Good Behavior

Dortmunder #6

by Donald E. Westlake

(6th Title in the Dortmunder series)
John Dortmunder's one of the slyest burglars going. But by God, he has bad luck! While fleeing the police during his latest caper, he falls through the roof of the Silent Sisterhood of St. Filumena -- and tumbles into the lap of trouble. It's an act of God, the sisters exclaim. Only the Creator himself could have sent this criminal just when they need him. Sure, they'll shelter him from the cops. But there's a price: He must help them to retrieve their youngest and newest member from her father's clutches. This promises to get sticky. Dear old dad hates the Sisterhood like the plague. And he happens to have an odd hobby: putting together mercenary armies. Why can't Dortmunder just catch a break?
"Westlake's most entertaining yet." (Publishers Weekly)

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Humor, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook, Comedy

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1986

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

[Tracy P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Good Behavior' is both a suspenseful thriller and a rip roaring satire rolled into on. I was in stitches throughout as Dortmunder takes on yet another wild and crazy case. This time it is very personal for him because he has a debt to pay. Previously he attempted to commit a heist at convent and ended up falling and breaking his ankle in the process. Instead of turning him in, the nuns forgave him and helped him on his way.

Now, one of those nuns has an extremely wealthy father who is determined to get her to leave the convent because he thinks she is better suited for running one of his multiple enterprises. He goes so far as having some of his goons kidnap her while she is out doing the grocery shopping for the convent. Needless to say, when Dortmunder learns of what has happened to his beloved new friend he immediately springs into action to rescue her. What ensues had me both in stitches and riveted by the suspense.

Dortmuder may be different in personality from Parker of the Parker series, however, (imho) he is definitely just as entertaining - equally exciting, resourceful, intriguing and full of clever quips. Highly recommend. Donald E. Westlake (A.K.A. Richard Stark) is one of my favorite authors of all time - a genuine unmatched anomaly.

Narrator Brian Holsopple keeps perfect pacing and never misses a beat is delivering the nonstop and very clever dry humor. Listening brings it to life in a way reading alone could not for me personally.

[Kemper · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a couple of weeks of expensive home repairs, tornado sirens regularly wailing in the background and reading Emma Donoghue’s excellent but ultra-depressing Room, I really needed a laugh. Fortunately, I had a Donald Westlake Dortmunder novel I hadn’t read yet mounted in a glass box on the wall with a sign that read: BREAK GLASS IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY NEED FOR CHUCKLES And once again, Westlake came through for me.

Sad-sack thief John Dortmunder is fleeing across New York rooftops from a botched robbery when he ends up in a convent full of nuns who have taken a vow of silence. John is shocked that the nuns hide him from the cops, and he is told (via notes) that one of their own, Sister Mary Grace, was kidnapped by her rich and powerful father who is holding her in a high-security penthouse while he tries to have her ’deprogrammed’ to forget about her vows. The nuns want John to break into the building where she’s being held and free Sister Mary Grace.

Not only does Dortmunder have to try and find a way to get a crew interested in a non-profit breaking-and-entering at a highly secured building, he’ll also have to deal with a horny ex-con, a former porno star running mail order scams, and a small army of mercenaries that Sister Mary Grace’s father is housing at the building while they get ready to overthrow a third world country on his behalf. If that isn’t enough, Dortmunder is also being sued by the backer of the original robbery that went wrong for the return of the front money. Can Dortmunder rescue the nun and find a way to steal some loot along the way?

Reading a Dortmunder book after checking out the recently released Parker reprints (Written by Westlake under the name Richard Stark.) was interesting because I noticed a lot of similarities between the two professional thieves. Both are the brains of their operations that have to come up with elaborate plans to carry out their jobs, and both have to put up with annoying people to get the job done, although Parker tends to leave his irritations in a shallow grave while Dortmunder grits his teeth and endures. They also share a desire to just get the money and get back to their girlfriends, but Dortmunder’s idea of bliss is having a beer and watching TV with May in their apartment while Parker likes to travel and live in resort hotels with Claire.

It’s intriguing to see how Westlake could take characters who share a profession and many traits and then watch him turn one into the cold blooded anti-hero of crime novels and then play the other for laughs as a gloomy thief with incredibly bad luck.

