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Smoke: The Disappearing Novel
Due to a foiled burglary in a high-tech lab doing research for cigarette manufacturers, Freddie Noon, the thief, is now invisible. This condition has clear-cut advantages for a man in Freddie's profession, but now everybody wants a glimpse of Freddie. But Freddie doesn't dare show his face, his shadow, anything. Because Freddie Noon has gotten a taste of invisibility--and he can't quit now.
439 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
41 people are currently reading
246 people want to read
About the author
Donald E. Westlake
434 books952 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 73 reviews
July 22, 2009
I noticed something really very interesting this time around, that maybe I noticed last time, but forgot.
When you open the book and start to read, you get a very nice succinct profile of your main protagonist in just a few pages--it's one of Westlake's specialties. But then, when you finish the novel, hundreds of eventful, funny, suspenseful, riveting, incredible pages later, there's a wonderful little echo.
Do this immediately upon finishing: flip the book back to the beginning and start it again. IMMEDIATELY. Get to the last page, read the last sentence, flip the book back to the front, open to the first page, and read it again. It's absolutely, positively, utterly amazing, extraordinary, and I dare say even magical.
You're welcome.
(And now, I miss him more than I did before.)
When you open the book and start to read, you get a very nice succinct profile of your main protagonist in just a few pages--it's one of Westlake's specialties. But then, when you finish the novel, hundreds of eventful, funny, suspenseful, riveting, incredible pages later, there's a wonderful little echo.
Do this immediately upon finishing: flip the book back to the beginning and start it again. IMMEDIATELY. Get to the last page, read the last sentence, flip the book back to the front, open to the first page, and read it again. It's absolutely, positively, utterly amazing, extraordinary, and I dare say even magical.
You're welcome.
(And now, I miss him more than I did before.)
August 22, 2019
Another late career Westlake caper.
A thief breaks into a scientific laboratory owned by the evil tobacco companies. He gets caught, and injected with some formula, then takes some more, thinking it's an antidote. This turns him invisible somehow.
He quickly begins stealing more valuable stuff. The tobacco company wants to get its hands on him, and so do a whole lot of other unscrupulous people.
Not bad, but like a lot of Westlake's work at this time, seems out of date, even for the time.
A thief breaks into a scientific laboratory owned by the evil tobacco companies. He gets caught, and injected with some formula, then takes some more, thinking it's an antidote. This turns him invisible somehow.
He quickly begins stealing more valuable stuff. The tobacco company wants to get its hands on him, and so do a whole lot of other unscrupulous people.
Not bad, but like a lot of Westlake's work at this time, seems out of date, even for the time.
May 27, 2018
A thief gets dosed with what turns out to be an effective invisibility potion, then chased by the police, the docs, the cigarette company that funded everything... It's complicated. Donald Westlake strikes again.
Solid. Somewhat predictable, but such fun to get there.
Solid. Somewhat predictable, but such fun to get there.
January 11, 2018
The best invisible man story ever told, with Westlake’s irrepressible humor sparkling over every step of the way.
December 8, 2012
There will never be a writer like Donald Westlake. I guess you could say that about every writer who dies, but I will miss him (along with Ed McBain and Tony Hillerman)more than most. This little paperback was just waiting for me at my favorite used bookstore. What a find! It is the last of his books in print (apart from the drawer novel that not surprisingly, was panned...that's WHY he didn't send it to a publisher) that I had not read. It was at the top of my Christmas list, but not any more. And it was every bit as choice as I had anticipated.
If you are not familiar with Westlake, I'll tell you that he writes with varying styles. Once in awhile, he writes a dead serious mystery or crime novel. He also writes some very gritty sort-of noir crime novels as Richard Stark, and I liked those too. But most of Westlake's books are what the pro reviewers call 'comic capers'. The best have left me rolling, with tears in my eyes. I didn't roll a lot during this one, but the entire thing, the way it was put together, the surprise turns it took, and the way particular sentences were phrased, was extremely amusing. I could not fall asleep while reading it, because I was too alert, and also because my spouse racks out first, and I would shake the bed with a suppressed chuckle and wake him.
This is an invisible-man story (that much is on the back of the book, and happens right up front, so I don't consider this a spoiler), but it is done so much better than the sci-fi types I've seen. In its own way, it's realistic, once you buy the premise. It brings up things I never would have considered, even had I been dwelling on the possibilities of invisibility. And I LOVED the ending.
