What's So Funny? | Donald E. Westlake | Too much is never enough

What's So Funny? | Donald E. Westlake | TOO good!

books:

What's So Funny?

	What's So Funny? Donald E. Westlake Grand Central Publishing, 2008 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 15 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In his classic caper novels, Donald E. Westlake turns the world of crime and criminals upside down. The bad get better, the good slide a bit, and Lord help anyone caught between a thief named John Dortmunder and the current object of his intentions. Now Westlake's seasoned but often scoreless crook must take on an impossible crime, one he doesn't want and doesn't believe in. But a little blackmail goes a long way in... WHAT'S SO FUNNY? All it takes is a few underhanded moves by a tough ex-cop named Eppick to pull Dortmunder into a game he never wanted to play. With no choice, he musters his always-game gang and they set out on a perilous treasure hunt for a long-lost gold and jewel-studded chess set once intended as a birthday gift for the last Romanov czar, which unfortunately reached Russia after that party was over. From the moment Dortmunder reaches for his first pawn, he faces insurmountable odds. The purloined past of this precious set is destined to confound any strategy he finds on the board. Success is not inevitable with John Dortmunder leading the attack, but he's nothing if not persistent, and some gambit or other might just stumble into a winning move.

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Too much is never enough

John Dortmunder, the brains behind his gangs various capers is roped into what appears to be an impossible heist. So impossible in fact that he is only going to undertake it to avoid being collared for another long forgotten theft.
Those fans who have roared at the Dortmunder gang's travails all these years will not be disappointed in What's So Funny. It is easily the funniest Dortmunder in years. The only one funnier will be the next one, may they never stop coming. Those who are new to John and his pals will be able to get the full effect of a Dortmunder caper without having to read all the preceding novels but will most assuredly want to.

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TOO good!

What's so Funny is that while you read this book you don't stop laughing! I am a fan of Donald E Westlake for a long time, and am never dissappointed by new books. The story flows so well, and you just have to get in and enjoy the ride.
I do agree with my father who says that the story could have been more developed - there was so much potential there. but honestly! It was just SO FUNNY!!
My sis claims that there were too many scenes featuring different people. yes, that's true, but it was so well written and it connected so well, that it didn't matter.
MY only complaint is that it was too New-York. All Dortmounder books are. That's no problem for me - NY is my hometown, I was born here and so did my family for generations. But do non New Yorkers enjoy these books? shouldn't he consider that little detail while writing?

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What's So Funny?

Well written, as usual with Donald Westlake. Can't wait for the next one to come out!

What's So Funny? You are, Donald!

The answer to the question posed by the title is: This book. It's deranged and hilarious - typical Westlake. He's not slowing down after 35 or so years, which is good news.

This is the latest (13th?) of the Dortmunder novels and shares much with its predecessors. All the gags are there: Gloomy and dogged Dortmunder finds ways to pull off impossible capers, Kelp still steals cars with M.D. plates, Murch finds the quickest route from point A to point B, Tiny Bulcher is still "tiny" and intimidating, the O.J. Bar and Grill on Amsterdam still has its clueless regulars and Rollo tending bar (strongly influenced I suspect by P.G. Wodehouse and Mr. Mulliner)...

The plot involves a very valuable chess set brought back from WWII and allegedly the subject of a family swindle involving several of the books characters. One of them who doesn't have it but nonetheless lays claim to it hires Dortmunder and his gang to get it back. The only problem is that it's locked up in a vault under strictest security in the sub-basement of a NYC high profile bank corporation. Dortmunder would love to opt out, but another character is black-mailing him (gold-mailing?) into it: he is a retired cop and has managed to obtain videos of Dortmunder engaged in activities, which if revealed will land him right back in the slammer.

Well, that's not even the half, quarter or eighth of it. The whole story teeters back and forth from the ridiculous to the sublime and back again. Somehow Mr. Westlake ties it all up with a pretty little ribbon at the end and almost everybody is happy.

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Classic Dortmunder Humor Offset a Slow First Half Plot

What's So Funny? is uncharacteristically slow in the beginning. The best Dortmunder books have a humorous crime that goes awry in the first few pages to get the book off to a flying start. It's like the opening action sequence in a James Bond novel or movie . . . it sets the mood and gets the blood pumping.

What's So Funny? starts instead with an ex-cop, Johnny Eppick who advertises he's "For Hire," blackmailing Dortmunder inside the OJ Bar & Grill. It seems Eppick has a photograph of Dortmunder in felonious possession of stolen merchandise. What's more, Eppick seems to know way too much about Dortmunder for Dortmunder's comfort.

The blackmail effort is for an elderly retired inventor, Mr. Hemlow, who wants to recover a stolen chess set worth millions that had once been intended for the last czar, but the Russian Revolution countered that option before the chess set was delivered. Hemlow's father and some fellow army and navy personnel sneaked the set out of the USSR during the anti-Soviet battles just after World War I. Their sergeant retrieved the set from his squad after they returned to the U.S. and disappeared with the chess set. Now, Hemlow's granddaughter, an apprentice lawyer who fancies herself an amateur historian, has located the set. Hemlow wants Dortmunder to liberate the valuable prize.

Dortmunder is stymied when he learns that the chess set is locked up in a very secure bank vault in the very building where four law firms are fighting over the set. But Hemlow and Eppick don't want to let Dortmunder off the hook.

Eventually, Dortmunder thinks of an angle and the story proceeds in normal Donald E. Westlake fashion. The main outlines of how the story will proceed are obvious in advance, but the humorous mix-ups aren't. Four of the sequences are marvelous as Dortmunder and Eppick miss some illegal house sitters, Dortmunder and Kelp set up to case the site of the heist, the gang is surprised while casing the joint and has to vacate the premises quickly, and the timetable for the heist is voided and Dortmunder has to improvise.

To make up for the slow beginning, Mr. Westlake has larded in more than his usual humor about telephones and electronic devices, and Dortmunder's persecution complex and provided two classic malapropism sequences at the bar in the OJ Bar & Grill. There's also Stan Murch's klutzy idea for a heist to keep you chortling. Otherwise, just be patient and you'll find that the story gets a lot more interesting starting on page 95.

In classic Dortmunder style, the book ends with a final irony that will stay with you.

I love the Dortmunder books and adore Mr. Westlake's humor. But the weak plot in the beginning definitely drops this book for the usual five-star level for Dortmunder to only four.

Have a lot of great laughs!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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