Bank Shot

By Donald E. Westlake

Instead of robbing a bank, Dortmunder tries to steal the whole building.

Encyclopedias are heavy, and John Dortmunder is sick of carrying them. While in between jobs, the persistent heist-planner is working an encyclopedia-selling scam that's about to blow up in his face. The cops are on their way when his friend Kelp pulls up in a stolen Oldsmobile, offering a quick escape from the law and a job that's too insane to turn down.

Kelp's nephew is an FBI washout who's addicted to old-time pulp novels and adventure stories. He tried being a cop, and now he wants to be a robber. His target: a Main Street bank that has temporarily relocated to a large mobile home. Breaking in is impossible -- there are seven guards and a police station down the street -- but mobile homes were meant to be driven. Dortmunder just has to drive the bank away.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784088965

Donald E. Westlake

Donald E. Westlake has written numerous novels during the past 40 years, under his own name and various pseudonyms--most famously Richard Stark. He is generally regarded as the greatest writer of comic mystery of all time. Many of his books have been made into movies, including The Hunter which was filmed first as the noir classic with Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson, and then as Payback starring Mel Gibson. He has won three Edgar Allan Poe Awards, and has been named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.

Reviews for Bank Shot

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It took me a little bit to get into it, but once it got rolling, I was in. I just love Dortmunder. What a fabulous character. "His luck was never all good, but it was never all bad either. It was a nice combination of the two, balanced so exactly that they canceled each other out."

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a crime book (rather than a mystery). The idea was fun but Dortmunder didn't appeal to me as much as Bernie Rhodenbarr does.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Master criminal planner Dortmander is reduced to selling encyclopedias to the housewives living on Long Island when his friend Kelp tells him about a “sure thing.” Seems Kelp’s nephew Victor is a former FBI agent who has noticed a perfect opportunity – a local bank is undergoing major renovation and so operations have been temporarily moved to a mobile home in a nearby vacant lot. All they have to do is hitch the trailer to a truck and they can steal the entire bank!

Westlake created a wonderful character with Dortmander – a master planner of elaborate crimes who is cursed with a gang of not-quite-competent accomplices. If anything can go wrong with Dortmander’s perfect plan, it will. The only thing that seems to save Dortmander and his friends is that the police are equally (or more) inept than the crooks. I just find myself cheering for Dortmander’s crew, sharing their frustrations, shaking my head at their obvious mistakes, chuckling at their mishaps. This comic caper is the perfect antidote to a gray dreary day. I’ll be smiling for hours just thinking about it.

[ecw0647 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

We all miss Donald Westlake, the creator of so many delightful books of which this is a fine example in the Dortmunder series. Dortmunder is a thief and con-man (he's been collecting deposits on encyclopedias when he runs into a little trouble). This time he's approached by his friend Kelp, who, with his his ex-FBI agent nephew, Victor, have the perfect bank robbery all lined up. It seems while a new branch bank building is being built, the bank has moved across the street to a mobile home. The bank usually doesn't worry about theft since cash is in the safe (damn those credit cards and checks) only Thursday nights and with seven guards and a sophisticated alarm system, what's to worry. Well you no doubt can guess their plan. It's to install wheels and drive off with the entire building.

As is typical with Westlake caper books, just as things seem to be going right, they go off the rails. The ending is worthy of slapstick comedy; in fact, this could make a great movie. ("Could" being operative word. Apparently they tried with George C Scott and Joanna Cassidy, but it was a bomb.) . The charm of these books has less to do with plot than the conversations and interplay between the characters, not to mention sarcastic portrayals of certain professions, mundane examples of how we move through life.

[mausergem_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Capitalists' and Immigrants' Trust Corp bank is undergoing renovations and they have shifted their base to a trailer mobile home. Dortmunder and his friends steal the trailer to rob the bank and we hitch on for a fun ride.Hilarious and very readable.

[crazybatcow · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's clear from the writing style that this was written in the early 70s - there is no character development and the story is dry. Characters (i.e. cops) are added to the story just so they can say 'funny' things, or play along with a running joke.It tries to hard to be funny or cutie-funny (i.e. one character 'works' for a Black Liberation group and has a dinner party where every item on the menu has 'black' in it... just trying too hard to be over the top.)I guess I'm not familiar with the comedic-crime-caper type fiction and I think I'll keep it that way.

[eetzel_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the Book that hooked me on Dortmunder. If you have never read a comic crime caper then you must read this book. The string is not all here, as Tiny does not reappear until Drowned Hopes, but Herman makes a decent sub and he supposedly can do locks as well. Stan and Andy are here and both May and Murch's Mom actually help in stealing the bank. A crook's dream. Pity they used water-based paint.

[ksmac · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Laughed out loud at misadventures of Dortmunder et al

[jouni_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Criminally funny, about all the things that could go wrong. Like Dortmunder himself thinks, he has all the good luck and all the bad luck and at the end it's all even. The result, and story, is quite amazing.

[goodwillbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fun, quick, crime caper. A bunch of crooks out to steal a bank, temporarily housed in a mobile home/trailer. Executed well, but luck is not on their side. The cover blurbs suggest the crooks are bumbling and incompetent, but the police fare far worse.