If you’re looking for something fast and funny with criminal flavor, you can’t do much better than Dortmunder.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a big fan of Mr. Westlake's noirish "Parker" series he writes under the Richard Stark pseudonym for years. I've been meaning to try his Dortmunder series, so I took the plunge with reading Good Behavior. John Dortmunder and his motley crew are professional thieves who this time get mixed up in a far-fetched caper with an order of nuns who've taken a vow of silence. The results are entertaining, diverting, and quite funny. Tiny is my favorite of Dortmunder's crew. When I'm in the mood for an amusing, lighthearted read, I've now discovered a new series I can turn to.

[Susan Chapek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, book, you are brilliant, beautiful, and funny. Are there any more like you at home?

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect read for these troubled times, honestly.

This is an especially fun Dortmunder installment (that loses that fifth star only because there are a few plot threads that seem to bob up and then disappear without garnering enough laughs first). When one of poor Dortmunder's attempted robberies is interrupted by the police, he makes a sort-of escape that, with his luck, involves him winding up dangling from the rafters in the roof of a convent, full of nuns who have taken a vow of silence--necessitating enthusiastic charades--and who, as it turns out, have a problem that, wouldn't you know it, could use a good burglar. Which Dortmunder undoubtedly is, despite his usual run of luck. Before you know it, Dortmunder is a slightly woebegone, disreputable knight assigned to rescue a maiden from a tower.

Elaine--a.k.a. Sister Mary Grace--is a young nun from an extremely wealthy, extremely powerful tycoon family; her father didn't take kindly to her falling so far from the tree, and he's kidnapped her in an effort to have her "deprogrammed" from her religious convictions so that she'll marry a rich man and help support his empire, as was originally planned. Sister Mary Grace is having none of it, and now, via a passed message, she knows that Dortmunder is coming to her rescue... a rescue that will have its supporting cast funded by a series of robberies of the other businesses in the tower.

What follows is a mostly-frothy delight, a kind of reverse-Die Hard with added nuns, armed mercenaries, and the awesomely shrewd J.C. Taylor, who owns the mail-order business Dortmunder and the guys use as their temporary office. Extremely fun, as always, and I might just bury myself in Dortmunder novels for a while.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise and set up are fine, but the third act is wacky, and not in a good, structured Marx brothers way - more in a 'the editor dropped the pages on deadline, didn't find them all, and put them together wrong' way.

[Larissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, fluffy, maybe over-long, but a great conceit and good-humored. It reads like the treatment for a movie, which is actually kind of nice.

[Tim Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dortmunder is back and this time the theft caper is secondary to an act of mercy. John Dortmunder narrowly escapes the police during a burglary gone wrong. But his escape leaves him with a badly banged up ankle and in the hands of an order of nuns who have taken a vow of silence. Hoping to avoid being turned in to the police Dortmunder agrees to use his skills to rescue a young member of the order who has been kidnapped by her millionaire industrialist father and is locked away in the penthouse of a skyscraper with state of the art security and a private army on the premises. Dortmunder could certainly go back on his promise, but there's some honor in this thief, so he works out a way to get Kelp, Stan March, Tiny Blucher and a new lock man to help...and still get paid.

This was an up and down ride. I was definitely there in the first half, but then the book slowed down and took some turns I didn't love. But Westlake nailed the landing and overall I would say it's one of the better Dortmunder books. It's nice to see some good come out of John's shenanigans. And it's always good to see someone stick it to the rich folk. And who knows...maybe St. Dismas was looking after our sad-sack protagonist. Because he came out of this one a-ok.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dortmunder falls into a convent full of silent nuns who, despite just about everything about him, see him as a Godsend, just the man they need to rescue their sister, kidnapped by her obscenely wealthy father and held for deprogramming on the top floor of a Manhattan skyscraper. This is not the sort of thing John does. It's not even the sort of thing John approves of, but he hatches a scheme and puts together a string and before you know it there's burgling and rescuing going on and everything might even work out for the best. Except the obscenely rich father is planning a coup in a South American country and figures the floor below the top floor is as good a place as any to keep his mercenary army for the weekend before flying them out. And that's what Dortmunder's got to get through to get to the nun and then back down through again to get her out, and soon the nun's rescuing John and everyone's rescuing each other and there's mercenaries and security guards and cops everywhere and a ton of loot and one nun and Dortmunder and pals all wondering who's going to rescue them.

All-time classic comedy crime caper. You cannot do better for lifting rainy-day blues.

