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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  wbentrim | Jul 15, 2009 |  
 After watching a bare-chested dentist trekking through the jungle by torchlight to shake a spear at a sunburned accountant in a loincloth, you might think television reality shows were beyond satire. But that would be underestimating the puckish wit of Donald E. Westlake, who died of a heart attack last New Year’s Eve but still leaves us laughing with his final novel, a rollicking crime caper that pulls the pants right off the reality TV industry.  Get Real is the fifteenth and last Dortmunder book. It came out in July, I’ve just read it, and while it’s not the best in the series, it’s clever and funny and definitely not a weak book. It's a wacky tale, entertainingly told. Westlake had a gift for throwaway lines and the dialogue of New York hoods. (One of them advises a foreign tourist trying to pay for his beer in foreign currency, "When in Rome, don't be Greek.") While the developing plot of "Get Real" has holes big enough to drive a stolen Chevy through, they don't really matter much. Mostly, one just enjoys Westlake's ingratiating, laid-back narrative voice.
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| Book description |
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(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:19 -0400)
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Scene one, take one..Thugs are Us meeting taking place. This mystery is about a gang of semi-ethical thugs and the foray into reality TV.
This is the first John Dortmunder book I have read. It did not generate guffaws but it certainly made me smile. The sympathetic depiction of small time career criminals contrasted with the completely unrealistic world of reality TV provided a set fraught with humor. Westlake must have a wide range of acquaintances to so accurately portray his characters. I have had the opportunity to know some less savory folks and Westlake depicted them well. Unknown to the average person is that these folks have a code of ethics that may be unrecognizable to most but is loosely adhered to by them. It was refreshing to read a mystery whose story line was not dependent on body count. This is the first of Westlake’s books I have read but it will not be the last. I was saddened to see that he has passed away but his literary legacy will live on.
I recommend the book. (