What's the Worst That Could Happen? (1996)

Godalmighty, did I love these books as a child. Hilarity abounds -- I still has the world's biggest soft spot for Stan, and every scene in the bar makes me laugh like a dying hyena (the regulars are comedy gold) and I want to cuddle Dortmunder (and May, dear lord, May), but it's pretty thin other than that. Which is fine! Sometimes, you don't want deep and important literature, and when that is the case, a Donald Westlake is never not a good choice. ( )

This is one of the best stories I've read in Westlake's series about the world's unluckiest thief, John Dortmunder. For one thing, Dortmunder comes out of it a lot better off than in previous stories. Caught burglarizing the house of billionaire Max Fairbanks, Dortmunder is incensed when Fairbanks steals the "lucky ring" right off of his finger just before the police haul him away. Dortmunder proceeds to rob every house and apartment owned by Fairbanks, and (unlike his usual capers) each break-in results in a great haul of swag for the burglars -- but the ring remains in Fairbanks' possession. The action culminates in a brilliantly-plotted Las Vegas casino robbery.

I love most of Westlake's comic crime novels, with or without Dortmunder, but he was really at the top of his game when he wrote this one. ( )

One of the best in the series. Don't steal from a thief. Take this book as a warning, if you annoy John Dortmunder, you will regret it. ( )

Another very funny Dortmunder book. Why are laugh-out-loud authors so far and few between? Westlake is a treasure. ( )