I hope the publishers will reissue this, and his other out-of-print, collectible-edition only stories now that he is gone. I'd love to read more Westlake. But if you can get your hands on this one, do it now!
If you are not familiar with Westlake, I'll tell you that he writes with varying styles. Once in awhile, he writes a dead serious mystery or crime novel. He also writes some very gritty sort-of noir crime novels as Richard Stark, and I liked those too. But most of Westlake's books are what the pro reviewers call 'comic capers'. The best have left me rolling, with tears in my eyes. I didn't roll a lot during this one, but the entire thing, the way it was put together, the surprise turns it took, and the way particular sentences were phrased, was extremely amusing. I could not fall asleep while reading it, because I was too alert, and also because my spouse racks out first, and I would shake the bed with a suppressed chuckle and wake him.
This is an invisible-man story (that much is on the back of the book, and happens right up front, so I don't consider this a spoiler), but it is done so much better than the sci-fi types I've seen. In its own way, it's realistic, once you buy the premise. It brings up things I never would have considered, even had I been dwelling on the possibilities of invisibility. And I LOVED the ending.
I hope the publishers will reissue this, and his other out-of-print, collectible-edition only stories now that he is gone. I'd love to read more Westlake. But if you can get your hands on this one, do it now!
July 30, 2020
Another witty crime caper from the king of that genre, this time with a science fictional element: a melanin-inhibiting shot, developed for reasons that are never quite made clear by an eccentric couple of scientists working for a tobacco company, which is administered to a petty thief caught pilfering their lab. It turns him invisible (because why not) and hilarity ensues. Westlake's cynically clever wit is evident throughout, especially in the laconic portrayal of some of the invisibility potion's less salubrious effects on the thief and his longsuffering girlfriend. But for some reason this one never captured and held my interest the way some of Westlake's other stories have done.
December 18, 2017
I thought I'd read every Westlake title, but I missed this one. Glad I found it!
June 24, 2024
Drôle, palpitant et très touchant :)
August 10, 2018
A funny, ironic, satiric tale about a thief who was dwarfed by the thievery and chicanery of the people who weren't called thieves. Westlake finds subtle humor in situations that are exciting and perplexing. Pure entertainment.
May 24, 2017
Another of author Westlake's crime novels lavishly larded with humor. Enjoyable read.
Crime novel - Due to a foiled burglary in a high-tech lab doing research for cigarette manufacturers, Freddie Noon, the thief, is now invisible. This condition has clear-cut advantages for a man in Freddie's profession, but now everybody wants a glimpse of Freddie. But Freddie doesn't dare show his face, his shadow, anything. Because Freddie Noon has gotten a taste of invisibility--and he can't quit now.
Crime novel - Due to a foiled burglary in a high-tech lab doing research for cigarette manufacturers, Freddie Noon, the thief, is now invisible. This condition has clear-cut advantages for a man in Freddie's profession, but now everybody wants a glimpse of Freddie. But Freddie doesn't dare show his face, his shadow, anything. Because Freddie Noon has gotten a taste of invisibility--and he can't quit now.
July 22, 2018
O M G
A wonderful read. I met Westlake through Dortmunder. Westlake has an inexhaustible trove of characters you have to meet. In SMOKE, Freddie and Peg teach us. About life. Read Westlake for entertaining story. Savor Westlake for illuminating wisdom. Do not pass GO without reading SMOKE.
A wonderful read. I met Westlake through Dortmunder. Westlake has an inexhaustible trove of characters you have to meet. In SMOKE, Freddie and Peg teach us. About life. Read Westlake for entertaining story. Savor Westlake for illuminating wisdom. Do not pass GO without reading SMOKE.
Read
March 14, 2011Started but didn't finish. I read it as a more modern take on invisible men stories, but it turned into a crime novel, and I find it hard to enjoy such a novel. The writing was great, but the way the story was going didn't grip me.
February 11, 2014
I'm not sure if he wrote this as the result of losing a bet; it took Donald Westlake to adopt such a narratively untenable premise as a tale with an invisible protagonist and make it both plausible and funny.
May 11, 2017
Would love to see a movie of this book. Great job.
April 14, 2022
As someone who started out writing cheap, tawdry paperbacks in the late 50s and early 60s, most of Donald Westlake's books are pretty short, under 300 pages. For whatever reason this 1995 novel is 452 pages according to Goodreads. It would really have been better if it had been as short as most of his other books because the story just seems to drag for no reason.