[Susan Katz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Dortmunder, period. Who could resist a man with hair-colored hair and the world's most unstoppable bad luck? But in this book Westlake outdoes himself, landing Dortmunder in a convent of silent nuns, where his first act is to play a game of charades designed to inform him that they've taken a vow of silence. Seeking words that rhyme with pow, he runs through bow, cow, dow, fow (though the look on their faces when he says fow make him skip gow). When communications are established, he finds out that the nuns need his help in rescuing their Sister Mary Grace, who's been kidnapped by her own father and is a prisoner on the 76th floor of a building he owns. With the help of his friends and a shady mail-order business, Dortmunder finds his way to the kidnapped nun just in time for her to rescue him from a small army of mercenaries on their way to overthrow a South American government. Not a dull moment, not a page without a smile.

[Zora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was/am a big fan of the Dortmunder series, but this one holds a special place in my heart because it contains one of Westlake's funniest scenes ever: Dortmunder stuck in a meeting of mercenary soldiers. If I'm ever in a bad mood, I only need remember poor John trying to curse like a merc and I'm cheered immediately.

It should be added, at this late date, that the evil corporate guy who kidnaps his own daughter to keep her from being a nun and tries to reprogram her, is funding an anti-democracy military action in South America, has a wife in rehab more than at home, and one very stupid yes-man son is clearly based on Fred Trump. So I suppose now it's historically significant.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sixth entry in the adorable Dortmunder series. Featuring the usual characters in Dortmunder’s gang, the plot is of less importance than the zany antics that said characters display in pursuit of their objectives. Namely, rescuing the daughter of a rich, controlling business tycoon from his ultra secure penthouse atop his ultra secure skyscraper in Manhattan.

The young lady has joined a nun’s order and taken a vow of silence, which only complicates things further. Of course, John Dortmunder has to enlist the assistance of his cronies, but needs an incentive for their participation. And so, a very clever plan to liberate not only the daughter, but several stores’ goods that happen to be located within the same skyscraper is hatched.

There’s a few side stories as well and, all in all, this is a fun romp. The only thing about which I might complain is that the story sort of becomes sidetracked about two thirds of the way through and loses momentum. But Westlake certainly knew how to spin a yarn, so in general, it is a success. Fans will absolutely want to include it in their reading.

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still funny.

Man, I love the Dortmunder novels. They still make me laugh often. These days, I do not ask for more from a book. So satisfying.

[Noah Goats · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Westlake. This crime novel is fun and funny with great dialogue and hilariously goofy lowlife characters. I listened to the audiobook version of it on a long road trip and it made the miles fly by. The narrator really brought the novel’s comic aspects to life.

[Cindy B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid 3-1/2 stars for being so amusing and keeping my interest. Narration was fun and clear.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dortmuder gang pull off a good deed.

[Nan Silvernail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dortmunder rises to new heights!
...to be accurate, he rises to the 76th floor of a skyscraper... to rescue a nun?!
All true. But, he'll need a crew and they'll want their palms all crossed with more than 30 pieces of silver.
Westlake pulls another fantastic heist out of his hat again.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dortmunders are good, this is no exception. Extremely quick read, pretty funny, clever plot.

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Behavior I had one of those commuter days where I had to change trains a lot in order to get to Chicago’s McCormick Place in order to meet a friend. Knowing I was going to spend a large part of my day on trains, I took Good Behavior with me. I finished it on my way home that night. That means it read relatively quickly. It’s a fast-moving story with, to me, familiar characters and familiar elements.

That isn’t to say that this book which is almost Dortmunder meets Mission: Impossible meets The Flying Nun is as predictable as most books featuring John Dortmunder, master criminal who can’t quite master Murphy’s Law. By the way, there is no Sister Bertrille in this book, but there is a young nun who is quite resolute and serves as the macguffin for this story. It seems this young nun has been kidnapped by her family and her wealthy father is attempting to deprogram her faith. Now, that’s bizarre enough, but what about the fact that her order has taken a vow of silence such that they may only speak aloud for two hours on Thursday afternoons? How on earth will Dortmunder communicate with them and, at one point in the plot, how do silent nuns pretend to be a vocal choir?

As usual, much of the book is spent with John Dortmunder figuring out how to work a plan, recruit the right people, and implement the plan. This time, the challenge seems even harder than in most of the capers I’ve read and, at first, the recruitment seems impossible. The cast of this “job” is full of familiar faces, but there is a hilarious ex-con that threatens to gum up the works from the very start. I found myself holding my breath every time this fellow talked to anyone (especially women) much less engaged in his specialty (he was the alarm guy).

Some writers use a “deus ex machine” to salvage a plot and get their protagonists out of trouble. Westlake uses a genius at muck-it-up to get his protagonists into trouble. Coincidences rarely benefit our “heroes” and Good Behavior is one of those books where the “coincidence” is heavily armed and dangerous. Imagine walking into a meeting of Pyromaniacs Anonymous where the attendees are not quite cured and you get what I mean. That isn’t exactly what Dortmunder wanders into, but you get the general picture.

