Product Description

Fro 25 years, Burke Devore has provided for his family and played by the rules. Until now. Downsized from his job, Devore is slipping away: from his wife, his family, and from all civilized norms of behavior. He wants his life back, and will do anything to get it. In this relentlessly fascinating novel, the masterful Westlake takes readers on a journey of obsession and outrage inside a quiet man's desperate world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #514779 in Books
• Published on: 1998-05-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 6.75" h x 1.00" w x 4.25" l, .36 pounds
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 352 pages

From Amazon.com
Donald E. Westlake, justly named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, has written everything from comic capers (the Dortmunder series) to the darker adventures of ace criminal Parker during his long career. But he's never come up with anything scarier or more timely than this story about a downsized executive who decides to kill off the competition. Burke Devore could be your neighbor: a laid-off paper company manager watching his life and family fall apart as he tries desperately to get a job. The plan he finally comes up with involves murdering seven men very much like himself, and Westlake's most impressive achievement is to make the serial killings understandable if in no way justified. Selected titles from Westlake's vast list of books available in paperback include: Baby, Would I Lie?, The Fugitive Pigeon, Pity Him Afterwards, and Trust Me on This.

From Library Journal
Burke Devore, 52, laid off from his middle-management position at a paper mill two years before, decides to eliminate competitors for a dream job at a mill in New York. He places dummy ads in trade journals to attract them, then stalks and kills them (at first with a pistol, later in a variety of disgusting ways?most in broad daylight, with no witnesses). That's about all there is to this strange novel from the author of the John Dortmunder mystery series, e.g., What's the Worst That Could Happen? (LJ 9/15/96). A potentially compelling look at the effects of long-term unemployment on the psyche of a man of limited prospects and intellect, the result is merely a step-by-step guide to executing innocent people, generally lacking in conflict, irony, and farcical elements. Devore's wife and children are sketchy, and humorous situations are underdeveloped. The point of all this is buried deep. Not recommended.?Laurel A. Wilson, Alexandrian P.L., Mount Vernon, Ind.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
In a sharp departure from his comic crime novels, veteran author Westlake has penned a chilling portrait of a downsized middle manager turned serial killer. Two years after being laid off from his job at a paper company, Burke Devore is becoming increasingly desperate as he watches everything he's worked for slip out of his grasp. He hatches a bizarre plot to target the job he wants and then eliminate his likely rivals for the position, literally killing off the competition. Soon suburban streets and shopping malls are littered with the bloodied corpses of unemployed paper executives as Devore schools himself in the methods of murder, variously shooting, hacking up, and running over his victims. Bypassing satire and heading straight for horror, Westlake offers an ingenious depiction of the perfect nineties employee--a cold-blooded assassin whose only loyalty is to himself and his family. This cold, clever novel is bolstered by Westlake's inventive plotting, his meticulous use of abundant, credible details, and his burning anger over corporate tactics. Joanne Wilkinson