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361
The men in the tan-and-cream Chrysler came with guns blazing. When Ray woke up in the hospital a month later, he was missing an eye, and his father was dead. Then things started to get bad...
From the incomparable Donald E. Westlake comes a devastating story of betrayal and revenge, exploring the limits of family loyalty and how far a man will go when everything he loves is taken from him.
From the incomparable Donald E. Westlake comes a devastating story of betrayal and revenge, exploring the limits of family loyalty and how far a man will go when everything he loves is taken from him.
206 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1962
36 people are currently reading
884 people want to read
About the author
Donald E. Westlake
434 books968 followersDonald 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
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
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 195 reviews
September 11, 2017
I'm going to have to re-evaluate Donald Westlake. I'd read a few of his stories here and there and found them too jovial and lighthearted. I like my noir humorless. I like my hard-boiled HARD. If there has to be laughter, it should be the mean-spirited laughter of a Charles Willeford novel. So I figured I'd just leave Westlake alone to write his little high-spirited capers off my radar. Then the University of Chicago started reprinting Westlake's Parker novels. Now Parker is the biggest prick in crime fiction. As badass as Lee Marvin is in the classic "Point Blank," he's playing a softer, sanitized version of Parker. So Westlake had some steel in his typing fists after all. And now Hard Case Crime brings back "361," another one of Westlake's harder-edged novels from the early '60s. Ray Kelly is just in his 20s and just out of the Air Force, and he and his father are on their way to a reunion with Ray's brother, Bill. A carload of hoods pulls up alongside and starts blasting, Dad barfs up blood all over Ray, the car crashes and Ray loses his right eye. We're not even on Page 20! Turns out Ray and Bill's dad was mixed up with the Organization. "The mob. The outfit. The syndicate, you might call it." Once Ray gets out of the hospital, equipped with a new glass eye, the brothers set out to learn why their father was killed and who did the deed and to make some sunsabitches pay! If any informants are reluctant to spill, Ray pops his eye out to intimidate them. Now this is my kinda hard-boiled. This story is boiled so hard, it'd probably crack the linoleum if you dropped it in the kitchen. And the humor is cruel: "Linda, the little girl, came over and started asking stupid questions. She was like her mother, interesting until she opened her mouth. I thought of taking my eye out for her, but not seriously." Fiction or non-fiction, genre or non-genre, all writers could learn a little something from Westlake. "361" is so tightly written, there's hardly enough room for spaces between the words. There's not an iota of flab in this book. Every word is employed for a purpose, working its ass off to make each sentence crackle. The prose is stripped bare as a wino's mattress and goes down quicker than a desperate crack whore. I have my doubts whether I'll ever fully embrace Westlake's more whimsical Dortmunder books, but as long as Hard Case and U of C keep dishing up the rough stuff, I'll be there asking for extra helpings.
February 11, 2020
Take away everything a man has and all that's he's got left is revenge. Ray Kelly is just an average, ordinary guy. Certainly no criminal. At least not until he's betrayed and robbed of everything dear to him, leaving him with only one purpose. Revenge. Not fueled by anger or fury, but only a sense of it being the one thing left to him.
"I had jerrybuilt a justification for my existence. I was a weak and unworthy vessel, but I would take the life from William Cheever and the other one. If I had been strong and capable, I could kill them out of a cold fury, a dispassionate rage. Instead, I would kill them cheaply, I would kill them only because that was what I was supposed to do."
Way more violent, hard hitting and gripping than your average hardboiled crime pulp, I felt myself slipping into the abyss along with Kelly as his life unravels and he loses everything that tethers him to himself.
"I had jerrybuilt a justification for my existence. I was a weak and unworthy vessel, but I would take the life from William Cheever and the other one. If I had been strong and capable, I could kill them out of a cold fury, a dispassionate rage. Instead, I would kill them cheaply, I would kill them only because that was what I was supposed to do."
Way more violent, hard hitting and gripping than your average hardboiled crime pulp, I felt myself slipping into the abyss along with Kelly as his life unravels and he loses everything that tethers him to himself.
May 8, 2023
badass little noir. the twists keep coming and the attitude is tough, the characters intense and caustic, and wether you figure out the ending or not, it’s all in the way westlake puts the words next to one another to create narrative propulsion in an intense hard-boiled atmosphere, with characters that are constantly confronted with life-shattering secrets.
that’s the fun of the whole experience.
would’ve earned a five if the writing was a bit more literary or poetic, but that might change on second read.
btw, this book is not for the faint hearted, but for those seeking a twisty balls to the wall noir about two brothers that learn things they’d rather not have learned about their family, and it puts them on a dangerous but riveting path of vengeance.
i’ll be reading more westlake now, which is really the best compliment you can give a book, innit?
that’s the fun of the whole experience.
would’ve earned a five if the writing was a bit more literary or poetic, but that might change on second read.
btw, this book is not for the faint hearted, but for those seeking a twisty balls to the wall noir about two brothers that learn things they’d rather not have learned about their family, and it puts them on a dangerous but riveting path of vengeance.
i’ll be reading more westlake now, which is really the best compliment you can give a book, innit?
February 13, 2023
361 (CD) by Donald E. Westlake.
This was a book I chose but never dreamed I'd stay with it. The subject was revenge and the mob, but from a side of the mob rather than directly in it. Ray Kelly's entire family had been wiped out. He woke in the hospital covered in scars and missing an eye. Healing took time and as he healed the vengeance inside him grew.
Then a plan began to emerge. a plan that would take him to his biological father. A king pin in the mob who had recently been released from prison. The dots started to connect and Ray was the connection to each dot.
