Whats So Funny?, Donald E. Westlake
Whats So Funny?, Donald E. Westlake
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What's So Funny?

Author: Donald E. Westlake

Narrator: William Dufris

Unabridged: 9 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/15/2008

Synopsis

All it takes is a few underhanded moves by a tough ex-cop named Eppick to pull thief John Dortmunder into a game he never wanted to play. With no choice, he musters his always-game gang and they set out on a perilous treasure hunt for a long-lost gold and jewel-studded chess set once intended as a birthday gift for the last Romanov czar, which unfortunately reached Russia after that party was over. From the moment Dortmunder reaches for his first pawn, he faces insurmountable odds. The purloined past of this precious set is destined to confound any strategy he finds on the board. Success is not inevitable with John Dortmunder leading the attack, but he's nothing if not persistent, and some gambit or other might just stumble into a winning move.

About Donald E. Westlake

Richard Stark (1933–2008), wrote dozens of novels under his own name and a rainbow of other pseudonyms. Many of his books have been adapted for film, most notably The Hunter, which became the 1967 noir Point Blank and the 1999 smash Payback.

About William Dufris

William Dufris attended the University of Southern Maine in Portland-Gorham before pursuing a career in voice work in London and then the United States. He has won more than twenty AudioFile Earphones Awards, was voted one of the Best Voices at the End of the Century by AudioFile magazine, and won the prestigious Audie Award in 2012 for best nonfiction narration. He lives with his family in Maine.

Reviews

Goodreads review by thefourthvine

It's sort of hard to rate this one fairly; I understand that there's another Dortmunder book coming out in 2009, but this still feels like the end of an era, given Westlake's death. So there was something of a nostalgia factor at work here. But, overall, this is just another middling Dortmunder nove......more

Goodreads review by DeAnna

A lovely caper novel from Donald Westlake - the chess set! This was wonderfully well written, a palate cleanser of a novel that is so smooth that I didn't realize how fast I was reading it until it was nearly over. My only beef with the story is that the ending was predictable; things go wrong with t......more

Goodreads review by Spiros

The best way to think of the Dortmunder books: imagine P.G. Wodehouse (however anachronistically) re-writing Guy Ritchie movies as novels. Sadly, this will be the last of the Dortmunder series; Westlake, like Dickens and Austen, went out still at the top of his game. Who but Westlake would create a......more

Goodreads review by Jeff

These Dortmunder books are always a quick and enjoyable read and this one is no different. Dortmunder and his associates are a gang of small time criminals who are getting by, but nothing ever goes quite right for the big score. The story in this one is that John is blackmailed by an ex-cop to "retr......more

Quotes

“Westlake is a national literary treasure, and his latest effort only enhances his value…Westlake deserves the Nobel Prize for Literature.” Booklist (starred review)

“As usual, Westlake provides amusing, at times dim-witted dialogue…The ironic resolution will leave both series fans and newcomers satisfied.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Westlake is a crime-writing machine bordering on genius. Numerous twists and turns, masses of snappy dialogue, and a ton of humor.” Daily Mirror (London)

“What’s not to like about Westlake, the master of comic crime fiction, who’s entertained us for decades? His magic touch when it comes to storytelling is as strong as ever. Great writing takes you into Dortmunder’s criminal world, and just when you think you know what will happen, Westlake tosses in a twist that ricochets the story in unexpected directions. This is sheer entertainment and total fun.” RT Book Reviews (4½ stars, Top Pick!)

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