about the ultimate solution to unemployment, The Ax!
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