There is an old saying that no good deed goes unpunished. In this case, Dortmunder doesn’t get away with all the loot he’s expecting (and that’s no surprise because Dortmunder always loses the loot or a big hunk of it in every novel—Westlake apparently doesn’t want crime to pay too well), but it’s probably the first time he’s inadvertently given to charity. Does he get away with anything? That’s for readers to find out. As always, you find yourself wondering if things aren’t going too well in the novels of this series and find yourself too disappointed if they are.

Good Behavior reads so fast and is so entertaining it’s like (I’m sorry, you can see it coming, can’t you?) getting time off for Good Behavior. Don’t worry. The novel is much better than my lousy pun. Then again, what isn’t?

[Jason Reeser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might be one of the best Dortmunder books that Westlake has given us. There are the usual fun antics as well as dire straits for our depressed sort-of-hero John Dortmunder. However, the straits are not as dire as they get in other books, which I was glad to see. I get a little tired of the exaggerated bad luck that Dortmunder and his crew run into. What I enjoy is the seemingly pedestrian bad luck that pesters them. I think this is one of the better stories for the character Andy Kelp. He is quite likable here, and he just seemed better fleshed out in this one than in some of the others.

The plot, involving a kidnapped nun, is lots of fun, and the introduction of a mercenary army not only works well, but it provides for some very interesting, wild adventures. If you've never read one of Donald Westlake's "John Dortmunder" books, this is not a bad one to start with. This book gets four stars for good behavior.

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a huge fan of Westlake’s books featuring hapless burglar John Dortmunder, but this one is special. Thieves, nuns (silent nuns, no less), a Trump-esque evil businessman, a cult deprogrammer, and a private army of mercenaries combine with an insane plot to rescue a kidnapped novice nun to make one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.

[Serena.. Sery-ously? · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Mancò la fortuna, non il valore"

Dortmunder ha un piano assolutamente GENIALE per arricchirsi (e far pace con la sua coscienza, rappresentata da May :D), niente può andar storto.
Peccato (per lui) che lo faccia e che intervengano i più disparati fattori, as usual. Tanto meglio per il lettore che ride dall'inizio alla fine!!!!!

Grazie Westlake ♥

[James Reyome · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do you pick from what is your (suddenly!) favorite book series? Well, you don't.

Seriously. It's silly. I've probably mentioned this in previously posted reviews but I am a latecomer to the Dortmunder party. "The Hot Rock" is a flawed movie, but it is fun, and it's of course based on the Westlake novel which began this series of books about what are either the unluckiest or most inept robbers in history. This title goes a bit further though...Dortmunder is actually CAUGHT in this one. Well, kind of. He actually falls off a roof whilst evading the police and through the ceiling of a convent, which leads to his being asked to rescue a nun from her scheming father. And by "father" I mean the biological kind, not the religious kind. Said nun is being held, like Rapunzel, in a tower. John D agrees to the task of retrieving the Sister. He's not exactly in a position to refuse once the ever-faithful May insists he help.

Dortmunder recruits the expected gang: Andy Kelp, Tiny Bulcher, and Stan Murch, along with an electronic expert, Wilbur Howey, recently freed from prison and perpetually horny. Now, a nun rescue is not exactly their forte, but burglary is, and there's a LOT of floors full of goodies between them and the Bride of Christ, so Dortmunder gets a plan together and off we go. What no one is aware of, though, is that the Sister's father (again, the biological one) is planning a coup in a South American country, which he is about to launch from the building...

Chaos ensues.

Naturally. This IS a Dortmunder story, after all.

Toss in a gorgeous woman running a multifaceted business in the same building who is willing to go in on this scheme, and you've got a hugely entertaining read. Like everything else I've ever read by Westlake. Brilliant. The best of Dortmunder? Maybe, maybe not. But then I am only six stories deep into this, and there's so much left to go. Dig in, chow down, and be as baffled as I am that these have never been made into a wildly successful film franchise.

[Alfonso D'agostino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dopo le emozioni, variamente distribuite nella scala del dolore letterario ma comunque provanti, derivanti dalle letture di Covacich e Tomizza, mi ci voleva un attimo di pausa. Dortmunder , lo sfortunato criminale nato dalla penna geniale di Donald E. Westlake, si adatta perfettamente allo scopo, e mi premuro sempre di averne almeno un paio pronti sullo scaffale nonostante la difficoltà di reperimento (ComproVendoLibri Santo Subito!).

