<![CDATA[The Hook]]>

false <![CDATA[The Hook]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174695584m/431642.jpg 431642 8 Mystery grand master Donald Westlake (who also writes under the name Richard Stark) is nothing if not prolific: his publishing career includes juveniles, westerns, and short stories. He is perhaps best known by mystery enthusiasts for his comic crime novels (Smoke, Baby, Would I Lie?, Trust Me on This) and his Dortmunder series (What's the Worst That Could Happen?, Don't Ask, Drowned Hopes). The Hook, however, moves beyond the machinations and deduction-driven plots of traditional mystery, following the path Westlake spearheaded with The Ax into the twisted labyrinth of psychological suspense. The Hook is a harrowing story, told with a crisp incisiveness, and its riveting central characters are extraordinary: Bryce Proctorr and Wayne Prentice are fascinating, compelling tangles of neuroses and ambitions, both wonderfully drawn. Bryce Proctorr has a multi-million dollar contract for his next novel, a wife who is trying to extract the last pound of flesh (but money will do just as well) from him in an ugly divorce, a fast-approaching deadline, and a serious case of writer's block. Wayne Prentice is an author drifting ghost-like through a world that has forgotten his novels; he's gone through two pseudonyms, has watched his sales plummet, and is wondering whether the academic life might be better than this, all things considered. When the two meet by chance in the New York Library, Proctorr has a proposition: if Prentice will give him his unsold manuscript to publish under Proctorr's name, the two will split the book advance fifty-fifty. But as in all Faustian bargains, there is a significant catch: Wayne must kill Bruce's wife. The murder itself is almost insignificant, a small and sordid endeavor. The novel's real appeal lies in its shadowy reflections of the links between the two protagonists: a bond has been created that neither can break--nor wants to. Westlake cleverly questions the boundaries between actual and vicarious experience, fact and fiction. The novel is strikingly self-referential as it plays with the irony of authors trying to "compose" their own realities: "There are moments in almost any novel when it's necessary to move a character from one point to another, so that you can go on with the story, and this was like that." But what happens when the characters, instead of dutifully obeying the wishes of their creators, strike off on their own in unanticipated and fearful directions? --Kelly Flynn 420611 2000 The Hook total:101|5:16|4:34|3:36|2:10|1:5| 101 349 123 15 4 0 false false Fri Feb 20 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 11:09:28 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 11:49:56 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Nov 21 10:54:05 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 21:22:43 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu May 13 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Fri Nov 21 08:09:37 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 21 08:10:55 -0800 2008
a story about "two men who live in a world of fiction, words, scenes, characters, and the tyranny of the New York Times bestseller list", where "Wayne Prentice sells his soul to his old friend" [Bryce Proctorr] and "begins a Hi...more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Feb 05 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Mar 01 08:50:53 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 08:51:36 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 05 20:01:33 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 20:05:10 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Sat Dec 27 10:20:45 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 27 11:21:38 -0800 2008 ]]> 0 0 false false Sun Sep 13 20:17:52 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 20:18:09 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Aug 15 10:45:13 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 10:46:01 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Mon Nov 23 07:23:00 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 23 07:23:58 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 02 06:35:05 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 06:37:46 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Thu Aug 20 09:49:33 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 09:50:33 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Wed Sep 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 08:43:21 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 07:00:54 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 31 20:25:51 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 01 19:25:22 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Sep 14 08:31:04 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 08:38:15 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jul 10 14:15:38 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 10 14:16:03 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sun Sep 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Nov 28 03:17:19 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 28 03:17:58 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Mon Nov 16 13:58:48 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 13:58:48 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Fri Nov 13 17:53:41 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 13 17:53:41 -0800 2009 1 0 false false Wed Oct 28 02:58:34 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 02:58:34 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 06:20:55 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 17:22:07 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=431642