The Scared Stiff

by Donald E. Westlake

Attempting a worldwide insurance scam in South America, a con artist finds the natives less than friendly

After more than a decade of skipping out on their debts, Lola and Barry owe a lot of money to the wrong people. To escape the loan sharks, Barry decides it’s time for one of them to die—or at least to pretend to. As the venue for this insurance fraud, they choose Lola’s home country, Guerrera, where death certificates come cheap and government record-keeping is sketchy at best. There is only one problem: la familia.

After Barry’s “death,” Lola returns to the US, leaving her husband in the hands of her family as he begins to assume her brother’s identity. But the South-American hospitality of Lola’s relatives soon wears thin as they realize that their lives might be easier if Barry’s death weren’t just an act. Conning an insurance company is tricky enough, but no matter the country, no one is more dangerous than the in-laws.

Genres: Mystery, Action, Fiction

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 18, 2001

About the author

Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008) was one of the most prolific and talented authors of American crime fiction. He began his career in the late 1950's, churning out novels for pulp houses—often writing as many as four novels a year under various pseudonyms such as Richard Stark—but soon began publishing under his own name. His most well-known characters were John Dortmunder, an unlucky thief, and Parker, a ruthless criminal. His writing earned him three Edgar Awards: the 1968 Best Novel award for God Save the Mark; the 1990 Best Short Story award for "Too Many Crooks"; and the 1991 Best Motion Picture Screenplay award for The Grifters. In addition, Westlake also earned a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1993.

Westlake's cinematic prose and brisk dialogue made his novels attractive to Hollywood, and several motion pictures were made from his books, with stars such as Lee Marvin and Mel Gibson. Westlake wrote several screenplays himself, receiving an Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of The Grifters, Jim Thompson's noir classic.

Some of the pseudonyms he used include
•   Richard Stark
•   Timothy J. Culver
•   Tucker Coe
•   Curt Clark
•   J. Morgan Cunningham
•   Judson Jack Carmichael
•   D.E. Westlake
•   Donald I. Vestlejk
•   Don Westlake

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those books that might be problematic in the current environment since it's written by a white guy in New York and most of the characters are South Americans who are crude, stupid, and/or violent. But for me this is very much like one of Westlake's Dortmunder books in that it starts with a scheme and then things keep getting in the way of that scheme so the main character has to keep finding ways out of all these messes to try to get away with at least most of the money. So in that sense it's a fun yarn.

[james adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

How does he do it?

Westlake has churned out another fun little yarn in "The Scared Stiff." As always, the plot revolves around an everyday guy caught up in improbable situation. There are plot twists galore as our hero struggles to keep his head above water while encountering a collection of odd little characters determined to bring him down.
We have read just about everything Westlake has written, and with very few exceptions they have not failed to amuse.
If there needs to be a single complaint ... and the need is not there ... It would have to be the abrupt ending in this, and most of Westlake's offerings. He builds his stories up to an exciting anticipated climax and simply ties everything up in a neat little bow in the final few paragraphs. That often leaves readers thinking, "Yeah? And what happened next?" But maybe that's exactly what Westlake intended ... to leave readers wanting more. If it was his intention, he succeeded admirably.
Hat's off to Westlake ... and now into another of his works.

[William Leight · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Scared Stiff” is somewhat of a throwback to Westlake’s 60s/70s novels in which the relatively hapless hero is harried around New York City by mobsters and/or cops, while trying to devise some way to get them to leave him alone. The obvious objection is that the book takes place in the imaginary South American country of Guerrera (which gets a brief mention in the Dortmunder novel “Good Behavior” as well), but this is only a surface difference. To be sure, the scenery is quite different — you do miss the sense of place that Westlake’s New York books always have — and Westlake is pulling his secondary characters from a new set of stereotypes, but both places serve the same function: they provide a single, relatively compact setting — a large city or a small country — that is still large enough to contain a variety of socioeconomic environments. This means that Westlake's characters can include a broad cross-section of the populace without his protagonist ever having to travel too far. Still, even accounting for the fact that it takes a few hours to get from one end of New York City to the other by subway, Guerrera requires more travel to cross: to compensate for this, most of the the members of the broad cross-section of the populace that appear in this book are related to each other. Even the language barrier — our hero is an American expat who speaks almost no Spanish — helps to establish the parallel, by giving the hero the sense that he is caught up in something that he does not understand. This is necessary to offset the actual difference between this book and, say, "The Fugitive Pigeon", which is the position of the hero. In that novel, and Westlake's others of that vintage, our protagonist is a young man adrift, suddenly jolted out of his rut by something that he had nothing to do with. The key signifier of his position is that he is single, which is why it matters quite a bit that Barry Lee, the protagonist of this book, is married, to a Guerreran. He and Lola met during college — another difference with the earlier Westlake heroes, who never went to college, though part of that may simply be that more people were going to college by the time Westlake wrote this book — and rather than grinding away slowly at a dead-end job, Barry and Lola are perpetual hustlers, always looking to strike it big.

Alas, they have always failed too, and when the book opens, they are desperate for a way to raise a large sum. A failure to borrow against Barry’s life insurance leads Lola to suggest that they raise money on it in a different fashion: they can go visit her parents in Guerrera and take advantage of laxer law enforcement and record-keeping standards to fake Barry’s death — allowing Lola to collect the life insurance money, times two for accidental death — and create a new identity for him. This last part is somewhat questionable, I would say: Westlake recognizes that it can’t be done in Guerrera, because Barry doesn’t speak any Spanish, much less have a Guerreran accent, but I think he would have some trouble passing as a Guerreran immigrant in the U.S. for the same reason. Regardless, following the fake accident — which goes without a hitch — Barry has to perform what turns out to be only the first of a dizzying sequence of identity changes, becoming a mute Ecuadoran until Lola gets the money — thus, she spends most of the book in the U.S., leaving Barry to operate by himself — and his new identity is created. This is, as it turns out, the last point at which Barry is in control of events: the rest of the book sees his and Lola’s simple plan developing a steadily increasing number of complications. Most of them come from Lola’s large extended family, the members of which love Lola very much but are in many cases not nearly as attached to Barry, whom very few of them know at all. Lola’s family is essentially a stand-in for Guerrera itself: she has relatives from all parts of the country, all socioeconomic classes, and all occupations, including the criminal. Throw in the usual corrupt cop and there’s plenty of reason for Barry to spend the book scurrying from one hideout and alias to the next. Like the early New York books, it’s always amusing, occasionally quite funny, and has moments of genuine insight. And Westlake has clearly improved as a writer. For one thing, Barry’s genuine love for Lola, the rock on which his life is founded, makes him a more sympathetic protagonist than most of the young slackers of the ‘60s novels, and gives him a reason for taking risks that they generally don’t have. For another, the ending works much better (with the above-noted caveat) than it does in many of those early novels, where it’s a little hard to believe that the hero has foiled the mobsters more than temporarily. On the downside, Westlake doesn’t do much with his Latin American stereotypes: he doesn’t write mean-spiritedly, but he also doesn’t try to subvert your expectations in the same way that he does with his stereotypical New Yorkers. “The Scared Stiff” isn’t one of Westlake’s best: it’s probably not even his best American expatriate in Latin America novel, topped by “High Adventure”. But it’s still quite enjoyable.

[Eloise Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit that I have a weakness for Donald E Westlake books. In particular I found his 'Dortmunder' books about some really inefficient minor criminals, really amusing; particularly 'Bank Shot'. Westlake writes with a similar style to Elmore Leonard, and having written well over a hundred books, is quite likely to have something on screen.

Anyhow, going back to find another of is books is easy for me, I know it's going to be interesting and fun. And this one, 'The Scared Stiff' doesn't disappoint. No, the title isn't an error; it is, as the French might say, a double entendre.

The story is about an insurance rip-off, and although the protagonists are from America, all the action is actually in a South American country. It's actually quite serious, but it is still amusingly written; Westlake simply can't help himself.

The action is more or less continuous, seeming to rock back and forth, and offers a slightly surprising, but satisfying conclusion.

Again, as a Donald E Westlake book, it is written in a quirky style, though more serious than his normal writing. It's fun and well worth reading, as are most of his books

[Mark Luebker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not Westlake at his best. Originally published in 2002 under one of his pseudonyms, a tale of a hapless grifter and his wife whose latest plan starts to unwind. Westlake usually did this better than anyone. This time around, it's more like one misadventure after another, truncated by a convenient, out-of-the-blue ending. It's usually fun reading Westlake--he carries you along, no matter how improbable things get--and generally, you can rely on a satisfying conclusion. Not this time.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lighthearted look at a couple who have no money and decide that Barry should “die” accidentally to collect double the term life insurance of 300k.
Lola is from a backward country..Guerrera, where record keeping stinks so they can fake an accident there.
So many things go wrong..so many things go right. Lola’s extended family is great .
Barry’s misadventures seem that their ruse won’t work but all the officials are rascals at heart allowing our couple to succeed

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Donald Westlake and now that he is gone, I've been reading some of his books under his other pseudonyms. This is a humorous story about one couple's attempts to raise money through insurance fraud by faking the husband's death.

