Smoke [Mass Market Paperback]

Donald E. Westlake (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996

Due to a foiled burglary in a high-tech lab doing research for cigarette manufacturers, Freddie Noon, the thief, is now invisible. This condition has clear-cut advantages for a man in Freddie's profession, but now everybody wants a glimpse of Freddie. But Freddie doesn't dare show his face, his shadow, anything. Because Freddie Noon has gotten a taste of invisibility--and he can't quit now.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Yet another variation on the invisible-man notion doesn't sound like a promising prospect, but if any author can wring some fresh fun out of it, Westlake's the one. He doesn't fail. Freddie Noon is a sharp, likable burglar whose mistake is to break into the offices of two doctors doing so-called research for the Tobacco Institute. Catching him, they make him a human guinea pig for one of their formulas, and?meet disappearing Freddie. Naturally, his life as a burglar gets much easier, but his girlfriend, Peg, isn't too comfortable with an invisible lover. In no time, Freddie is on the run: the Institute wants him for its nefarious purposes, the doctors want to study him further and a corrupt cop has his own reasons for pursuit. How Freddie and Peg run rings around the opposition, in New York and at an upstate hideaway, is the stuff of glorious Westlake comedy, in which Freddie's invisibility is merely one element in a caper full of hilarious characters, crackpot conversations and narrative sleight-of-hand.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Writing is well known as a lonely business whose practitioners are miserable, but Donald Westlake's comic crime novels provoke unbidden images of the author chuckling to himself at the word processor. His latest is full of chuckles for readers: when amiable professional thief Freddie Urban Noon breaks into a posh Manhattan brownstone that houses a research institute, he is captured by two lunatic MDs engaged in research for the tobacco industry. They take his medical history at gunpoint. They also give him a drug that renders him invisible. Freddie uses his invisibility to escape the doctors and to make big scores in diamond and fur heists, but he soon discovers that being invisible is straining his relationship with Peg, his charming significant other. Meanwhile, a hilariously malevolent tobacco tycoon hatches a plan to subvert the Human Genome Project for the good of the tobacco industry. He needs Freddie to implement his plot to "make people safe for tobacco" and employs a chillingly unhilarious rogue cop to find the invisible man. Smoke is deft entertainment, and this reviewer hopes the author is chuckling to himself as he produces the next one. Thomas Gaughan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Mysterious Press (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044640344X
• ISBN-13: 978-0446403443
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #654,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Invisible Burglar, August 16, 2001

By 

Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smoke (Mass Market Paperback)

When Freddie Noon is caught in the act of burgling a research laboratory by a couple of the doctors who work there, he is persuaded to act as guinea pig to test the experimental drug they are working on, rather than get sent to prison. The drug was supposed to help combat skin cancer by eliminating skin pigment, unfortunately when given to Freddie it not only eliminated Freddie's skin, but also the rest of him, rendering him invisible. An invisible burglar, the possibilities are endless. But so are the problems. Freddie and his girlfriend, Peg, are chased by various people who all have the same idea, harnessing his invisibility for their own evil plans.

Thanks to Westlake's great ability with putting together great caper stories, the subplots are amusing and quite entertaining, but when you get to the end you get the feeling that the potential has not been reached. Although not an uproariously funny book, its tone is light and the humour is constant, at times subtle and usually quite clever.

If it's light reading you're after and prefer entertainment over finding a deeper meaning of life, I think you'll enjoy this book. A good example of the humour of Donald Westlake can be found in a surgeon general's warning on the inside front flap stating that "Reading Donald E. Westlake may lead to shortness of breath, prolonged chortles, outbreaks of hysterical laughter, and sudden, drop-dead surprises."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Invisible Man Thriller, March 10, 2007

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Smoke (Mass Market Paperback)

Westlake as usual has created another sensational novel but this time tackled a subject not many authors have really delved into, a novel about an invisible man. Even though Freddie Noon the main character in Smoke is a career villain like with Westlake's Parker novels (written under the pen name Richard Stark) you can't help but wish the guy all the success in the world.

Freddie breaks into the research labs of an American tobacco company to steal some easily liquidated equipment. Unfortunately he is caught by two scientists who can't be bothered waiting the lengthy time process required by the government to get human volunteers so see Freddie as an excellent test subject. They convince him to take an injection showing him something they say is the antidote so there's no risk to him and its better than going to jail isn't it? Only Freddie escapes, steals the antidote and of course takes it. The problem is it is not an antidote and Freddie is now invisible. Being invisible comes with a lot of challenges but also has its unique opportunities. Only problem is there are now powerful people after him including a corrupt police officer, they all have their own uses for him wanting him to perform more violent and serious crimes on their behalf which don't follow under his code of ethics. His girlfriend Peg is also finding his condition hard to cope with and wants him visible again, only thing is there's no way back to his former self.

This sensational novel is more similar in storyline (with its own uniqueness as well) to H F Saint's classic novel Memoirs of an Invisible Man than it is to H.G. Wells' 1897 story The Invisible Man. Smoke also acknowledges the problems such as food eaten not being immediately invisible like Saint's masterpiece did, although Westlake does not go to the same depth (I don't understand previous reviewers who criticise Westlake for having this factor in here as it an obvious thing that would be a problem if you were invisible, put it this way should an author writing a book about someone going swimming not have them wearing a swimming costume because another character in another book by another author included this exact same obvious thing, of course they should it would be ludicrous and absurd not to).

Smoke was published in 1995 and has not dated at all today. All three of invisible man novels mentioned are must read can't put down forget about work and what is on TV until the final page thrillers. If you like one of these stories you'll love them all.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The one that got away, December 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Smoke (Mass Market Paperback)

Donald Westlake has never written a book, that I know of, about an honest person doing an honest days work. Freddy Noon, the protagonist of this story is unusual in that life is pretty good for him. He dosn't suffer the kind of perpetual disaster of the Sort visited on Dortmunder and Co, but when things go wrong for Fredy, they go very badly wrong. Freddy is a thief that one day makes the mistake of trying to rip off a research establishement. He is captured and turned into a scientific subject. The results of this experiment toss his life upside down and threaten to cost him his girlfriend and launch several threats on his life. This experiment also makes Freddy's career take off.

This book is typical Westlake, which is to say it is very well written, the story moves like an express train, you have a lot of fun reading it and there is no gain to doing so.

Westlake does not have a menagerie of freeks, despite what happens to Freddy he is not a freek, nor does he populate his universe with cardboard cutouts. Freddy is as real and vital. The people in Westlake's books interact in so honest a fashion it startles one to realize what has happend to your sympathies.

This book can also be viewed as an allagory of what life is like in the modern world. All there are is compromises, and you have to give up a great deal for succuess, which might cost you more than the gain is worth. This loss is permenant.

Even the Freddy's name is alegorical. His life is very much the "Urban Noon"