This was once of the most fantastic stories of revenge I have ever listened to or read. I highly recommend this book. L.J. Ganser was the reader who brought Ray Kelly's deep seeded feelings to life. I listened to this book all night and never slept a wink.
This was a book I chose but never dreamed I'd stay with it. The subject was revenge and the mob, but from a side of the mob rather than directly in it. Ray Kelly's entire family had been wiped out. He woke in the hospital covered in scars and missing an eye. Healing took time and as he healed the vengeance inside him grew.
Then a plan began to emerge. a plan that would take him to his biological father. A king pin in the mob who had recently been released from prison. The dots started to connect and Ray was the connection to each dot.
This was once of the most fantastic stories of revenge I have ever listened to or read. I highly recommend this book. L.J. Ganser was the reader who brought Ray Kelly's deep seeded feelings to life. I listened to this book all night and never slept a wink.
May 18, 2021
“The men in the tan-and-cream Chrysler came with guns blazing. When Ray Kelly woke up in the hospital, it was a month later, he was missing an eye, and his father was dead. Then things started to get bad.”
361 is the third of more than a hundred published by Donald Westlake, published in 1962, the same year Westlake published his also hard-boiled first novel in his Parker series, The Hunter, under the pseudonym Richard Stark. It was more recently republished by Hard Case Crime.
Ray and his brother Bill decide they want to get revenge on the mob for the killing, and in the process, page by page, scene by tightly constructed scene, Ray loses almost everything and everyone he has ever known. His philosophy is that every man needs either a purpose or a home, and his purpose in this book is vengeance. But if I were advising him, I would say don’t let your anger get you in the middle of a mob war, especially if you don’t know much about guns.
I didn’t know what the title meant so I just googled it, and the 361st entry of Roget's Thesaurus is about “Destruction of life; violent death; killing.” Huh, now why get cute with the title? But Westlake often gets cute with titles. Though there is otherwise not much cute or amusing in this book, such as in Westlake’s Dortmunder series, all comic capers.
I thought this was just a 3 star book much of the way, as he was trying to figure out the hard-boiled noir sub-genre, as he refines in the Parker books, but though few of the characters are truly likable, they are engaging, particularly through the dialogue. And touches like this: Ray at one point buys some novels, that he calls "adventure mysteries," to help pass the time. But he hates them, actually physically rips them apart, because he sees that the characters go through life-changing events and don’t change. Not realistic! Ray is going through a life-changing experience, and does change. (One way he changes is that he learns a few things about guns!)
And there’s lots of violence along the way, in keeping with the noir tradition. And another weird thing, for noir: There are NO women in this book. They are mentioned, Bill has a wife, they had a mother, but we meet NO women! In a noir book!
So because of the tight and engaging opening, and then the fine and surprising close, and because it is so tightly constructed, and because I took a second, closer look at it to appreciate the dialogue, I bumped this from 3 to 4 stars.
361 is the third of more than a hundred published by Donald Westlake, published in 1962, the same year Westlake published his also hard-boiled first novel in his Parker series, The Hunter, under the pseudonym Richard Stark. It was more recently republished by Hard Case Crime.
Ray and his brother Bill decide they want to get revenge on the mob for the killing, and in the process, page by page, scene by tightly constructed scene, Ray loses almost everything and everyone he has ever known. His philosophy is that every man needs either a purpose or a home, and his purpose in this book is vengeance. But if I were advising him, I would say don’t let your anger get you in the middle of a mob war, especially if you don’t know much about guns.
I didn’t know what the title meant so I just googled it, and the 361st entry of Roget's Thesaurus is about “Destruction of life; violent death; killing.” Huh, now why get cute with the title? But Westlake often gets cute with titles. Though there is otherwise not much cute or amusing in this book, such as in Westlake’s Dortmunder series, all comic capers.
I thought this was just a 3 star book much of the way, as he was trying to figure out the hard-boiled noir sub-genre, as he refines in the Parker books, but though few of the characters are truly likable, they are engaging, particularly through the dialogue. And touches like this: Ray at one point buys some novels, that he calls "adventure mysteries," to help pass the time. But he hates them, actually physically rips them apart, because he sees that the characters go through life-changing events and don’t change. Not realistic! Ray is going through a life-changing experience, and does change. (One way he changes is that he learns a few things about guns!)
And there’s lots of violence along the way, in keeping with the noir tradition. And another weird thing, for noir: There are NO women in this book. They are mentioned, Bill has a wife, they had a mother, but we meet NO women! In a noir book!
So because of the tight and engaging opening, and then the fine and surprising close, and because it is so tightly constructed, and because I took a second, closer look at it to appreciate the dialogue, I bumped this from 3 to 4 stars.
December 4, 2021
Ok , I don't have a shelf for crime or hard crime or noir, all of which are genres this book has been allocated in. It's a story of vengeance, plain and simple. A short read that started out with a bang, a big twist comes in the middle and then for me it begins to sputter. Too much description of daily doings, I mean how many times do we have to know that after holing up in a motel the MC goes to the bar and gets drunk or sees a movie to pass the time. Also the story itself gets awkward and the pace of action slows to a crawl, but overall I was invested in the MC and was satisfied with the ending.
July 26, 2017
It was the third book published under the Donald Westlake name with the first two being, The Mercenaries and Killing Time. It was first published in 1962 by Random House and more recently republished by Hard Case. Westlake himself has described the book as the "first one in which [he] did any experimenting." He wrote it with an eye towards the writing of Dashiell Hammett, Vladimir Nabokov, and Peter Rabe and he wanted to make the reader feel emotion in a scene without describing it directly.
