The Nixon Recession Caper

by Ralph Maloney

Nothing in the curricula at St. George's or Dartmouth had prepared Sandy Campbell for what he was about to do...absolutely without irony, simply because it was the only process he knew and understood, Sandy arranged for a private luncheon in the Haig Room of the Southport Country Club, and he invited three acquaintances. Jack Carmody, Sam Deitsch, and Harry Price. With nothing else in the world to do, and impelled by great curiosity, all three accepted at once.
There were drinks and golf- and kid-talk, and small steaks with salads, and over coffee, when the waiters had cleared the table and left the room, Sandy began, inevitably, "I suppose you're all wondering why I called you together today....
"What I propose, gentlemen, is that the four of us join forces and rob the Vista Bank."

192 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Ronald Koltnow · Rating 3 out of 5]

In years past, the comic caper story was a staple of publishing. From P. G. Wodehouse to its ultimate peak in the novels of Donald E. Westlake, the comic caper could always be counted on to give hours of amusement. In recent days, only the television show "Knights of Prosperity" tackled a great comic caper. THE NIXON RECESSION CAPER deals with four upper-middle class men in their 30s, all laid off or underemployed, who concoct a plan to rob a local bank. The Nixon economy is more the butt of a joke than the object of social satire. This is a light book, in more ways than one. I enjoyed it, it was fluff, and it killed a couple of hours. Memorable? No. OK Fun, yes.

[rndgmoat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this one for 1.50 or so from a bookdealer who has rapidly filled up my tiny house based solely on the great cover art alone (it's too bad Goodreads doesn't show it here). Turned out to be a pretty good read! While nothing that I would recommend anyone go out of their way for, if you threw this in your suitcase before a trip or even stumbled upon on it while browsing a dusty bookcase at hotel, you'd be in for some vintage-y escapist fiction.

The book centers on a well to-do neighborhood on the Long Island Sound, about an hour outside of NYC. 4 former big shots all find themselves facing unexpected hard times. Establishment men who have profited from America's post-war capitalist boom, the 1970s recession brings something of an abrupt course correction. Of course, all four of them are frivolous characters who have earned their wealth in ways that openly point out the absurdity of our capitalist system--including a cigarette ad exec. But this isn't the kind of book where the sudden change in fortunes will inspire them to think critically about the systems they have been a part of their whole lives. Instead, it's a lighthearted caper novel, where these four clubhouse buddies decide instead to rob a bank.

Overall, an efficiently constructed work of light genre contrivance, this is a mostly pretty fun read that you can probably knock out in one or two afternoons. There are, as is to be expected, some dated attitudes about marriage, sex, and money. And at one or two points Maloney almost seems to forget he's supposed to be marching us along to a satisfying genre payoff and instead detours briefly to some scenes of suburban debauchery better suited to an Updike novel. But, again, the book never takes itself too seriously. If you like caper novels, this is a fun one. Nothing worth going out of your way for, but it's a diverting and enjoyable read as well as a peek into retrospectively more innocent times (as we watch these robbers play out their dream of a big score without ever resorting to the internet or being monitored by our modern day surveillance state).

[Jürgen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sehr schöne Krimikomödie um einen Kreis gesetzterer Geschäftsleute, die sich in der Rezension nach neuen Einnahmequellen umsehen. Leider ist Banken ausrauben aber verboten...
Wirklich sehr vergnüglich und auch ein bisschen spannend. das richtige für Zwischendurch.