Book Review – Watch Your Back

Author: Donald Westlake
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Binding: Audio Unabridged
Publication Date: March 1, 2006

Watch Your Back is my first John Dortmunder novel, although I have read and enjoyed Donald Westlake novels before. Starting with a random book in the series was probably a mistake; this particular book seemed to lean away from Dortmunder as a main character. Following the story was not difficult, but there were at least seven or eight points of view, and had I not known that Dortmunder was the series star, I would not have known he was the main character of this one.

In Watch Your Back! Dortmunder is up to his usual tricks; an old friend contacts him about a NY penthouse just waiting to be robbed. Of course, this is supposed to be a very easy robbery; the owner of the huge penthouse is out of town and can’t come back because he is wanted by four ex-wives who wish to sue for better settlements. Dortmunder rounds up his gang of breaking-and-entering experts, but before they can get started, they get sidetracked. The bar where they generally make their plans is the target of a mob takeover. The robbery plans and trying to save the bar are mixed in with chapters told from the POV of the penthouse owner, his assistant, one of the penthouse owner’s current girlfriends, a mob character, another thief on the team and a young man who wants fame and fortune especially if it means learning from Dortmunder and his buddies.

Westlake does an amazing job of weaving the two plotlines and the numerous characters, creating a zany, fun tale. My only problem was that I don’t love multiple POVs and in this case, I had no previous knowledge of Dortmunder so there was no affection on which to draw. Nevertheless, I found myself wanting Dortmunder and his buddies to successfully pull off the heist. How Westlake managed to create sympathy for the bad guys was somewhat of a mystery to me. Sure, the penthouse owner, Preston Fareweather was a jerk, but listening to the chapters where he starred was boring and predictable. Fareweather was a one dimensional rich guy, lacking depth, drive or any redeeming qualities—which left me wondering how someone such as himself was even educated enough to have made or kept his wealth. My attention wandered during the Fareweather chapters and at the end of one such chapter, my husband said it all when he asked, “Was that chapter even necessary?” There were at least two such chapters that had me gritting my teeth and wishing it were not audio so that I could just skip ahead.

I don’t listen to a lot of audio books—I prefer to be able to race through at my own pace. I think I would have enjoyed Watch Your Back! more had I been able to skim through the parts that I didn’t love. That said, I have also read other Westlake stories and believe his usual style has more action, far less point of views and a faster pace. This book is good, but not gripping. I certainly will read other Dortmunder novels, because Westlake knows how to tell a story, how to create sympathy and how to tie things up into a satisfactory ending.

Watch Your Back was read by William Dufris—he’s a wonderful reader and I highly recommend his readings—I’d rate his abilities, voices, enunciation and talent an easy 10. The audio was published by Sound Library.

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