This novel feels very different from any other Westlake novel that I have so far read. It does not have the humor found in his later novels. But, it is firmly planted in the hardboiled tradition of the fifties pulp novels and I enjoyed it for that reason. It is dark in nature and in pretty much every scene the reader can feel dark angry storm clouds in the distance.
The book opens with the narrator, Ray Kelly, finishing his stint in the Air Force and getting ready to enter civilian life. He just spent several years on duty in Germany. He walks out of the Air Force Base in Brooklyn, not far from Coney Island, and boards a bus. When "another guy with two suitcases came on," they avoided "looking at one another. I'd never seen him before, but he was another new civvy. We acted like we'd both just been circumcised and if we talked to each other everybody would know." What a great opening. With just a few paragraphs, Westlake places the character in time and place and mood. And, there's that matter of fact regular-joe tone from the narrator that continues throughout the book.
Ray is going to see his father and his brother's wife (who he has never met). He meets his father at a hotel in Manhattan. When they met, they "cried like a couple of women, and kept punching each other to prove we were men." Ray wants to go get a beer and his father is reluctant to even leave the hotel. Ray figures that dad is just tired from the drive and the heat. Dad then wanted to go right back to the room again and get some sleep for the next day's drive to Binghamton where they lived. But, after Ray's insistence, they go out and look at Times Square and Ray is disappointed because he expected it to be unique like Munich was unique.
There's an interesting clue as to the time period when they get in the car the next day and Ray's father shows off that the car has power windows and an air conditioner. As they head towards Binghamton, a tan-and-cream Chrysler pulls up next to them and the guy on their side stuck out his hand with a gun and just started shooting. Ray wakes up days later minus an eye and with his ankles completely battered so he always walked with a limp. Dad needs to be buried.
Ray and his brother Bill decide that the locals are not going to get to the bottom of this and start investigating. They find that dear old dad twenty years earlier when they lived in NYC had been somehow affiliated with mobsters. These two innocents stumble around interviewing old law partners and try to figure out who had their father killed. They are out for vengeance and nothing better get in their way. In the course of their investigation, they stumble on some family secrets and are involved in a huge mob war between warring factions.
This is a tough-nosed mobster type story. It feels like many of the mob stories of the fifties. Go ahead and read it.
This novel feels very different from any other Westlake novel that I have so far read. It does not have the humor found in his later novels. But, it is firmly planted in the hardboiled tradition of the fifties pulp novels and I enjoyed it for that reason. It is dark in nature and in pretty much every scene the reader can feel dark angry storm clouds in the distance.
The book opens with the narrator, Ray Kelly, finishing his stint in the Air Force and getting ready to enter civilian life. He just spent several years on duty in Germany. He walks out of the Air Force Base in Brooklyn, not far from Coney Island, and boards a bus. When "another guy with two suitcases came on," they avoided "looking at one another. I'd never seen him before, but he was another new civvy. We acted like we'd both just been circumcised and if we talked to each other everybody would know." What a great opening. With just a few paragraphs, Westlake places the character in time and place and mood. And, there's that matter of fact regular-joe tone from the narrator that continues throughout the book.
Ray is going to see his father and his brother's wife (who he has never met). He meets his father at a hotel in Manhattan. When they met, they "cried like a couple of women, and kept punching each other to prove we were men." Ray wants to go get a beer and his father is reluctant to even leave the hotel. Ray figures that dad is just tired from the drive and the heat. Dad then wanted to go right back to the room again and get some sleep for the next day's drive to Binghamton where they lived. But, after Ray's insistence, they go out and look at Times Square and Ray is disappointed because he expected it to be unique like Munich was unique.
There's an interesting clue as to the time period when they get in the car the next day and Ray's father shows off that the car has power windows and an air conditioner. As they head towards Binghamton, a tan-and-cream Chrysler pulls up next to them and the guy on their side stuck out his hand with a gun and just started shooting. Ray wakes up days later minus an eye and with his ankles completely battered so he always walked with a limp. Dad needs to be buried.
Ray and his brother Bill decide that the locals are not going to get to the bottom of this and start investigating. They find that dear old dad twenty years earlier when they lived in NYC had been somehow affiliated with mobsters. These two innocents stumble around interviewing old law partners and try to figure out who had their father killed. They are out for vengeance and nothing better get in their way. In the course of their investigation, they stumble on some family secrets and are involved in a huge mob war between warring factions.
This is a tough-nosed mobster type story. It feels like many of the mob stories of the fifties. Go ahead and read it.
January 4, 2018
Violence, vengeance, rage and revenge. Through a blood shattered window we see Ray Kelly's life unfold as it almost ends. Discharged from the Air Force, he's home and reunited with his father only to loose him in a seemingly unprovoked hail of hell-fire. Punctured with lead, Ray's father's death open wounds fresh on Ray as he delves deep into the hidden life his father once led learning truths better left lies, all the while acting as the reaper, bringing a the sickle to a gunfight.
Donald Westlake's 361 is pure noir. Conceptually well executed and well plotted though let down by inconsequential introspective dialogue and a weak leading man in Ray Kelly - his hard man persona exemplified at every opportunity read too false and provided little room for any character depth. This hurt the overall feel of the story, making it an average read when it could've been great.
My rating: 3/5, I have previously read the print edition some time ago and enjoyed the audiobook about the same, the narrator captured Ray's intensity and did the story justice.
