Although I have been steadily working my way through the Dortmunder canon, it’s hard to believe that I know only have two to go. Watch Your Back! Is the twelfth novel in the series and tries to freshen up a bit by adding a few new players and expanding the action (if ever so briefly) to the Caribbean and Florida. There’s still a basic formula (heist gets planned, heist goes wrong somehow, the gang has to escape somehow), but the basic heist is different enough and there major sub-plots are strong enough that it keeps you interested. The length is moderate; coming in at just over 300 pages.In my review for Bad News, I wrote about the opening heist that Dortmunder is usually involved in. This book breaks that pattern. It begins with the team meeting at their friendly, neighborhood bar whose backroom is their usual heist-planning location. They do this whenever someone has an idea that they want to float. In this case it’s Ralph Winslow, but he’s a no-show and they leave with nothing to do.A short time later, Dortmunder gets a call from his normal fence. This is unexpected (he has been away for months), unusual (as a fence he waits for people to come to him), and unwelcome (Arnie has a personality that most would rather cutoff a body part than deal with). He’s calling John because he’s back, he’s got a target to suggest, and he claims to be “better”. Despite his instincts, Dortmunder agrees to visit him. He cajoles Andy Kelp into coming with him.Surprisingly, Arnie is somewhat better. He’s tanned (a fact he hates), but he’s also developed smidges of sensibility and empathy. The fact is he’s met someone who was so obnoxious that Arnie finally realized how it felt to be on the receiving end of his own self. (Arnie was sent and kept at Club Med by his family: the mark is there avoiding process servers from several ex-wives.)They agree to investigate the target and his unoccupied, but guarded penthouse apartment. Once again, the gang plans to meet in the bar’s backroom. This is thwarted by some guys who have the entire place (bartender included) subdued and take an interest in any un-cowed behavior. After a bit of tension, they exit the bar, but before Tiny enters and tries to solve things his way.At this point we have the three major plots running: the first is the primary heist, the second is Dortmunder’s objection to losing his heist-planning HQ, and the third is the Mob guys who are behind the changes at the bar. In addition, we have the gent trying to avoid extradition and a youth who begins working for Tiny’s girl, J.C. Taylor.The heist planning goes on (albeit in another, less, comfortable location), but Dortmunder takes it upon himself to investigate the bar’s problems and real ownership. Things move along and before they actually pull off the heist, John begins by saving the bar (pissing off the young Mob son who’s scheme it is). Then they proceed with the job, taking their fence along to ID any really good stuff (another first).Usually there is something that the author introduces that is going to interfere with the heist. In this book we have the owner of the apartment and the Mob. (You know the Mob guys are going to make some kind of reappearance.) While in lesser hands these characters might have been more predictable, Mr. Westlake uses them more skillfully and humorously. I won’t say how the tangle gets unraveled – that’s for you to enjoy when you read it yourself.In the end, they lose everything they boosted, but no one is nabbed. This is a fairly common outcome. But, all is not in vain: the bar is back in business (including its backroom). And at the last minute, there is a nice little payoff. It’s another worthy entry in the series and one that kept me turning pages and chuckling: Four (4) Stars. As a “bonus”, the book works in references to author Barbara Pym.
It’s a Dortmunder book! What do I have to tell you? You know there is a perfect set-up for a crime. You know that by the time Dortmunder executes the plan, it is no longer going to be perfect and a most non-fortuitous circumstance will gum up the works. In this case, it seems like a simple burglary where no one is at home—an embarrassment of riches from the art world that should satisfy any gang. Imagine an absentee owner and a huge collection of expensive objets d’ art Yet, there are complications. Each step in the plan seems to be accompanied by a delay and even the planning itself is delayed by a delay that introduces another delay. How’s that for a non-spoiler spoiler? Watch Your Back introduces a new character to the ensemble, a young runaway full of entrepreneurial larceny. Indeed, his contribution to the caper provides a profitable counterpoint and humorous irony to the (let’s call it) more altruistic endeavor that pits Dortmunder against “dose guys” against which you don’t want to be pit against. I laughed at the smooth way our protagonist called in favors and then, at how the feces proceeded to be spread by the rapidly rotating device.There was one particular conversation that amused me. In the conversation, one interlocutor protests that communications technology has undermined honesty since the beginning. “You see, with smoke signals, that was the very first time in the whole history of the human race that you could tell somebody something that he couldn’t see you when you told him. You get what I mean?” When Dortmunder didn’t, he explained, “Sure, people still lied to each other back then, and got away with it, but it wasn’t so easy. Once smoke signals came in, you can’t see the guy telling you the story, he could be laughing behind his hand, you don’t know it.” And goes on to say, “Every step up along the way, every other kind of way to communicate, it’s always behind the other guy’s back. For thousands of years, we’ve been building ourselves a liar’s paradise.” (p. 135) The point is probably well-taken, but native drums probably provided the same effect in other parts of the world (as readers of James Gleick’s The Information will know.). But my favorite line in the entire book was the typical lawyer joke. The automotive “fence” for Stan Murch (the regular driver in these things) said, “You know, when a lawyer talks to you, the natural thing to do is not listen.” (p. 186) I know a lot of people who aren’t criminals who think that.So, you ask yourself what’s going to happen in Watch Your Back. Will this be one of those rare capers where the gang succeeds? Will this be one of those capers where they succeed with moderate success? Whether the gang succeeds or not, I can definitely tell you that the pages where J.C. trains her new recruit, Tiny (his appearance in no way resembling his name) complains about inevitable change in his life, Stan Murch deals with his taxi-driving mother, and where Andy and Dortmunder deal with Arnie the fence are all entertaining moments—just not as entertaining as the parts I’m not telling you about.
What do You think about Watch Your Back! (2006)?
Another diverting caper/heist story featuring Dortmunder's crew. A favorite fence noted for his obnoxious personality returns from a rehabilitation stay at Club Med where he met an arrogant embezzler on whom the fence wants to achieve revenge / humiliation, so the fence enlists Dortmunder's gang to loot the rich man's apartment. Meanwhile a scion of the mob has muscled in on Dortmunder's favorite bar / hangout, so the gang feel compelled to save 'their' meeting space from the upstart. As usual thread tangle while characters, dialogue and plot roll merrily on to another almost surprising end. Featuring a reference to Peter Brueghel for bonus points.
—Dave
In my opinion, this is a standout among the later Dortmunder novels. That doesn't make it nearly as good as the classics - Don't Ask, What's the Worst That Could Happen? - but it definitely means that this is a fun light read. Westlake handles the plot much better in Watch Your Back! than in the earlier The Road to Ruin - here, he's up to his old tricks, knitting several plotlines together so that they are one joyous snarl by the end of the book. He's got the same old characters, and I for one am always happy to spend more time with Dortmunder, Kelp, Tiny, and Murch. He also introduces a new character on the criminal side; I found him interesting enough to want to read more about him. And, of course, Westlake's got his latter-days obsession: the vile, scheming, absolutely unredeemable rich guy target, who is probably the most vivid character in the book. All in all, the ingredients for Dortmunder heaven are here. What's missing is the - I don't know, verve of the earlier novels. Somehow, this manages to be amusing without ever quite becoming truly funny. Still, I'll settle for amusement. This is worth reading for anyone who has read all the earlier Dortmunder books and loved them.
—thefourthvine