I bought this because I had recently finished rewatching the first season of Syfy's Invisible Man series from 2000-2002. It had a similar premise about a thief who's shanghaied by scientists into becoming part of an experiment that turns him invisible. But in that show the thief is implanted with a gland that secretes a chemical to bend light to make him invisible, so it goes over his clothes and it wears off after a little while.
This is more like the old movies where Freddy is injected with a formula and eats another one and his body becomes permanently invisible. He can't wear clothes or else he'll be visible. Being a thief, Freddy soon uses his new superpower for personal gain by robbing a fur storage place and jewelry wholesaler and so on. But there are obvious downsides, especially with his ditzy girlfriend Peggy. And then he's chased by a corrupt cop and people working for the tobacco company that inadvertently funded his creation.
All of this as I said goes on far too long. There are complications thrown in that don't really need to be there. At one point Freddy goes to a party where the scientists who created him are and then makes some critical mistakes that he should by then have known would cause him trouble. In particular he decides to "hide" by doing laps in the pool? It makes no sense. If he were just floating in the pool then he wouldn't be seen, but he should have known by then that the act of swimming would make it easy for him to be seen. This was after he drank champagne that he should have known would give away his location.
The way it ends, it could have ended a lot sooner. It's a nice premise and there are some fun bits, but there's just too much of it.
I bought this because I had recently finished rewatching the first season of Syfy's Invisible Man series from 2000-2002. It had a similar premise about a thief who's shanghaied by scientists into becoming part of an experiment that turns him invisible. But in that show the thief is implanted with a gland that secretes a chemical to bend light to make him invisible, so it goes over his clothes and it wears off after a little while.
This is more like the old movies where Freddy is injected with a formula and eats another one and his body becomes permanently invisible. He can't wear clothes or else he'll be visible. Being a thief, Freddy soon uses his new superpower for personal gain by robbing a fur storage place and jewelry wholesaler and so on. But there are obvious downsides, especially with his ditzy girlfriend Peggy. And then he's chased by a corrupt cop and people working for the tobacco company that inadvertently funded his creation.
All of this as I said goes on far too long. There are complications thrown in that don't really need to be there. At one point Freddy goes to a party where the scientists who created him are and then makes some critical mistakes that he should by then have known would cause him trouble. In particular he decides to "hide" by doing laps in the pool? It makes no sense. If he were just floating in the pool then he wouldn't be seen, but he should have known by then that the act of swimming would make it easy for him to be seen. This was after he drank champagne that he should have known would give away his location.
The way it ends, it could have ended a lot sooner. It's a nice premise and there are some fun bits, but there's just too much of it.
March 7, 2023
"If you prick him, doth he not bleed?"
"Not so's you'd notice," said Peter.
Unlikely protagonist/thief Frederic Urban Noon, aka "Freddie," aka "F.U. Noon," aka "F.U.N.," is invisible by page 25, and the hijinks never stop ensuing. The pace is quick, and so is the wit, with way more shenanigans than H.G. Wells thought up, along with an abundance of potentially insightful observations re. life, such as:
* Translucent cats can only tell so much.
* Ain't no security against the invisible man; no sir.
* If you're on the lookout for an invisible man, it isn't business as usual.
* For a naked man, shimmying up a tree is even trickier than riding a bicycle.
* It's hard to service a body you can't see.
* To be a tobacco-company lawyer is to know something of the darkness of the human heart.
And of course:
* It's hard to look on the sunny side when you're in a shitstorm.
There's something humorous on just about every page, and it has one of the all-time funniest eulogies I've ever read. I regularly had the impression Westlake was making himself laugh just writing this caper. Many of the comical moments tend toward slapstick, especially between Freddie and his girlfriend, Peg, who make each other laugh, seem for the most part pretty unflappable, and are a good team in general. It's a fun (and F.U.N.) read.
First line:
Freddie was a liar. Freddie was a thief.
May 8, 2019
Publishers Weekly
His latest is full of chuckles for readers: when amiable professional thief Freddie Urban Noon breaks into a posh Manhattan brownstone that houses a research institute, he is captured by two lunatic MDs engaged in research for the tobacco industry. They take his medical history at gunpoint. They also give him a drug that renders him invisible. Freddie uses his invisibility to escape the doctors and to make big scores in diamond and fur heists, but he soon discovers that being invisible is straining his relationship with Peg, his charming significant other. Meanwhile, a hilariously malevolent tobacco tycoon hatches a plan to subvert the Human Genome Project for the good of the tobacco industry. He needs Freddie to implement his plot to "make people safe for tobacco" and employs a chillingly not hilarious rogue cop to find the invisible man. Smoke is deft entertainment, and this reviewer hopes the author is chuckling to himself as he produces the next one.