Donald Westlake's 361 is pure noir. Conceptually well executed and well plotted though let down by inconsequential introspective dialogue and a weak leading man in Ray Kelly - his hard man persona exemplified at every opportunity read too false and provided little room for any character depth. This hurt the overall feel of the story, making it an average read when it could've been great.
My rating: 3/5, I have previously read the print edition some time ago and enjoyed the audiobook about the same, the narrator captured Ray's intensity and did the story justice.
June 13, 2025
A man's father is murdered and he finds out he was connected to the mob and seeks vengeance for his death.
Early Westlake, but still very good.
Recommended.
Early Westlake, but still very good.
Recommended.
November 2, 2011
Two stars is a little harsh, and it's probably a better book than the last Hard Case novel I read, Two for the Money, but I'm judging this against other Donald Westlake books, and not against other crime books.
So far this is my least favorite of Westlake's books. There are some good moments in it, but then there are some awful ones. His dialogue is kind of tinny here and there are moments when he goes overboard with needless descriptions of rooms and people that make me think he was getting paid by the word for this novel.
Clunky.
For a similar period novel I enjoyed The Cutie more. He had better control over the novel in that one, and I would have guessed that 361 was an earlier attempt, and Westlake was still getting his voice and all of that writerly stuff, but according to publication dates this followed The Cutie by two years.
Book report time.
A guy gets out of the Air Force. Riding home with his dad a cream colored Buick pulls up alongside them and a man with a mustache opens fire on them. His dad dies, he gets his ankle jacked up and loses an eye. When he gets out of the hospital he vows revenge. He learns some family secrets and the Mafia, the Mob, the Syndicate, the Outfit, Costa Nostra, Wise Guys, Good Fellas, Italians with Broken Noses and Cauliflowered ears etc., make an appearance. Some stuff happens.
On the plus side there is possibly one of the best accidental killings in any book within these pages. Who knew eye sockets could kill?
Oh, and Plattsburgh shows up, including some real life places in that shitty little town. Plattsburgh represent, 518!
So far this is my least favorite of Westlake's books. There are some good moments in it, but then there are some awful ones. His dialogue is kind of tinny here and there are moments when he goes overboard with needless descriptions of rooms and people that make me think he was getting paid by the word for this novel.
Clunky.
For a similar period novel I enjoyed The Cutie more. He had better control over the novel in that one, and I would have guessed that 361 was an earlier attempt, and Westlake was still getting his voice and all of that writerly stuff, but according to publication dates this followed The Cutie by two years.
Book report time.
A guy gets out of the Air Force. Riding home with his dad a cream colored Buick pulls up alongside them and a man with a mustache opens fire on them. His dad dies, he gets his ankle jacked up and loses an eye. When he gets out of the hospital he vows revenge. He learns some family secrets and the Mafia, the Mob, the Syndicate, the Outfit, Costa Nostra, Wise Guys, Good Fellas, Italians with Broken Noses and Cauliflowered ears etc., make an appearance. Some stuff happens.
On the plus side there is possibly one of the best accidental killings in any book within these pages. Who knew eye sockets could kill?
Oh, and Plattsburgh shows up, including some real life places in that shitty little town. Plattsburgh represent, 518!
May 2, 2025
From 1962
Ray comes home from the Air Force and meets his father. But then his father is murdered because of previous mob ties or current mob ties. Ray and his brother Bill investigate.
Ray comes home from the Air Force and meets his father. But then his father is murdered because of previous mob ties or current mob ties. Ray and his brother Bill investigate.
January 17, 2012
“The men in the tan-and-cream Chrysler came with guns blazing. When Ray Kelly woke up in the hospital, it was a month later, he was missing an eye, and his father was dead. Then things started to get bad.”
I read this little fluff piece last weekend while holed up with a dame in a Reno hotel. She'd booked the room for a four-day dance festival, and she wasn't real keen on dancing alone. Problem was she had a broken toe, so she wasn't dancing much. At least on her feet. In the early hours this gal did a horizontal Hustle that would make a man swear off all other vices. I didn't see much of the sun. With nights like those, I didn't care.
It was cold in Reno, and I'm not just talking about the weather. The casinos pull in the worst-- the desperate, the needy, the lost-- addicts and junkies intent on the next score. One more spin of the wheel, one more card. Sure, there was the dancing: Salsa, Bachata, Merengue. A Latin-American trifecta of gyrating bodies and fleet feet. People moving, losing themselves in the music. But that was several floors below our little room, our little room with a view of the bleak brown hills of the desert in winter. That was for people without a care in the world. People without broken toes. This dame was escaping from something, but that toe was slowing her down. That room was as good a place as any to hide. She kept me warm and I kept her from being lonely. And that's all any two people can really ask of each other.
Sure, maybe Ray Kelly had it rough-- he lost his father, an eye, more than a month in the hospital. His brother's a sap and he learns things about his family no man should have to know. But that's just a book. A tale for soft joes who like to crack wise and think tough while safe at home, safe and out of the cold. A story for bums with time on their hands.
I lost a long weekend in a Reno hotel. I lost everything else to a broken-toed dame on the run.
I read this little fluff piece last weekend while holed up with a dame in a Reno hotel. She'd booked the room for a four-day dance festival, and she wasn't real keen on dancing alone. Problem was she had a broken toe, so she wasn't dancing much. At least on her feet. In the early hours this gal did a horizontal Hustle that would make a man swear off all other vices. I didn't see much of the sun. With nights like those, I didn't care.
