Review of "Watch Your Back!" by Donald E. Westlake

Dortmunder is at it again! I admit to slowing down my reading speed because I love this character and his friends. I know that the author is going to wait another two years before he writes another mystery about this unabashed crook and his thieving friends. One I start to read. I am doomed. I have to put it down. This has been true of every one of Westlakes' Dortmunder books and most of his non-Dortmunder books.

The Dortmunder crew always gets together to plot and plan in the backroom of the O.J. Bar & Grill. The bartender knows the group and sets them up with no questions. To their horror they are suddenly no welcome in the bar. The bartender they know is gone and the backroom is not available. The awful fact they face is that the bar has been taken over by a mob crew.

The boys are trying to put together a heist of an upscale private apartment that is filled with art works. The man who owns the apartment is never there. His name is Preston and he has moved to an island resort just out of the U.S. jurisdiction. He is avoiding his ex-wives who are all after him. It is on the Island that Preston meets and makes friends with Arnie Albright who is the Dortmunder gang's fence.

As the gang plans to rob the secret apartment they are also planing on how to get the gang out of their bar. All of the usual members of the group are working on the heist and it is a welcome read that includes the likes of these characters.

Well, in the end all of the parts of the plot come together at the wrong time. It's a very close shave and another hilarious romp with Dortmunder.

This is a good one... I hate to think that another two years must go by before I can enjoy this marvelous band of crooks gets together again.