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In Donald Westlake's latest Dortmunder novel, the world as Dortmunder and his cronies know it is changing. The bar where they always meet has been taken over by the local Mob and it looks as though it could soon be closed down. However, things start looking up for the gang of thieves when fence Arnie Albright returns from an island resort. There, he has managed to get friendly with a very wealthy man named Preston Fareweather. Arnie has big ideas for a robbery and he wants Dortmunder and the crew to get involved. However, as established readers of this long-running series will know, when Dortmunder is involved, nothing runs smoothly! As ever, Westlake's writing is sharp and on form. Humour pervades almost every page of the book and it is hard to read the ridiculous boastings and proclamations from Preston Fareweather whilst keeping a straight face. Westlake seems to delight in writing about characters that wallow in self-delusion and Fareweather is no exception. As expected, Dortmunder and the gang are their usual selves and even when things look grim, they manage to come up with a solution to save themselves and make a success of their plans. Westlake introduces a young character, barely out of his teens, who has the potential to become a regular member of the gang as well. With his trademark humour and excitement, Donald Westlake has written another great novel in WATCH YOUR BACK! It is also interesting to see how he manages the two plots and is able to interweave them for the denouement. At times, it is hard to know which is the focus of the novel, as there are occasions on which a reader might think that the OJ Bar was more important to Dortmunder and his crew than the money to be had from Fareweather. Overall, a great novel and one that will go down very well with the legions of Westlake fans.
Reviewed by Luke Croll, April 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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