Even thieves can be good guys...kinda

Watch Your Back is the first John Dortmunder book I've ever read. If this is any indication of Donald Westlake's ability, then I will be reading some more soon. He has shown that he is one of the masters of the "caper" novel. I have no idea how Watch Your Back compares to Westlake's other books, but I found it greatly enjoyable, if a bit uneven at times. There's no mystery involved, but there's a lot of fun, along with the coincidences that make novels like this enjoyable.

The back room of the O.J. Bar & Grill is the usual meeting place for John Dortmunder and his gang of thieves make their plans. When their usual fence, Arnie Albright, comes back from Club Med with information about an apartment loaded with riches but empty of anybody else, they try and get together there to finalize everything. Unfortunately, it looks like the Mob is moving in on the bar, and Dortmunder can't have that. Preston Fareweather is a filthy rich man on the run from a pack of ex-wives, staying down at Club Med and cruelly toying with women and everybody else who comes near him. His apartment lies empty most of the time, and makes a perfect target. But Dortmunder can't get his mind off of the O.J, and works to rid it of the Mob as they get the heist ready too. Everything comes together as both the Mob and Fareweather learn that you don't mess with John Dortmunder.

This book would probably be shelved in the mystery section of the book store, but it certainly isn't that. This is a classic caper novel, and Westlake does it with style. Dortmunder is a fun character, though he isn't exactly the main character. Watch Your Back (and, perhaps, Westlake's other novels?) is more of an ensemble piece, with Dortmunder just being the lead guy. He is the one who insists that something needs to be done with the O.J, but otherwise Westlake treats him as just one of the many colourful characters in this novel. And there are quite a few of them.

Probably the funniest for me was Tiny, the big man who orders a limo when he needs to go places because taxis are too small for him. He can be rough when he needs to be or when he's irritated (which is why the others don't want him to find out about the bar until he is safely away from there). He's also quite matter of fact with a hint of menace behind his tone. When he speaks calmly, that's when you'd better watch out. He has a cute relationship with Judson, the new kid on the block. He sort of takes Judson under his wing with some advice, especially about not volunteering too often. He was probably my favourite character in the book.

That's not to say he was the only good one, though. The rest of the gang definitely have their moments too. They all speak in a distinctive way which makes them identifiable and they reek of New York City (which is a good thing, since the series is set there). Westlake manages to catch all of their voices perfectly. Especially fun is when they're talking on cell phones and have to talk around what they mean because they don't want anything incriminating going out on a wireless.

Where the book falls down slightly is in the bad guy department. The situation with Preston down at Club Med is amusing for a while, but I found the book dragging a little bit when he was around, which is hard to do with chapters this short. The character was supposed to be annoying, but Westlake didn't quite walk that fine line between annoying and fun to read about and just annoying. The whole Florida sequence with Preston just sat there on the page. On the other hand, there are the Mob characters, who aren't really shown much. Unfortunately, when they are around, they are bad Sopranos imitations. Granted, the comparison is slightly intentional (the back cover blurb actually says that the main Mob character is a "would-be Tony Soprano"), but Westlake takes the parody a bit too far. There is not a lot of bad language in the book, but whenever the Mob characters are on the page, the f-word is featured almost twice a sentence. I found that the parody fell flat.

Other than the Mob, Westlake's prose fits the genre perfectly. It serves its purpose, moves the story along, and occasionally comes out with a zinger (the old woman minding her own business in the airplane is a perfect example that I won't spoil, but look for it if you read the book). The story is told in a breezy way that moves quickly. You won't be spending a lot of time on this book. However, I think that's the point. The chapters are short, the type is big, and the book is only 320 pages. Light and breezy can be fun too, and Watch Your Back is definitely that.

The only other minor problem could just be a symptom of the genre itself, and thus won't bother fans. The storylines tie together with a massive series of coincidences that, while fun, strain the disbelief a little bit. I laughed when they happened, but in hindsight, the ending suffered from too much happenstance. Check your brain at the door when you get to the ending, and you will enjoy it too. It would have meant more and been even funnier if we had gotten to know the Mob guys a bit better (and if they hadn't been bad parodies instead of real characters).

All in all, Watch Your Back is a really good book. Enjoyable in all the right places and with a few not very annoying faults, you'll have an entertaining time reading this book.

Originally published on Curled Up With a Good Book at www.curledup.com. © David Roy, 2005.