When Stan’s taxi driving Mom picks up a reality TV producer, she believes that this may help Stan with a future –after all, being a thief does not come with a pension plan. But Stan, as always, thinks there may be something else to be gained by doing something with Get Real, a TV production company. Thus, John Dortmunder, Stan, Andy, Tiny, and Judson agree to do a reality show that will capture their next score. The producer also guarantees to find a way to keep the show from being used in evidence against them. They're dubious, but the pay is good, so they take him up on his offer. A mock-up of the OJ bar is built in a warehouse down on Varick Street. The ground floor of that building is a big open space jumbled with vehicles used in TV world, everything from a news truck and a fire engine to a hansom cab (without the horse). As the gang plans their next move with the cameras rolling, Dortmunder and Kelp sneak onto the roof of their new studio to organize a private enterprise. It will take an ingenious plan to outwit viewers glued to their television sets, but Dortmunder is nothing if not persistent, and he's determined to end this shoot with money in his pockets.
Get Real, released in 2009, would turn out to be the final Dortmunder novel, as the passing of Donald E. Westlake on New Year’s Eve 2008 would bring these 14 book series to an end. While not as funny or slapstick as previous entries, the book is still a brilliant satire and take-down on the reality TV business. What is great here is that Westlake does not come across as a cynical, old-fart who does not understand today’s TV business (during his lifetime, Westlake worked on TV and movies, so he knew his way around Hollywood executives and their motivations). So it’s clear that with those experiences, he understands how things work, how the world works. Because, as noted before, while most of the characters have remained fixed –Dortmunder the most, somewhere in the 1970s when this series started I think- the world has moved on with our own and Westlake was able to fold these changes into his narrative in such a way that you don’t get distracted by fact that it’s the 21st Century and thieves like these boys still do everything old-school, like it is 1972. Even Stan’s Mom knows his line of business is ending and he needs a career change:
“Cameras, “his Mom said, and pointed at one mounted on a nearby pole. “Security. ID. Tracking. Records of everything. Global positioning. Radio chips. It’s harder for people like you and John every day, and you know it is.”
Anyways, the book is spry, a bit tighter than the last few previous books -it’s the shortest one in ages- and its clear Westlake was having fun skewering the reality TV business. I also think this would be the easiest Dortmunder novel to transfer to the screen, as the plot is pretty straight forward. And while the gang have had their ups and downs (more downs, really), Get Real leaves them sailing into literary history with a moderately successful payoff.
While these novels are done, there remains a collection of
short stories featuring Dortmunder and his gang, and I look forward to getting
to that soon. For now, I move back to Westlake’s darker half, Richard Stark and
his anti-hero Parker. I’ve only gotten through seven of those, with 17 more to
go. But there are also many other Westlake books to go through. I hope to live
and finish most of them.
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