It was cold in Reno, and I'm not just talking about the weather. The casinos pull in the worst-- the desperate, the needy, the lost-- addicts and junkies intent on the next score. One more spin of the wheel, one more card. Sure, there was the dancing: Salsa, Bachata, Merengue. A Latin-American trifecta of gyrating bodies and fleet feet. People moving, losing themselves in the music. But that was several floors below our little room, our little room with a view of the bleak brown hills of the desert in winter. That was for people without a care in the world. People without broken toes. This dame was escaping from something, but that toe was slowing her down. That room was as good a place as any to hide. She kept me warm and I kept her from being lonely. And that's all any two people can really ask of each other.
Sure, maybe Ray Kelly had it rough-- he lost his father, an eye, more than a month in the hospital. His brother's a sap and he learns things about his family no man should have to know. But that's just a book. A tale for soft joes who like to crack wise and think tough while safe at home, safe and out of the cold. A story for bums with time on their hands.
I lost a long weekend in a Reno hotel. I lost everything else to a broken-toed dame on the run.
June 11, 2017
Having read all the Parkers and Dortmunders (and a few scattered others), I have set out to read all the remaining novels of Donald E. Westlake, minus the early sleaze. The first phase of this project is reading the novels that he published under his own name. Going in publication order, 361 is the third novel on the list and the best one so far. The story of an Everyman who wants revenge on the mob, I note with interest that it was published in the same year as The Hunter, the first Parker novel, which is the story of an independent professional thief who wants revenge on the mob. Part of the motivation for this reading project is the existence of a class at my college called "Major Authors," which I occasionally get to teach. When my turn comes next, I may do a class on Westlake, and I'm thinking that 361 + Parker might make a good start-of-the-semester combo.
First reading: circa 2006
Second reading: 4 June 2017
First reading: circa 2006
Second reading: 4 June 2017
February 7, 2017
I listened to the audio edition of this novel, as read by L.J. Ganser, on a road trip. Gaser provided, with a very clear voice, a number of various accents perfectly rendered. Now, to the book: I was pulled in immediately by the opening chapters and enjoyed the closing chapters. However, there was a rather slow middle portion that dealt much too extensively with the mafia. In fact, when I heard the final few lines, I realized that middle third could have been condensed into a much shorter section. In summary: 4 stars for Ganser's vocal talents, 2 stars for the novel as Westlake simply lost me halfway through the book (and that's the worse thing an author can do) even though the opening and closing were fine for this genre. Hence, my 3 star rating. I'm going to try one more Westlake (book form) and if he avoids ridiculous racial comments (like Negros aren't as family oriented as are Jews and Italians: that's just ignorance, even in 1962, and even if spoken by a "bad" guy) I might even appreciate his work enough to become a fan. Authors do often publish weak works which become outdated fast, but the twists and turns within "361" are indicative of an author who can deliver a good plot.
October 23, 2014
Maybe a bit more than 3 stars overall, but I had to subtract part of a star for ... **** SEE BELOW FOR A BIT OF SPOILER **** ... well, call it a terrible gaff. It's one of those little things that takes a fairly believable story & partially ruins it for me.
Otherwise, the story was very good. Believable characters & motivations. The action was great. Very gritty & the ending was super. One of the better HCC books.
****A BIT OF SPOILER ****
... a scoped rifle shot with a gun that had just been purchased from a sporting goods store & was never sighted in. The whole book had been leading up to this shot. It was a HUGE deal, but our hero doesn't even try to sight it in or test it first.
(If I missed where he did, please let me know. This really hurt the book for me.)
Otherwise, the story was very good. Believable characters & motivations. The action was great. Very gritty & the ending was super. One of the better HCC books.
****A BIT OF SPOILER ****
... a scoped rifle shot with a gun that had just been purchased from a sporting goods store & was never sighted in. The whole book had been leading up to this shot. It was a HUGE deal, but our hero doesn't even try to sight it in or test it first.
(If I missed where he did, please let me know. This really hurt the book for me.)
May 28, 2024
This is a great stand-alone written by Donald Westlake, and it’s all about revenge.
It’s gritty with good character development and not too many people involved where it could have become difficult to track. It’s a short book with good pacing and a protagonist who’s lost everything (including an eye… yikes) except a desire for retribution. The twist in the end was one I didn’t anticipate.
It’s gritty with good character development and not too many people involved where it could have become difficult to track. It’s a short book with good pacing and a protagonist who’s lost everything (including an eye… yikes) except a desire for retribution. The twist in the end was one I didn’t anticipate.
April 6, 2025
What’s the significance of the title?
August 16, 2019
Serviceable, if a bit repetitive, and none of the characters is likable; so more interesting as an early curio of Westlake's career than as an actual story.
January 10, 2016
This is a stand-alone early novel (only his third published book) by the prolific Donald E. Westlake (AKA Richard Stark). I came in to it with no expectations, content to know it was a Westlake novel and had some sort of mob plot line. Suffice it to say that my faith in this author's ability to deliver the goods is secure.
Originally published in the early 1960's this is a story about a young man, Ray Kelly, recently discharged from the Air Force and now back home in New York, intent upon reconnecting with his father, brother and his brother's new wife and child. But when his father is murdered in front of him, Ray begins a wild ride that forces him to take on the mob...from the inside. The author is developing some of the characteristics that he has become well known for in later years, especially his penchant for surprises. Just when you think you know where this is going, it takes a different direction.
