Get Real (John Dortmunder Series #14)

by Donald E. Westlake

Overview

In Donald E. Westlake's Get Real, the bad get better, the good slide a bit, and Lord help anyone caught between a thief and the current object of his attention: laughs "land on every page" (New York Times).

Getting caught red-handed is inevitable when a TV producer convinces a thief named John Dortmunder -- and his merry gang -- to do a reality show that captures their next score. The producer guarantees to find a way to keep the show from being used in evidence against them. They're dubious, but the pay is good, so they take him up on his offer.

A mock-up of the OJ bar is built in a warehouse down on Varick Street. The ground floor of that building is a big open space jumbled with vehicles used in TV world, everything from a news truck and a fire engine to a hansom cab (without the horse).

As the gang plans their next move with the cameras rolling, Dortmunder and Kelp sneak onto the roof of their new studio to organize a private enterprise. It will take an ingenious plan to outwit viewers glued to their television sets, but Dortmunder is nothing if not persistent, and he's determined to end this shoot with money in his pockets.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780446550901
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	07/17/2009
Series:	John Dortmunder Series , #14
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	266,507
File size:	520 KB

About the Author

Donald E. Westlake has written numerous novels over the past thirty-five years under his own name and pseudonyms, including Richard Stark. Many of his books have been made into movies, including The Hunter, which became the brilliant film noir Point Blank, and the 1999 smash hit Payback. He penned the Hollywood scripts for The Stepfather and The Grifters, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. The winner of three Edgar awards and a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, Donald E. Westlake was presented with The Eye, the Private Eye Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award, at the Shamus Awards. He lives with his wife, Abby Adams, in rural New York State. For more information, visit his website: www.donaldwestlake.com.

Editorial Reviews

From that very first sentence, you learn two things. Primo, that this is a Dortmunder novel, one of a series of comic capers about a gang of New York crooks who have been charming discriminating readers for nearly 40 years, and secundo, that you're in for a very, very good time…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.
—The Washington Post

Michael Dirda

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.
—The New York Times

Marilyn Stasio

A reality-show company aptly titled Get Real recruits the delightfully understated John Dortmunder and his merry men for a heist in this clever Dortmunder novel (after What's So Funny?), a worthy final word from Westlake (1933-2008). The producer of the prospective series, Doug Fairkeep, reveals himself to be both cynical and naïve, a combination that makes him an excellent foil for the guys. Naturally, the gang has to make this gig pay more than what's offered, as much for the fun of it as for the extra cash. While Get Real helps them map out a "real" robbery, the boys are mapping out a real robbery-of some of the company's "hidden assets." The thinking is that Get Real can hardly come after them to retrieve cash that it can't admit that it has. The game plan changes nearly hourly, and the outcome is anything but certain. The assorted idiosyncrasies of the group's members and the interactions among them will rouse chuckles from even jaded readers. (July)

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Publishers Weekly

Westlake's final Dortmunder novel is a winning send-up of our current fascination with reality TV. When Dortmunder and his associates-okay, his criminal gang-are offered a role on a reality show dramatizing their exploits, they initially think it's a terrible idea. However, they soon see it as an opportunity to aid in their usual criminal pursuits. While the producers of their show believe that the group is staging a small-time robbery, they're actually working on a way to find what they believe is a large amount of money being housed by the production company. What's not expected is that they begin to enjoy their TV careers, an outcome that contributes a couple of laugh-out-loud scenes. Dortmunder, Andy Kelp, Stan Murch, and the other members of their inner circle are perfectly drawn, and their interactions make for excellent comedy. Westlake, who died last New Year's Eve, will be sorely missed, but he has left a fine last work that will add to his legacy. Highly recommended.
—Craig Shufelt

Library Journal

Dortmunder's last caper. When Stan Murch's mom, a New York cabbie, pitches her son's role as a gang's getaway driver to a fare, a reality-TV executive, he suggests that they take a meeting. After Stan talks it over with the rest of the gang-Dortmunder, Kelp, Tiny and the Kid-Doug Fairkeep offers big money to film them planning and executing a heist. They needn't worry about legal retribution, he promises, because none of their faces will be shown. Still, Dortmunder insists they steal something from Fairkeep's company so they can say the bosses knew about it if things go awry. They settle on burgling the company's Varick Street warehouse. As usual with Dortmunder, there are complications. For one thing, Fairkeep has inserted a real actor in the script to act as a mole, along with a gun moll for sex appeal. As the set designer replicates the gang's meeting place on the upper floor of the warehouse, Fairkeep's boss keeps renaming, then canceling, then reinstating the project. Kelp keeps entering Fairkeep's apartment without benefit of a key. And a production assistant keeps writing dialogue for the gang's ad-libbed scenes. Holes are drilled, alarms are cut, lies are told and, for once, Dortmunder and his pals waltz off with a nice payday. Westlake, who died this past New Year's Eve, left 14 Dortmunder capers. This one is as beguiling as the rest (What's So Funny, 2007, etc.), with the bonus of exquisitely placed jibes at reality TV.

Kirkus Reviews

"Before Janet Evanovich brought us Stephanie Plum, Don Westlake was the Grand Master of Criminal Laughs with his hilarious novels about professional thief John Dortmunder. Get Real is the 14th Dortmunder novel and proves again that Westlake is the King of Clever."

Los Angeles Times Robert Crais

"With brilliant restraint and perfectly pitched deadpan dialogue, Westlake keeps his characters dancing precariously along the knife's edge of absurdity. Reading his ever-more-colorful descriptions...is a sheer delight, only tempered by the knowledge that this is last call at the OJ Bar & Grill."

starred review Booklist

"Side-splittingly funny...Westlake will be remembered for his clever commentary on current affairs, his always amusing whimsical characters and of course his brilliant depiction of modern-day Robin Hoods robbing from the rich and giving to, well, themselves."

BookPage

"A rollicking crime caper that pulls the pants right off the reality TV industry."

New York Times Book Review

Westlake's final novel featuring John Dortmunder takes the crime world's most hapless gang of burglars on a lighthearted look at reality TV. William Dufris restrains his typically lively tone to take on the sad-sack character of Dortmunder, the leader of a criminal gang that accepts a job performing as a criminal gang for a reality show. During the preparations for the show, the gang learns that reality TV is actually highly scripted. They also discover that the production team's parent company is hiding a lot more than stage props. Dufris deftly shifts through a variety of characters who run the gamut of age, ethnicity, and education. All the characters, with the possible exception of the cartoonish Asian Mr. Ming, are unique and believable. A lively conclusion to a delightfully crooked series. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2009 - AudioFile