Money for Nothing - Hardcover

Westlake, Donald E

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 070907672X ISBN 13: 9780709076728

Publisher: Robert Hale, 2004

Synopsis

When 27-year-old Josh Redmont first received the unexpected cheque for a thousand dollars from an organization called United States Agent he was young, single and poor. Unable to locate his mysterious benefactor, Josh starts to feel that somehow everything must be all right when the cheque clears. And the next one a month later. And the next. Now married, with a two-year-old son and a steady job, his monthly cheques have become a mere background to his life. Until, one day, a stranger sits next to him on a bench and says, 'You are now active.' So begins Josh's descent into absurdity and fear. Here is an ordinary man trying to protect his family and survive a carnival ride through a modern hell.

About this title

Review

Proving the old adage that there's no such thing as the windfall promised by the title, Westlake starts this funny divertissement with an intriguing premise: Mr. American Everyman, young, ambitious, decent, honorable husband and father, has been receiving a check for $1,000 once a month from an unknown benefactor for seven years. Just when Josh Redmont has finally stopped worrying about where the money comes from or what it means, a stranger with a foreign accent approaches him on the Fire Island ferry and clues him in. Therein hangs the tale of who's behind Josh good fortune and what kind of bill has come due for all those tax-free dollars. Unbeknownst to our hapless hero, he's been a "sleeper agent" whose paymaster has awakened him just in time to play a big role in a political assassination. How Josh gets out of a mess he had no idea he was in drives the lively narrative to its breathless conclusion. Westlake is the undisputed master of the caper genre--although Money for Nothing may not be as deviously convoluted or sidesplittingly comic as some of his earlier novels (The Ax, Put a Lid On It), it's well worth the reader's attention and appreciation. --Jane Adams

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 lives with his wife, Abby Adams, in rural New York State.

Edition details

• Publisher: Robert Hale
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 070907672X
• ISBN 13: 9780709076728
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240