As an aside, there were two passages that were of interest, outside the plot of the novel. The first: there is a scene in which Ray Kelly is forced to wait around and do nothing for several days, so he buys four novels to help pass the time. He calls them "adventure mysteries". But Ray soon discards them (actually rips them apart) because he thinks the main characters don't change at all, they don't grow with the experiences they endure. Since Ray, himself is going through a similar type of "adventure mystery" and he feels the experience is changing him a lot...the books just aren't realistic for him. But what I found really interesting is that he talks about the authors' need to keep the character from growing/changing because they need to keep them around for the next book in the series. Westlake, himself, of course would go on to write series with the same lead character. I have yet to read any of the Parker novels or the Dortmunder books so I will be interested to see if he follows his own axiom from this book.
The second interesting item, just a tidbit, really, and not intended to be humorous at all, was when several characters were standing around talking about how unlikely it was that a certain event would come to pass (no spoilers here). Keep in mind this was written in 1961 or 62. One of the characters said that it was about as likely to happen as marijuana becoming legal to smoke. The times certainly do change, and since I live in Colorado where pot is now legal (within limits), I laughed out loud at that one.
Sorry for the lengthy review. Westlake is becoming one of my go-to authors and so I don't mind spending a bit of time singing his praises.
Originally published in the early 1960's this is a story about a young man, Ray Kelly, recently discharged from the Air Force and now back home in New York, intent upon reconnecting with his father, brother and his brother's new wife and child. But when his father is murdered in front of him, Ray begins a wild ride that forces him to take on the mob...from the inside. The author is developing some of the characteristics that he has become well known for in later years, especially his penchant for surprises. Just when you think you know where this is going, it takes a different direction.
As an aside, there were two passages that were of interest, outside the plot of the novel. The first: there is a scene in which Ray Kelly is forced to wait around and do nothing for several days, so he buys four novels to help pass the time. He calls them "adventure mysteries". But Ray soon discards them (actually rips them apart) because he thinks the main characters don't change at all, they don't grow with the experiences they endure. Since Ray, himself is going through a similar type of "adventure mystery" and he feels the experience is changing him a lot...the books just aren't realistic for him. But what I found really interesting is that he talks about the authors' need to keep the character from growing/changing because they need to keep them around for the next book in the series. Westlake, himself, of course would go on to write series with the same lead character. I have yet to read any of the Parker novels or the Dortmunder books so I will be interested to see if he follows his own axiom from this book.
The second interesting item, just a tidbit, really, and not intended to be humorous at all, was when several characters were standing around talking about how unlikely it was that a certain event would come to pass (no spoilers here). Keep in mind this was written in 1961 or 62. One of the characters said that it was about as likely to happen as marijuana becoming legal to smoke. The times certainly do change, and since I live in Colorado where pot is now legal (within limits), I laughed out loud at that one.
Sorry for the lengthy review. Westlake is becoming one of my go-to authors and so I don't mind spending a bit of time singing his praises.
November 18, 2016
ACTUAL RATING: 3.5
After Raymond Kelley, a recently discharged Air Force soldier, witnesses the murder of his father and is horrifically maimed in the aftermath, he decides it’s time for paycheck. With only one word and a vague description of the murderer’s car to go on, Raymond and his brother quickly find themselves waist-deep in a web of danger, deceit, and mobsters. Little do the brothers know that they’re being hunted, too…
361 is, without a shadow of a doubt, the quintessential hard boiled crime novel. Westlake’s writing exemplifies the stylized grit and action-packed drama of the genre, almost to a fault. Between the constant comma splicing and endless (and sometimes tedious) descriptions of everything Raymond finds remotely interesting, it’s clear that the meat of the book lies in its style more so than its story. Even so, Westlake’s narrative never loses its quick pace nor does it ever delve into pointless sleaze like many other pulpy crime stories of the time. The greatest strength of his writing, however, is the characters. Westlake is a master at throwing flawed individuals into an impossible situation without sacrificing their likability. Everyone feels realistic at the end of the day, which is a rare find in an otherwise pulpy outing.
While the short standalone novel sometimes flirts with interesting themes, such as regret and old age, it never does deeper than the occasional subtext. Westlake’s ideas on what the post-Prohibition mob scene was like is also quaint in hindsight, as history has since shown us that the real-world Mafia didn’t simply fall apart after the legalization of booze. The problem's not on Westlake, though—it’s not his fault the book was published a year before Joseph Valachi’s tell-all testimony as the first mob informant for the FBI. Considering how badly most stories from the 60s age, inaccurate gangster representation is far from the worst sin such a book can commit.
On a side note, the Kindle port is lazy. The first 3% of the kindle edition contains an excerpt from the beginning of the book, so the reader might end up reading it twice if they don’t realize what they’re looking at.
After Raymond Kelley, a recently discharged Air Force soldier, witnesses the murder of his father and is horrifically maimed in the aftermath, he decides it’s time for paycheck. With only one word and a vague description of the murderer’s car to go on, Raymond and his brother quickly find themselves waist-deep in a web of danger, deceit, and mobsters. Little do the brothers know that they’re being hunted, too…
361 is, without a shadow of a doubt, the quintessential hard boiled crime novel. Westlake’s writing exemplifies the stylized grit and action-packed drama of the genre, almost to a fault. Between the constant comma splicing and endless (and sometimes tedious) descriptions of everything Raymond finds remotely interesting, it’s clear that the meat of the book lies in its style more so than its story. Even so, Westlake’s narrative never loses its quick pace nor does it ever delve into pointless sleaze like many other pulpy crime stories of the time. The greatest strength of his writing, however, is the characters. Westlake is a master at throwing flawed individuals into an impossible situation without sacrificing their likability. Everyone feels realistic at the end of the day, which is a rare find in an otherwise pulpy outing.
