Tuesday, October 18, 2011

GET REAL by Donald E. Westlake

Finished Tu 10/18/11
A John Dortmunder Novel

John and his gang are approached by a producer of a television reality program to do a crime, and put it on TV. The production company is located in a lower Manhattan building which houses several businesses which are owned by the parent company. The gangs finds out that one of the offices has an apartment in which there seems to be large amounts of cash. One of the companies uses this as a slush fund to pay bribes when they deal with foreign contractors. John and the gang tell the producer that they will rob one of the companies in the building, but NOT the one with the cash.

A fairly simple and entertaining read, and it is more witty than funny. The bad guys are more con-men than criminals, and they have a real sense of class.

DROWNED HOPES is my favorite novel in this series, but this one is a nice addition.

"Get Real" is the name of the production outfit
"The Heist" is the name of their show
"The Stand" name of a show where they focus on a produce stand in upstate NY
Some of the characters in the gang might be from other novels. Stan, the taxi driver and his mother, seem to be familiar.
The novel is set in lower Manhattan, except one of the guys lives in Canarsie, Brooklyn.

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