Get Real (Hardcover)

by Donald E. Westlake (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. A reality-show company aptly titled Get Real recruits the delightfully understated John Dortmunder and his merry men for a heist in this clever Dortmunder novel (after What's So Funny?), a worthy final word from Westlake (1933–2008). The producer of the prospective series, Doug Fairkeep, reveals himself to be both cynical and naïve, a combination that makes him an excellent foil for the guys. Naturally, the gang has to make this gig pay more than what's offered, as much for the fun of it as for the extra cash. While Get Real helps them map out a real robbery, the boys are mapping out a real robbery—of some of the company's hidden assets. The thinking is that Get Real can hardly come after them to retrieve cash that it can't admit that it has. The game plan changes nearly hourly, and the outcome is anything but certain. The assorted idiosyncrasies of the group's members and the interactions among them will rouse chuckles from even jaded readers. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* The late, lamented Westlake was in top form with the fifteenth and final installment of this series of comic capers that began with The Hot Rock in the 1970s. Dortmunder and his camera-shy band get mixed up with a reality TV show that is even more fraudulent than its felonious subjects. Get Real productions will pay them $20K apiece—plus per diem—to film a “real” heist. Reluctant wage slaves, the gang attempts to sweeten the deal with a little supplementary larceny, but when the producers swell their ranks with a corn-fed telegenic gun moll and a crook from central casting to spy on them, who’s two-timing who? As cameras roll all around them, can the crooks avoid incarceration, or worse—cancellation? With brilliant restraint and perfectly pitched deadpan dialogue, Westlake keeps his characters dancing precariously along the knife’s edge of absurdity. Reading his ever-more-colorful descriptions of the gang’s gargantuan muscleman, Tiny (with “a head that didn’t make you think of Easter Island so much as Halloween Island”), is a sheer delight, only tempered by the knowledge that this is last call at the OJ Bar & Grill—one final round of Amsterdam Liquor Store bourbon (“Our Own Brand”) for the road. Here’s to crime: how sweet it is! --David Wright

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (July 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446178608
• ISBN-13: 978-0446178600
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #597 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #2 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Foreign Language Fiction > German
  #22 in	Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Dortmunder's Final Caper, July 3, 2009

By	RCP "Bob" (Texas) - See all my reviews

First of all, RIP Donald E. Westlake. We will miss you and all your alter egos.

Now I must admit I just got this book yesterday and have only read the first page. But that first page is such a masterful description of John Dortmunder it deserves a review of its own. I will come back and update this review after I have read the whole book.

As I said, the description of Dortmunder is masterful. I will quote just a bit of it here:

"He looked liked a person loitering with intent. The particular intent, as any cop casting an eye over Dortmunder would immediately understand, was beside the point, and could be fine-tuned at the station."

OK -- back to the book, which, based on the first page alone, I expect to be a wonderful, if sad, farewell to John Dortmunder and the gang at the OJ Bar and Grill.

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent comedic satirical crime caper, July 2, 2009

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

New York cabbie Stan Murch's mom takes Get Real reality-show company producer Doug Fairkeep from the airport to Manhattan. They talk during the drive about his show and she persuades Doug to use her son Stan as a getaway driver and his cohorts as a segment on the show of criminals planning a heist. The next day mom talks to Doug and Dortmunder. They agree with mom that they can make some money using their previous financial activities in a sort of mockudrama. Dortmunder lines up Kelp, Tiny and the Kid about the gig and they agree to do it.

While Dortmunder and crew work on the details of the robbery with Get Real to include stealing from the firm for the camera and working with a real actor and a gun moll, they plot a real theft of the company's valuable assets at their Varick Street warehouse. After the TV script is changed and killed and resuscitated by the hour, they finally begin to shoot the TV robbery at the same Dortmunder and the gang executes the real robbery.

With this excellent comedic satirical final Dortmunder crime caper, the late Donald E. Westlake, who died in January, pays homage to himself as he adds to his tremendous legacy. The story line is terrific as once again Dortmunder and his cronies come across as eccentric individuals whose relationship is humorous with a strong belief this time they will pull off the real heist due to Fairkeep's superego. Additionally, WHAT'S SO FUNNY is the mocking of reality TV to GET REAL as Mr. Westlake provides a great final Dortmunder; a tribute to one of the best mystery writers in the past few decades.

Harriet Klausner