Getting The Chop

Intro
I first heard of Donald Westlake’s The Axe in connection with a movie that was based on it but can’t for the life of me remember which one (I think it’s pretty recent though). A film reviewer mentioned the book in passing and I was intrigued enough to track it down.

Story
Setting: America. Late nineties.
Burke Devore is a bitter man. After almost twenty years as a middle manager for a paper manufacturer, he is given the chop when the company downsizes and moves its operation to Canada. As we learn later, this situation is repeated across the country so that competition for the few jobs which are available is intense, cut-throat even.

Burke and his family survive - just; his wife takes on a couple of part-time jobs, they economise as best they can and he searches relentlessly for work in the same industry. After two years, disheartened and still angry, he decides to take revenge on the system, and devises an ingenious if somewhat extreme plan to get himself back in the workforce: through a process of elimination he will get rid of the incumbent and any possible contenders. Extraordinary as it may seem, although Burke is a law-abiding, basically honest citizen, his circumstances turn him into a methodical, calculating killer. What is even more amazing is that luck appears to be on his side.

But will his luck run out?

How It’s Done
In the opening lines, Westlake grabs the reader’s attention: I’ve never actually killed anybody before, murdered another person, snuffed out another human being. […] How do you know beforehand that you can do it? Burke, as narrator, is about to embark on a dangerous scheme and as he prepares his weapon, a Luger left to him by his father from World War II, reflects on his ability to carry it through, but by the end of Chapter 1 has dispatched his first victim.

Subsequent chapters reveal what has led him to this act. We learn of his loyalty and commitment to the company which has reduced their staff by a quarter, and how he and his family are coping now that his payout and unemployment benefits have come to an end. Because Burke is narrating, in the first person, we are privy to his innermost thoughts, to his desperation, his anger and sense of having been rejected, as well as the fear of never having another job. As we all know, if you are retrenched at fifty, it’s not easy to get remployed.

The book serves a purpose, firstly its unorthodox yet perfectly plausible plot is designed to hold the reader’s interest and build suspense; secondly, through his protagonist the author criticizes a system which allows employees to be drop-kicked after decades of service, the retraining, counseling and financial advice they are given to supposedly help them get back on track being, ultimately, meaningless. In the following passage Burke comments: Long-term joblessness, it hurts everything. Not just the discarded worker, but everything. Maybe it’s wrong of me, snobbish or something, to think this hits the middle class more than other people, because I’m middle class (and trying to stay middle class), but I do think it does, it hurts us more. The people at the extremes, the poor and the very rich, are used to the idea that life has great swings, now you’re doing well, now you’re doing badly. But the middle class is used to a smooth progress though life. We give up the highs, and in return we’re supposed to be protected from the lows. We give our loyalty to a company, and in return they’re supposed to give us a smooth ride through life. And now it isn’t happening, and we feel betrayed.

As the above shows, Westlake's narrative style and language are concise and reflect Burke's way of talking. Through his actions and internal monologue we learn who he is, his motives, his difficulty in reconciling the life he had before with the present one. It’s hard to say whether he’s a particularly likeable character but I think most of us can relate to his situation – whether we would go as far in our pursuit of another job is a moot point.

The book is neatly constructed and follows a logical sequence, the pressure building as Burke single-mindedly goes after his competitors. The most astonishing revelation comes at the end because it’s totally unexpected. There is no doubt that the story is well-written with an intriguing plot which draws reader in, and gives the killer an almost sympathetic character. However, perhaps because the book is so methodical in its presentation, I felt there was a strange lack of excitement somehow – but perhaps this is the author’s intention, who knows? Having said that though, I definitely think it’s worth a read.

Conclusion
A good crime story which combines an intriguing plot with an underlying social commentary.