Donald E. Westlake was an amazing writer. He could write virtually anything, but he mostly did mysteries of all kinds. At one point, he had written too much in a single year to get it all published. He wrote a new kind of book for him, a mystery about a disillusioned police detective who had been fired for dishonorable activity on duty. Now he's miserable, depressed, and unemployable. He published it under the name Tucker Coe and swore the publisher to secrecy so he could see if the book would sell without his powerful Westlake name on it. He never found out because some of the publisher's reps found out the secret and told the bookstores.

Does this sound like fun reading to you? Me neither. But--it's a Donald Westlake, and I'll read anything --ANYTHING-- he writes. So I got this old book and went at it.

At first, it was a downer. Establishing the disgrace and resulting unhappiness in the main character was definitely not a happy experience. But then, a mob leader needs a non-police detective to find an inside-the-mob person cheating the mob. They know they have their man, who will cooperate with them without revealing anything to the authorities--probably.

From there, it is a satisfying mystery. The master is indeed the master. Get this book and start reading to see how a master writer gets you to enjoy being in the mind of a miserable, unhappy man.

Share/Like this Review?