While the short standalone novel sometimes flirts with interesting themes, such as regret and old age, it never does deeper than the occasional subtext. Westlake’s ideas on what the post-Prohibition mob scene was like is also quaint in hindsight, as history has since shown us that the real-world Mafia didn’t simply fall apart after the legalization of booze. The problem's not on Westlake, though—it’s not his fault the book was published a year before Joseph Valachi’s tell-all testimony as the first mob informant for the FBI. Considering how badly most stories from the 60s age, inaccurate gangster representation is far from the worst sin such a book can commit.
On a side note, the Kindle port is lazy. The first 3% of the kindle edition contains an excerpt from the beginning of the book, so the reader might end up reading it twice if they don’t realize what they’re looking at.
July 28, 2018
I'm a big fan of old school covers, and looking at these Hard Case Crime ones in various reviews, along with wanting to read more noir got me to pull the trigger and get a few of these.
Where better to start than Donald Westlake? I could definitely see bits of Parker in Ray Kelly, and his 'Syndicate' that Parker battles is clearly the same one that is on display here... you could definitely envision Parker walking down the street at any time.
The story itself is very much a time capsule of the 50s, which is all the more interesting since the characters in the book are trying to relive the 30s. While it was definitely over written at times (alot of description and the mobster dialogue was painful), the story moved along and was very engaging.
There was quite a bit of sudden violence (even among friends) which I'm sure was always realistic, but it fit the mood of the story, so it worked. There was also quite a bit of stereotyping that would never see print today, but fit the time very well... definitely not a book for the faint of heart. The main character's response (and difficulty with) said violence was pretty interesting, especially since he was in the war. Of course, being an airman and dropping bombs is a little different from gunning a person down, but still, it was very humanizing in a story where quite a few of the characters were very much not very human.
I would have liked either a bit more or a bit less of and ending.. it felt like the book ended in mid-chapter.. either tell me what happens to Ray after, or don't... don't give vague hints then end!
I could definitely see getting burnt out on the style if one got too carried away, but I really enjoyed this one and am looking forward to more!
Where better to start than Donald Westlake? I could definitely see bits of Parker in Ray Kelly, and his 'Syndicate' that Parker battles is clearly the same one that is on display here... you could definitely envision Parker walking down the street at any time.
The story itself is very much a time capsule of the 50s, which is all the more interesting since the characters in the book are trying to relive the 30s. While it was definitely over written at times (alot of description and the mobster dialogue was painful), the story moved along and was very engaging.
There was quite a bit of sudden violence (even among friends) which I'm sure was always realistic, but it fit the mood of the story, so it worked. There was also quite a bit of stereotyping that would never see print today, but fit the time very well... definitely not a book for the faint of heart. The main character's response (and difficulty with) said violence was pretty interesting, especially since he was in the war. Of course, being an airman and dropping bombs is a little different from gunning a person down, but still, it was very humanizing in a story where quite a few of the characters were very much not very human.
I would have liked either a bit more or a bit less of and ending.. it felt like the book ended in mid-chapter.. either tell me what happens to Ray after, or don't... don't give vague hints then end!
I could definitely see getting burnt out on the style if one got too carried away, but I really enjoyed this one and am looking forward to more!
December 29, 2020
I almost gave up on 361 early on. I'm glad I didn't, because the book turned out to be better than I thought. I just wish it had turned out a lot better.
Westlake is interesting. Sometimes I love his stuff. His novel Memory is one of the best books I read this year. Sometimes I just kind of like it. He was a fast writer and maybe that's part of it. I guess I'm used to crime thrillers with levels of profundity - noirs like Mildred Pierce or In a Lonely Place or modern stuff like Dead Girl Blues - and Westlake's stuff tends to be lean and hard without a lot of fucking around. There's some fucking around in 361, and a good amount of profundity, if you're willing to look for it.
As it was, I liked it. A book about fathers and sons, lies and deceptions. And it's about killing when you don't want to, and killing when you do, and why it's hard both ways. Westlake's mob stuff seems more germane to his Parker novels under the Stark name. I'm unsure I liked it here. Is it weird I want to know what these people's lives would have been like without murder in it? I'm interested in these characters, but maybe not this story as much. So odd.
Westlake is interesting. Sometimes I love his stuff. His novel Memory is one of the best books I read this year. Sometimes I just kind of like it. He was a fast writer and maybe that's part of it. I guess I'm used to crime thrillers with levels of profundity - noirs like Mildred Pierce or In a Lonely Place or modern stuff like Dead Girl Blues - and Westlake's stuff tends to be lean and hard without a lot of fucking around. There's some fucking around in 361, and a good amount of profundity, if you're willing to look for it.
As it was, I liked it. A book about fathers and sons, lies and deceptions. And it's about killing when you don't want to, and killing when you do, and why it's hard both ways. Westlake's mob stuff seems more germane to his Parker novels under the Stark name. I'm unsure I liked it here. Is it weird I want to know what these people's lives would have been like without murder in it? I'm interested in these characters, but maybe not this story as much. So odd.
Read
August 11, 2022Review to come.
September 22, 2022
Fun potboiler with some good twists, but nothing to write home about.
November 30, 2014
361 is a terse little book which hits hard and fast, and doesn’t let up until you’ve run out of pages. Ray Kelly gets out of the Air Force, and prepares to enter civilian life again. All that changes when his life is thrown upside-down; after his father arrives to take him home, a car drives up next to theirs and opens fire. Waking up in the hospital to find he’s lost an eye and a father, Ray and his brother Bill prepare to serve vengeance on the unknown killers.
