Bad News is just darn likeable. There’s no better way to describe it. It’s like that guy who everybody seems to be friends with and you can’t really say anything bad about him because he’s just so likeable. And you like him, too, you know? Almost despite yourself. Bad News is that. It’s not mind-blowing, but the story is certainly original and unpredictable. Westlake doesn’t display an utter mastery of the English language that makes your brain feel small, unworthy yet simultaneously like you’re doing the reading version of running your hands over fine silk, but it’s full of impressive word play (on the scale of crap to Vonnegut, I’d give it a 7) and really funny, perfectly-timed jokes that make you appreciate the author’s ample capabilities. I guess what I’m saying is this: the book is really entertaining, genuinely funny, and an ideal light read. It's also full of some great lines about the legal system, lawyers, and judges.For example:"Judge T. Wallace Higbee had come to realize that what it was all about was stupidity. All through law school and through his years of private practice, he had believed that the subject was the law itself, but in the last twelve years, since, at the age of fifty-seven, he had been elected to the bench, he had come to realize that all the training and all the experience came down to this: It was his task in this life to acknowledge and then to punish stupidity." This is quite accurate.You won’t finish it and think, “Wow, now I need to absorb every word Westlake has ever written,” but you’ll definitely recommend it to a friend and you’ll probably try another Dortmunder novel if you have the chance.Bottom line: cleanse your pallet with this book and you won’t regret it.
Great fun! A classic example of Donald E. Westlake's humorous crime fiction – more caper story than classic style mystery – with plenty of unexpected turns as the story progresses. This is the second book I've read in the Dortmunder series. Wasn't crazy about the first (Drowned Hopes — Dortmunder #7) but I’ve always been a fan of Westlake’s other work so I decided to give the series another try. So glad I did. At first things go unusually well for Dortmunder and crew (at one point Dortmunder actually says, “Everything’s going too easy”). He and his pal Andy Kelp stumble into the middle of a scheme that involves switching 70-year-old corpses from one gravesite to another. They quickly outclass the original schemers and deal themselves in on the deal… and everything goes great... until it doesn’t. The whole thing turns into another hilarious chapter in the ongoing trials, tribulations and misfortunes that is the life of professional criminal John Dortmunder. The story takes off pretty quickly, and though it slows down in a few spots it keeps up the pace well enough that the reader doesn’t lose interest or get sidetracked from what’s going on. It doesn't exactly leave you on the edge of your seat but it does make you want to keep turning the pages to find out what will happen next. There were several points where I started to get a little bit ahead of the plot, guessing where the story was going and why, but almost every time I thought I had it all nailed down there was an unexpected twist to things that I didn’t see coming. A delight from start to finish. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a quirky crime story that features eccentric characters and fun twists.
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Donald Westlake's Dortmunder books are a series every bit as delightful as P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves books. There's no need to read them sequentially, and in fact he took a while to get his style for these books entirely in line.Caution, Donald Westlake wrote more books, and more series of books, than anyone. Well, maybe not more than Zane Grey. So you need to check them to see whether they're Dortmunder books. Some of his others are fine (and some aren't; he wrote a lot of trash just to pay the bills), but I'm aiming you at this series.
—Mark Durst
I should probably pay more attention to my older brother's book recommendations,although I must add that my younger brother rarely pays attention to mine. After decades of nagging by the former sibling I finally broke down this year and started reading both Donald Westlake's Dortmunder boooks and the Parker series he wrote under the name of Richard Stark. "Bad News," the 10th of the Dortmunder capers is where I began and I'll be reading the rest of them as soon as humanely possible. Lots of writers have written about criminals but few--Elmore Leonard is another--have realized that they are human beings who spend at least 90% of their time doing other stuff. Westlake is a master of the usual fiction fundamentals of plot, characterization and pace here but where he truly excels is dialog; indeed, I can't understand why more of his books haven't been made into movies. (Some have, but few are worth viewing.) As is often the case in both his Parker and Dortunder capers, things don't turn out as planned here but the pleasure here is more in the journey than the destination. Typically, there's a scene along the way which contributes nothing to the plot--a bunch of drunks in a bar are arguing about the names of Santa's reindeers--which is as good as comic dialog gets in the hands of a consumate professional like Westlake.
—John Bellamy
An excellent Dortmunder in which Westlake succumbs to his weakness for low-hanging fruit only when he has to name law firms. (Kleinberg, Rhineberg, Steinberg, Weinberg & Klatsch, anyone?) This time out, Dortmunder helps to create a false heir to 1/3 of an Indian casino, and much of the fun is the route by which he ends up participating in this job that is far from his usual line of (illegal) work. While Bad News lacks the (surprising) gravitas of some of the preceding novels in the series, by this point the members of Dortmunder's crew (Stan, Tiny, Murch, Murch's mom) have (surprisingly?) passed the threshold of LOVABLE, and time spent with them is time delightfully spent.
—David
