From Publishers Weekly
In this boisterous 11th outing (after 2001's Bad News) featuring John Dortmunder, Westlake's hapless crook and his gang decide to hire on as live-in staff to a wealthy corporate crook as a way to get access to, and ultimately steal, his collection of antique cars. Then things start to crumble, as they tend to do around Dortmunder. Not his fault, of course. Who could know that three other sets of people are also plotting revenge on this same crook? Or that these other bozos would kidnap the crook, thereby bringing the police onto the scene just at the wrong time? And who could have predicted that Dortmunder would be kidnapped right along with the boss? The only thing we know for sure is, it's all funny. Nobody does comic capers better than Westlake. This one unfolds with such cinematic energy that we don't so much read it as watch while the players race around the countryside and almost bang into each other. Sparkling droplets of Westlake wit abound: a fence named Honest Irving, a small Pennsylvania town named Shickshinny, a security guard named Mort Pessle and Dortmunder's gargantuan pal Tiny, who "didn't so much sit in an automobile as wear it." Almost everyone comes out at the end with dignity and limbs intact, but with no loot. The good news for readers is that Dortmunder is free to try again another day. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From AudioFile
John Dortmunder's target, in this latest in Westlake's popular series, is the collection of antique automobiles owned by one Monroe Hall, a disgraced but unjailed ex-CEO holed up on his heavily guarded estate in rural Pennsylvania. In addition to Dortmunder and friends, intent on burglary, two venture capitalists want to kidnap Hall, and three union workers want restitution of the retirement fund that Hall looted. Nothing works out as planned, but much amusement results from the conflicting capers. William Dufris has a high old time with the large and disparate cast of characters, including Dortmunder's merry band and an alcoholic traveling salesman. He even gives voice to one of the venture capitalists before and after a broken jaw. R.E.K. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
From Booklist
In the the eleventh John Dortmunder caper, The Road to Ruin, the conspicuous target of larcenous intent is one Monroe Hall, the broadly drawn, babyish CEO and chief perpetrator of an Enron-like financial debacle, which has made him a pariah to friends and potential employees but still rich in funds and enemies. When a disgruntled former chauffeur hires Dortmunder and his crew to steal Hall's classic-car collection for the insurance, together with all the swag they can haul, our clumsy confederation of bandits decides to sidestep the estate's elaborate security system by hiring themselves on as staff, with rumpled second-story man Dortmunder in the unlikely role of butler. Meanwhile, a bumbling band of blue collars from a defrauded union makes an uneasy alliance with a dire duo of aggrieved venture capitalists in a plot to kidnap Hall and force him to electronically transfer offshore funds into their accounts. While fans will find plenty of the wry humor and meandering charm they have come to expect from this fine series, Westlake's elaborate setup falls short of its promise, preparing readers for a farcical train wreck only to shunt them onto a siding for a low-key derailment and serving up deadpan humor that is often just dead. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Road to Ruin FROM THE PUBLISHER
From the Grand Master of Mystery comes the latest novel featuring the ever-lovable but hapless crook John Dortmunder.
The con is on. The mark is Monroe Hall, a corrupt CEO who lavished more of his company's money on himself than the boys at Enron and WorldCom combined. The loot? A fleet of vintage automobiles that would leave the Sultan of Brunei blushing. The catch? Trying to outsmart a collection of angry union men who've been taken for a ride and blue-blooded suckers who've been taken for their family fortunes. But if Dortmunder and his merry band of crooks are to drive off with the loot, they'll have to act fast before they get caught in a deadly crossfire.
FROM THE CRITICS
The New York Times
Ingenuity fuels the plot, but what puts the match to the comedy is the moral outrage of the furiously funny characters.
— Marilyn Stasio
Dennis Deabelle - The Washington Post
The majestic lack of success of all these would-be villains produces some broad comedy at everyone's expense, from Dortmunder himself to Hall and the frustrated investors seeking revenge and recompense. The story might be light as a helium balloon, but it stays aloft on the currents of Westlake's benign humor.
Publishers Weekly
In this boisterous 11th outing (after 2001's Bad News) featuring John Dortmunder, Westlake's hapless crook and his gang decide to hire on as live-in staff to a wealthy corporate crook as a way to get access to, and ultimately steal, his collection of antique cars. Then things start to crumble, as they tend to do around Dortmunder. Not his fault, of course. Who could know that three other sets of people are also plotting revenge on this same crook? Or that these other bozos would kidnap the crook, thereby bringing the police onto the scene just at the wrong time? And who could have predicted that Dortmunder would be kidnapped right along with the boss? The only thing we know for sure is, it's all funny. Nobody does comic capers better than Westlake. This one unfolds with such cinematic energy that we don't so much read it as watch while the players race around the countryside and almost bang into each other. Sparkling droplets of Westlake wit abound: a fence named Honest Irving, a small Pennsylvania town named Shickshinny, a security guard named Mort Pessle and Dortmunder's gargantuan pal Tiny, who "didn't so much sit in an automobile as wear it." Almost everyone comes out at the end with dignity and limbs intact, but with no loot. The good news for readers is that Dortmunder is free to try again another day. (Apr. 21) FYI: A Dortmunder story collection, Thieves' Dozen (Forecasts, Mar. 8), is being released simultaneously. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
AudioFile
John Dortmunder's target, in this latest in Westlake's popular series, is the collection of antique automobiles owned by one Monroe Hall, a disgraced but unjailed ex-CEO holed up on his heavily guarded estate in rural Pennsylvania. In addition to Dortmunder and friends, intent on burglary, two venture capitalists want to kidnap Hall, and three union workers want restitution of the retirement fund that Hall looted. Nothing works out as planned, but much amusement results from the conflicting capers. William Dufris has a high old time with the large and disparate cast of characters, including Dortmunder's merry band and an alcoholic traveling salesman. He even gives voice to one of the venture capitalists before and after a broken jaw. R.E.K. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
Can you believe John Dortmunder and his wayward cronies (Bad News, 2001, etc.) actually doing an honest day's work and getting paid for it?Here's the plan. They'll hire on as butler (Dortmunder), private secretary (Andy Kelp), security guard (Tiny Belcher), and chauffeur (Stan Murch) to Monroe Hall, who can't keep staff now that he's been caught embezzling from stock investors, depleting union pension funds, etc. Once employed, they'll hijack Monroe's multimillion-dollar antique auto collection. But the problem of how to get the cars off the estate without anyone noticing is further complicated by Mac, Buddy, and Ace, out to avenge the union losses, who plan to kidnap Monroe and demand ransom. Add bilked investors Mark Sterling and Oz Faulk, who also plan to kidnap Monroe until he gives them the password to his offshore bank account, and Dortmunder and the boys won't have an easy time of it, even before Monroe's personal trainer, irate at his employer for reasons best known to the IRS, joins forces with the union trio and the investors. Before Dortmunder and his gang can set their heist in action, Monroe and Dortmunder the butler are kidnapped. Oops, there's also an assassin running loose. If you think he's after Dortmunder, you're almost right. Not quite the funniest of Dortmunder's capers, but worthwhile if only to eavesdrop on the drinkers at the O.J. Bar & Grill as they resolve the issue of global warming.
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