It sounds so straightforward, but Westlake has plenty of surprises up his sleeve. Just when you think you know what’s coming next, the rug is pulled out from under you with a rapid surprise. In some cases, Westlake builds up the feeling of straightforwardness so expectations set in, right before he drops another surprise in your lap. Heck, the first chapter is a great example—things are going fairly smoothly, perhaps even a bit dully, until the last page, where Ray very calmly reports the car driving up and his father’s death. It’s a marvelous effect, keeping the reader on their toes and keeping the plot rapidly flexible.
It’s a grim story that doesn’t cut any corners, full of twists and turns. Not only is it a fast read, but it’s also highly enjoyable. It, like most of the other Hard Case offerings, doesn’t push any envelopes or expand the boundaries. But it’s a book that grips you and demands to be finished. And, really, who could ask for anything more.
Full review (and other Hard Case reviews) found here.
It sounds so straightforward, but Westlake has plenty of surprises up his sleeve. Just when you think you know what’s coming next, the rug is pulled out from under you with a rapid surprise. In some cases, Westlake builds up the feeling of straightforwardness so expectations set in, right before he drops another surprise in your lap. Heck, the first chapter is a great example—things are going fairly smoothly, perhaps even a bit dully, until the last page, where Ray very calmly reports the car driving up and his father’s death. It’s a marvelous effect, keeping the reader on their toes and keeping the plot rapidly flexible.
It’s a grim story that doesn’t cut any corners, full of twists and turns. Not only is it a fast read, but it’s also highly enjoyable. It, like most of the other Hard Case offerings, doesn’t push any envelopes or expand the boundaries. But it’s a book that grips you and demands to be finished. And, really, who could ask for anything more.
Full review (and other Hard Case reviews) found here.
December 11, 2024
"The men in the tan-and-cream Chrysler came with guns blazing. When Ray Kelly woke up in the hospital, it was a month later, he was missing an eye, and his father was dead. Then things started to get bad."
That pretty well describes what this book is about. There are a lot of twists and turns concerning Ray's father's connection to a crime organization and Ray's brother's unwillingness to except it. But he helps Ray try to find his father's killers although many of the people they have to deal with turn out to have their own agenda in appearing to help. Very gritty and noirish. There's a private eye, but definitely no Sam Spade, who helps drive the plot along. The story moves along at fast pace that keeps you wanting to know what happens next, or being surprised at the last revelation.
The title of the book baffled me and then I saw Ann Sloan's reference to a thesaurus entry about violent death and killing. I still didn't quite understand the reference so I looked around and found that it seems to just apply to Roget's Thesaurus. The number 361 is the number of the heading - 361. [Destruction of Life; Violent Death.] Killing. All the headings are numbered sequentially and 361 just happens to be the 361th heading from the beginning of the thesaurus. The previous heading is - 360. Death. I got some strange satisfaction from finding this but now it raises questions of why Westlake made a puzzle out of the title of his book. Was it an inside joke with one of his contemporaries? Maybe I'll check further and see what I can uncover.
That pretty well describes what this book is about. There are a lot of twists and turns concerning Ray's father's connection to a crime organization and Ray's brother's unwillingness to except it. But he helps Ray try to find his father's killers although many of the people they have to deal with turn out to have their own agenda in appearing to help. Very gritty and noirish. There's a private eye, but definitely no Sam Spade, who helps drive the plot along. The story moves along at fast pace that keeps you wanting to know what happens next, or being surprised at the last revelation.
The title of the book baffled me and then I saw Ann Sloan's reference to a thesaurus entry about violent death and killing. I still didn't quite understand the reference so I looked around and found that it seems to just apply to Roget's Thesaurus. The number 361 is the number of the heading - 361. [Destruction of Life; Violent Death.] Killing. All the headings are numbered sequentially and 361 just happens to be the 361th heading from the beginning of the thesaurus. The previous heading is - 360. Death. I got some strange satisfaction from finding this but now it raises questions of why Westlake made a puzzle out of the title of his book. Was it an inside joke with one of his contemporaries? Maybe I'll check further and see what I can uncover.
December 21, 2010
"361" is a solid member of the HCC-series. Nevertheless I think that other books fit better in this series, like "Kiss her goodbye" by Allan Guthrie or "Grifter's game" by Lawrence Block. Westlake tries to sketch an image of the hard guy who gets into trouble through no fault of his own. In my opinion, the author succeeds only partially in drawing this image. What I missed is a background of the main charakter. All you get to know is that the army dismissed him. That lack of antecedents makes it quite difficult to understand him and his actions. I personally didn't get involved as much in the story as it happened with the books mentioned above. Nonetheless - if you like the genre, you will definitely have fun with this mafia story.
January 24, 2016
There’s one thing in 361 that’s totally amazing and probably unique in the world of crime fiction, at least as far as I know - there are no women characters. I repeat: no women!?!? No femme fatales, mysterious blonde dames, ex-girlfriends, voluptuous secretaries, unhappily married horny beauties, greedy widows, hookers with golden hearts, no provincial girls wanting to become actresses/models, no nothing. Really unusual, especially considering it begins with a guy being discharged from the military!? So I think I’m going to remember 361 by this little peculiarity rather than its plot.
More here (review includes spoilers!):
http://a60books.blogspot.ie/2012/04/3...
More here (review includes spoilers!):
http://a60books.blogspot.ie/2012/04/3...
March 20, 2022
The voice slams home, again and again, the story moves, the characters grow and smoke and throw punch after punch. My gut feels worn out. I’ve never read a voice, a style, in a world like Westlake’s before. Wow.
July 17, 2014
Okay. There's nothing that really sells this book versus a different Westlake, and while it's solid it's not brilliant.
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