Another really enjoyable and humorous outing from Westlake. This is the first novel in his Dortmunder series. This is the second in the series I have read, the first was DROWNED HOPES which I thought was great.
In THE HOT ROCK, Dortmunder is released from prison and immediately gets involved with the heist of an emerald that belongs to a newly formed African nation. The heist is being financed by another African nation which claims that the emerald is rightfully theirs. Dortmunder pulls together a crew to make the heist including some very unforgettable characters: Murch, the driver who listens to car engine soundtracks along with his Cabbie mom; Kelp who has a knack for stealing cars; Chefwick, the lockman who plays with toy trains; and Greenwood, the utility man. Well, Dortmunder must be the unluckiest thief alive because anything that could go wrong with the heist does. What was originally one caper to steal it from its display becomes two and then multiplies to five times that a caper has to happen to get the gem. This includes breaking into a jail cell using a helicopter, and an asylum using a small locomotive. This was really a comic caper novel that I enjoyed immensely and I'll be looking out for the others in this series.
This novel was also made into a movie starring Robert Redford back in the seventies. I may have seen it at the time but don't really remember. I'll also be looking out for it.
In THE HOT ROCK, Dortmunder is released from prison and immediately gets involved with the heist of an emerald that belongs to a newly formed African nation. The heist is being financed by another African nation which claims that the emerald is rightfully theirs. Dortmunder pulls together a crew to make the heist including some very unforgettable characters: Murch, the driver who listens to car engine soundtracks along with his Cabbie mom; Kelp who has a knack for stealing cars; Chefwick, the lockman who plays with toy trains; and Greenwood, the utility man. Well, Dortmunder must be the unluckiest thief alive because anything that could go wrong with the heist does. What was originally one caper to steal it from its display becomes two and then multiplies to five times that a caper has to happen to get the gem. This includes breaking into a jail cell using a helicopter, and an asylum using a small locomotive. This was really a comic caper novel that I enjoyed immensely and I'll be looking out for the others in this series.
This novel was also made into a movie starring Robert Redford back in the seventies. I may have seen it at the time but don't really remember. I'll also be looking out for it.
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