2009; 289 pages. Genre : Crime Fiction; Humor. New Author? : No. Book #14 in the Dortmunder series. Overall Rating : 7*/10.
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What theme hasn't been tried yet as a Reality Show? How 'bout following John Dortmunder's gang of thieves as they plan and carry out their next heist? For Dortmunder and his cohorts, it's a chance to pick up some easy money as they do a scripted-for-TV caper. And maybe do a second, real job when the cameras aren't pointed their way.
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What's To Like...
Get Real is a formulaic Dortmunder tale, but that's okay. Our lovable lugs plan a caper that can't possibly go wrong, only to find it hitting snag after snag.
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The whole "how real is a Reality Show" issue is artfully done. Two new "partners" are written into the cast to add dramatic and romantic angles. And after initial discomfort, Dortmunder and friends find they kinda enjoy acting out their story in front of the cameras. Now if they can just steal something for real and get away with it.
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Kewl New Words...
Gaff : to rig or fix something in order to cheat (or in this case, to steal). Zeitung : German for 'newspaper', although its usage here was unclear.
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Excerpts...
Kelp stepped aside while the clerk was on the phone, to let the next customer, a short round Hispanic lady totally concentrated on her own business, wheel into place an enormous shopping cart piled sky-high with Barbies, all different Barbies. Either this lady had an awful lot of little nieces or she was some kind of fetishist; in either case, Kelp was happy to respect her privacy. (pg. 21)
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As Dortmunder nodded, the doorway filled with enough person to choke Jonah's whale. This creature, who was known only to those who felt safe in considering him their friend as Tiny, had the body of a top-of-the-line SUV, in jacket and pants of a neutral gray that made him look like an oncoming low, atop which was a head that didn't make you think of Easter Island so much as Halloween Island. (pg. 48)
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Reality is escapist entertainment at its most pure and mindless. (pg. 84)
Donald Westlake died unexpectedly in December 2008. Get Real was first published in July 2009. Sadly, it has the feel of a novel that was only about 90% finished at the time Westlake passed away. The story hums along nicely until we get to the matter of wrapping it up.
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Frankly, the ending is a major fizzle. All the major plotlines - the reality show, the second heist, and a tertiary auto-theft operation - are hastily and unsatisfactorily addressed. One gets the impression that a ghost-writer was called in at no notice, and did a crappy job of finishing the tale. 289 pages is a bit short for a Dortmunder book; added evidence that Westlake would've ended this properly, albeit using another 40 pages or so.
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Still, it was nice to see the whole gang in operation one last time, and Get Real was clipping along at an 8-star pace until that anti-climactic climax. We'll dock it a star for that, so 7 Stars it is.
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