His latest is full of chuckles for readers: when amiable professional thief Freddie Urban Noon breaks into a posh Manhattan brownstone that houses a research institute, he is captured by two lunatic MDs engaged in research for the tobacco industry. They take his medical history at gunpoint. They also give him a drug that renders him invisible. Freddie uses his invisibility to escape the doctors and to make big scores in diamond and fur heists, but he soon discovers that being invisible is straining his relationship with Peg, his charming significant other. Meanwhile, a hilariously malevolent tobacco tycoon hatches a plan to subvert the Human Genome Project for the good of the tobacco industry. He needs Freddie to implement his plot to "make people safe for tobacco" and employs a chillingly not hilarious rogue cop to find the invisible man. Smoke is deft entertainment, and this reviewer hopes the author is chuckling to himself as he produces the next one.
November 20, 2023
Freddie, a small-time burglar, gets caught in the act by a pair of unethical scientists, so Freddie agrees to take their experimental formula in exchange for not going to jail. Freddie becomes invisible and escapes from the scientists and finds invisibility to be quite the asset in his career but a problem in personal relations. A crooked cop and a crooked lawyer working for a crooked tobacco company cause further complications for Freddie.
This story as just okay, mostly. I really like stories with invisible characters, which brought it up to three stars for me. Otherwise much of this was annoying, in particular Freddie and most of the other characters being selfish egotistical jerks.
This story as just okay, mostly. I really like stories with invisible characters, which brought it up to three stars for me. Otherwise much of this was annoying, in particular Freddie and most of the other characters being selfish egotistical jerks.
June 29, 2025
Another fun one by Westlake...great summer read, nearly 500 pages and it reads like a novella...his knack for humor and charm and knucklehead criminals is uncanny...I don't think anyone dies in this book and that's nice...it has a sweet quality but at times seems claustrophobic, owing to Freddie's "condition" and scenario. Love Westlake's little details about NY - Expressways, bridges, airports, etc. It takes me back. That being said, the book can be dated, referencing things like fax machines and stuff from that time.
If you want mindless fun that sometimes reads as a film treatment, this book is great. It's also an odd love story, something Westlake is also good at.
If you want mindless fun that sometimes reads as a film treatment, this book is great. It's also an odd love story, something Westlake is also good at.
September 24, 2023
I was a bit daunted by the size of this book (Im usually drawn to shorter novels), but thankfully it was a very enjoyable story. Another extremely light and funny book that allows you to just relax and fall into the story. I enjoyed the characters a lot, I think Donald (author) has a way of writing characters that allows you to visualize them well. The story was interesting and held my attention to the end. I recommend for anyone that likes crime / fantasy / experiment gone wrong type of fun reads.
July 20, 2021
Not sure why I didn't give it five stars, but something keeps me from doing that. It was funny, interesting, but very mildly frustrating in an indefinable way. It took over two weeks to read. I sort of wanted to quit a few times, but didn't. Odd novel, for sure. As a "review," this probably isn't helpful. If you read this novel, "your experience may vary."
Read
April 26, 2020I can't believe he's been gone for 12 years. I read this years and years ago, and it made me a fan. One of those books in the bin, and then, magic.
I love a funny mystery, and this delivered.
Wonder where my copy went? I'll bet it's here somewhere....
It's a good time for a reread, perhaps.
I love a funny mystery, and this delivered.
Wonder where my copy went? I'll bet it's here somewhere....
It's a good time for a reread, perhaps.
January 17, 2019
Very funny, as usual.
January 25, 2019
AWESOME-tober-fest 2015. About a thief who is mistakenly turned invisible. It's a bit more comic farce than Memoirs of an Invisible Man. It's good, but not great.
April 15, 2019
A wild read. Very funny and an amazing plot.
December 16, 2019
1.5 stars
Very character-driven, but they were characters I didn’t enjoy
Very character-driven, but they were characters I didn’t enjoy
July 17, 2020
Got this at Wonder Book in December 2018.
July 18, 2021
Another take on the invisible man story. This one is typical Westlake, fun, well-written and even occasionally mysterious.
July 20, 2021
Smoke grabbed me from the first page and wouldn't let go.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews