Dortmunder and company going after their next score, as a reality tv show? It's an interesting idea, but, for me, it didn't work. This was my least favorite book in this series so far. It often didn't even make sense to me. And it's a bummer, because this might be the first Dortmunder book in which they didn't have any bad luck. Maybe the plot was the bad luck! Sucks that this was the last one... ( )

Dortmunder and crew embroiled in reality series, actually manage to get some money out of caper

"Get Real" is a clever and comic crime novel of a kind in which author Donald Westfall specializes. A television producer contracts with John Dortmunder and his gang of thieves to stage a robbery for the sake of a reality TV show. The idea is that the gang will be filmed for the TV show while robbing a building owned by the series' production company. Dortmunder and his pals figure out that there actually is wealth hidden in the building, and plot to act out the fake robbery while engaging in a real one. The result is pretty funny, and makes for quite an amusing work of fiction. I really must seek out more of Westfall's comic novels! ( )

Back in the dark ages, before we could afford things like a TV, my spouse and I read a lot, often reading to each other. We became quite fond of Westlake's books about the burglar, John Dortmunder. That was long ago. But, my spouse finally got to the "Ws" in her dogged determination to read all the "Mystery" books in our local library in alphabetical order according to author. As a result, she came home with a Dortmunder book. It caused me to reflect on the "good old days", which then led to my determination to revisit Dortmunder myself. It turns out my library had only one available in kindle edition. So I snagged it.

Reading this book involved a bit of cognitive dissonance for me. My earlier forays into the Dortmunder books were before the days of cell phones, computers and the internet. So, suddenly, we have them all here. Not only that, but reality TV has become all the rage. I never imagined anything so stupid as reality TV back in my youth. The closest we got was Dick Clark's American Bandstand, and I was suspicious of that.

Anyway, Dortmunder and his pals are enticed into becoming involved in taping a reality TV program showing them planning and executing a burglary. They, of course, aren't that stupid, so decide to do a pretend burglary of the properties of the production company, all the while being pretty certain that they can find something else in the production company's building worth a lot more. So, in essence, their involvement helps them case the joint, so to speak.

So, we have lots of absurd goings on, both within Dortmunder's "gang" and within the reality show production company. All good fun. ( )

The last of Donald Westlake's Dortmunder novels does not disappoint. The gang's all here, but now they're sucked into reality TV, which turns out to be anything but real. As usual, the plot gets complicated, but Dortmunder comes up with a brilliant ploy designed to let the guys get even more money from a heist.

But the beauty of the Dortmunder novels is only partly in the plot. The dialog, the gatherings at the OJ Bar, the set-ups and pay-offs are what make this series so funny.

Highly recommend. ( )