Review of "The Road to Ruin" by Donald E. Westlake

It's been a long two-year wait for this new caper that features the famous John Dortmunder. This author is in a field of his own. He writes lots of other tales that are good too, but Dortmunder is by far the most humorous crook Weslake has created and is certainly our favorite.

John Dormunder and his odd bunch of friends are all crooks, and they make no apologies about it. This is what they do. This time around they plot a complicated scam to steal some very expensive automobiles. The cars are stored on the estate of this very wealthy businessman who is a big crook himself. He lives with his lovely wife in a big house on a well-protected estate.

It takes a lot of planing to figure out how to get inside the compound. The millionaire is a much hated man both by his former workers and the union men he cheated. The town people who had invested in his business lost everything.

John and his friend decide that the only way to get into the house and the grounds is get hired in various capacities to work and live within the compound for just a short time and then take off with all the fancy car collection.

You would not want to miss a wonderful page of this delightful caper. The joy of Dortmunder and his friends is the clever and complicated plan they put together using all of the talents of the gang members As is always the case with this entertaining crew….things go wrong in a big way.

Every move is fun to follow and all of the characters are worth getting to know. They are so likable that you never want them to get caught although you know that crime must never pay.

Sigh! Another two years for the next Dormunder. I will wait impatiently for the talented Mr. Westlake. In the meantime he will author other books for our reading pleasure. Donald Westlake has never let me down.