Supposedly The Hot Rock, began as another Parker novel (to
be released under the pen name Donald E. Westlake often used, Richard Stark),
with the idea of a thief having to steal the same thing over and over. Alas, it
kept coming out funny, something apparently that is not to be associated with
the hard boiled, grim, no-nonsense Parker novels, and so a new hero was born.
"John Archibald Dortmunder is the thief and after being
released from his latest stint in prison he is quickly drawn into a caper by
his friend Kelp; it’s a plot to steal the $500,000 Balaboma Emerald. The Akinzi
have the stone, the Talabwo want it back, and their UN rep will pay for
retrieval. The stone - of at least as much symbolic importance as
monetary value – is currently in the U.S. on a museum tour. With Dortmunder’s
brilliant plan set, the team successfully steals the emerald. But circumstances
prevent them from holding onto it, leading to a number of more complicated and more
elaborate capers."
What Donald E. Westlake created here –by accident at first-
is a wonderful mixture of plot and gimmicks, with some lively, hilarious
dialogue and well rounded, believable (but amoral) anti-heroes. It’s obvious
that Dortmunder is a criminal genius here, who seems to have the worst bit of
luck. I kind of felt sorry for him as the novel progressed –he seemed to think
of every detail to plans, but something seemed to go wrong each time. While the
plot is pretty funny, a lot of the laugh out loud stuff comes from the mutual
misunderstandings between the characters, as well as getting on each others'
nerves.
A very funny, very cheeky novel with eccentric New
Yorkers, most who are not the brightest bulb on the Christmas Tree.
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