[Hijacking Of · Rating 5 out of 5]

Westlake at his irreverent best

A wonderful romp by Donald Westlake

Some times it’s difficult to keep the characters separated and sorted out

Fortunately Westlake is a master at reminding his readers whose who

[William E. Ferreira · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of his best though convoluted

Very different than most of his books that I've read. Constantly iterating between success and failure, wondering if it was ever going to conclude.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 4 out of 5]

A scam turns dangerous, to frighten supposed corpse. Can he save himself before cousins and others finish his demise?

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 1960s, Westlake was non-stop mad-cap. God Bless the Mark. Dancing Aztecs. The Spy in the Ointment. 70s-80s he did more experimental work.

This one, late in life, has lost the spark. It is excellent writing but the plot-twists come on a time and are all a certain size. Rather more filler than is usual for Westlake. I'm not surprised that first publication was under a pen-name. Good read nevertheless-- Don's toss-offs are better than many writers' magnum opuses.

[Quentin Feduchin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit that I have a weakness for Donald E Westlake books. In particular I found his 'Dortmunder' books about some really inefficient minor criminals, really amusing; particularly 'Bank Shot'. Westlake writes with a similar style to Elmore Leonard, and having written well over a hundred books, is quite likely to have something on screen.

Anyhow, going back to find another of is books is easy for me, I know it's going to be interesting and fun. And this one, 'The Scared Stiff' doesn't disappoint. No, the title isn't an error; it is, as the French might say, a double entendre.

The story is about an insurance rip-off, and although the protagonists are from America, all the action is actually in a South American country. It's actually quite serious, but it is still amusingly written; Westlake simply can't help himself.

The action is more or less continuous, seeming to rock back and forth, and offers a slightly surprising, but satisfying conclusion.

Again, as a Donald E Westlake book, it is written in a quirky style, though more serious than his normal writing. It's fun and well worth reading, as are most of his books.

[Algernon · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is my first Westlake, and it was OK but a little too smart for its own good: fast paced and funny from time to time with a likable crook who manufactured his own death and now is trying to outsmart the people who would think he is not dead enough. Plot twists come almost with every short chapter, giving the plot a rather contrived aspect, like a hollywood script that needs to keep the audience on the edge of the seat. And like the same hollywood script, the main characters are more like actors playing their designated roles, rather than flesh and bone people. And the humor is ok, but the smug American superiority deriding their backward South American neighbor gets old pretty quick.

I would say it is a good choice for killing time on commute or on holiday, but finally quite forgetable. I understand Westlake can do better, so I might try some of his older novels.

[Tony Gleeson · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this had been by an unknown author I might have given it four stars; as a Westlake, it rates a high three. One of his later efforts (published 2003), it's a typically convoluted caper. A young American man and his beautiful South American wife, who have experienced way too much financial failure, journey to her (fictional) home country to elaborately fake his death as an insurance scam. Anybody familiar with Westlake will anticipate that things will NOT go smoothly, and that a substantial cast of nasty and venal characters will intervene. This one, while somewhat tongue in cheek, does not have quite the wit and humor of many of his other similar frolics, but Westlake's usual gleeful and cynicism about human nature is still very entertaining.

[Sonja Rutherford · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book a few years ago at Half-Priced Books, on the $1 shelf. I didn't miss out on much by waiting to read it. A couple chapters in, I had the basic plot figured out. It was a quick read at least and definitely not the worst book I've ever read, but certainly far from the best. Interestingly enough, it didn't actually end the way I anticipated - more of a fizzle than a twist. I'd spend your time on something more interesting. This one is to be skipped. :)

[Denise M.]

AKA: Alan Marshall, Alan Marsh, James Blue, Ben Christopher, Edwin West, John B. Allan, Curt Clark, Tucker Coe, P.N. Castor, Timothy J. Culver, J. Morgan Cunningham, Samuel Holt, Judson Jack Carmichael, Richard Stark, Donald E. Westlake

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through the entire story I was amazed at the way the mind of Barry Lee worked and how he was able to enlist the aid of family and friends to service his deceitful endeavors. An interesting read but certainly not one that influences my way of thinking.

[Chip Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

His weakest, but still ok.

[RJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started a bit slowly, and was a bit tough to get into, but picked up over time. While it's not a real thriller of a novel, it is a casual, fun read.