The Road to Ruin - Hardcover

Westlake, Donald E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 089296801X ISBN 13: 9780892968015

Publisher: Mysterious Press, 2004

Synopsis

"Pariah!" Monroe Hall wishes that people would stop using that word. So what if he was born rich but scammed his own conglomerate for more than the boys from Enron and WorldCom combined? And so what if he takes a little pleasure in reporting people to the IRS, or stealing quarters from visitors to his home? Does that mean he has to be a "pariah"? The truth is, poor old Monroe can't find anyone to staff his sprawling, antique-laden Pennsylvania estate. Until, by a stroke of utterly undeserved luck, a wonderful group of servants arrives at Monroe's door with spotless credentials and a remarkable willingness to please.
For Dortmunder's crew, going to work for Monroe is like kids being let loose in a candy store. When it comes time to start emptying the place of its treasure - especially those vintage automobiles - Dortmunder makes a sobering discovery: There are some people out there who just hate Monroe Hall. Now the pariah has vanished and the police are at the door. And as everyone knows, whenever there's mischief in a mansion...the butler did it!

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Reviews

In this boisterous 11th outing (after 2001's Bad News) featuring John Dortmunder, Westlake's hapless crook and his gang decide to hire on as live-in staff to a wealthy corporate crook as a way to get access to, and ultimately steal, his collection of antique cars. Then things start to crumble, as they tend to do around Dortmunder. Not his fault, of course. Who could know that three other sets of people are also plotting revenge on this same crook? Or that these other bozos would kidnap the crook, thereby bringing the police onto the scene just at the wrong time? And who could have predicted that Dortmunder would be kidnapped right along with the boss? The only thing we know for sure is, it's all funny. Nobody does comic capers better than Westlake. This one unfolds with such cinematic energy that we don't so much read it as watch while the players race around the countryside and almost bang into each other. Sparkling droplets of Westlake wit abound: a fence named Honest Irving, a small Pennsylvania town named Shickshinny, a security guard named Mort Pessle and Dortmunder's gargantuan pal Tiny, who "didn't so much sit in an automobile as wear it." Almost everyone comes out at the end with dignity and limbs intact, but with no loot. The good news for readers is that Dortmunder is free to try again another day.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

In the the eleventh John Dortmunder caper, The Road to Ruin, the conspicuous target of larcenous intent is one Monroe Hall, the broadly drawn, babyish CEO and chief perpetrator of an Enron-like financial debacle, which has made him a pariah to friends and potential employees but still rich in funds and enemies. When a disgruntled former chauffeur hires Dortmunder and his crew to steal Hall's classic-car collection for the insurance, together with all the swag they can haul, our clumsy confederation of bandits decides to sidestep the estate's elaborate security system by hiring themselves on as staff, with rumpled second-story man Dortmunder in the unlikely role of butler. Meanwhile, a bumbling band of blue collars from a defrauded union makes an uneasy alliance with a dire duo of aggrieved venture capitalists in a plot to kidnap Hall and force him to electronically transfer offshore funds into their accounts. While fans will find plenty of the wry humor and meandering charm they have come to expect from this fine series, Westlake's elaborate setup falls short of its promise, preparing readers for a farcical train wreck only to shunt them onto a siding for a low-key derailment and serving up deadpan humor that is often just dead. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Mysterious Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 089296801X
• ISBN 13: 9780892968015
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352