L’avventura di “E bravo Dortmunder” nasce, ma guarda un po’, da una rapina finita male che costringe il nostro protagonista ad una fuga sui tetti newyorkesi, con conseguente caduta in un convento e in mezzo ad un gruppo esterrefatto di suore di clausura: dare spiegazioni non è semplice, anche perché le suore seguono uno strettissimo voto del silenzio (interrotto solo per due ore alla settimana) ed il dialogo non può che avvenire attraverso una complicata gestualità ricca di richiami biblici.

Nasce così, e dalla riconoscenza di Dortmunder per la mancata denuncia alla polizia da parte del corpo ecclesiastico, la necessità per l’improbabile banda raccolta dal protagonista di assaltare il grattacielo più protetto della città, costruito e occupato dal più classico dei cattivoni multimiliardari che, tra l’organizzazione di un colpo di stato e altre frivolezze, ha rapito la figlia fattasi suora dal convento per riportarla (imprigionata all’ultimo piano) a casa.

E, alla fine, non importa chi salverà chi, se e come Dortmunder riuscirà a rimanere lontano dalla prigione e se la banda di suoi sodali si sarà arricchita o meno di un altro paio di indimenticabili personaggi: importa solo che ti sei regalato qualche ora di piacevolissima lettura, che hai ceduto a due o tre risate sguaiate, e che ti sei aggiudicato un paio di ricerche sul web per mettere le mani sui prossimi.

[William Nist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Often amusing, but sometimes just silly...this John Dortmunder novel chronicles a caper that began will an ill-timed caviar theft that landed Dorty in a convent of cloistered nuns, who had recently experienced a kidnapping from their ranks...by the father of one of the nuns. They rescued him, and then he owed them a big favor.

Dortmunder and his gang of "Keystone" robbers attempt a rescue of the missing nun, but with some additional goodies. The captive nun improbably smuggled to them the security wiring of the 77 story building she was being held in. The guys took the opportunity to rob a whole floor full of wholesalers goods.

Little did they know, that a mercenary army was training in the building on the day of the robbery and rescue, and Dorty had to hide inside a dishwasher to escape their capture and a police search.

Trapped inside, Dorts rescue involved a choir of lip singing nuns, diverting attention from the booty that the gang had robbed, wrapped, and were ready to cleverly FedEx out of the Tower. Amazingly all escaped and the goods left the building, although some went to some guerrilla fighters who were trying to take my their island nation (and were a favorite cause of the captured nun). Whew.

[William Leight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid entry in the series. This time, Dortmunder is recruited by an order of nuns, who want him to rescue the youngest member of their order, currently being held prisoner by her filthy-rich father. It's not really up Dortmunder's alley, but he owes the nuns for hiding him from the cops, and he manages to combine it with a heist so as to get the usual gang involved. In addition to Kelp, Stan, and Tiny, we meet JC, a new running character who becomes, improbably enough, Tiny's girlfriend. Plus, there are some hilarious set-pieces in the last third, as Dortmunder's attempted liberation of Sister Mary Grace runs into her father's recruitment of a small mercenary army for a Central American adventure (the book is from the mid-'80s). The depiction of the father gives the book a tinge of political satire that makes up for the fact that the nuns are kind of cliched: otherwise, it's as clever and amusing as I've grown to expect the Dortmunder books to be.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dortmunder is a brilliant and talented thief, and he has a great if oddball team to back him up. But he has the worst luck and things always go wrong for him. This is a hilarious series, with ups and downs but this is one of the good ones.

When a job goes bad, Dortmunder finds himself among nuns, who make him a deal: they'll stay quiet about him running from the cops... if he does a job for them: rescue one of their number from her father. It seems daddy doesn't care for his daughter's life choices and is trying to use conversion therapy to stop her from loving Jesus.

Things are more complicated than Dortmunder was ready for but the plucky nun is helping from the inside and, well... you gotta read it to see how things turn out.

And they never turn out right for Dortmunder, the unluckiest thief on earth. So wait til you get a load of the surprise ending.

[Glenn Richard]

"You can work with me anytime, Toots."

May rolled her eyes for Dortmund's benefit and left the living room. On her way by Howey, he gave her a friendly pat on the behind and cackled. She stopped, turned, and pointed a finger at him, saying, "If you do that again, you'll be very sorry."

"Just here to have a good time, Toots," Howey said, and clicked his heels.

"Brother," May commented, and left the room.

Tiny said, "You're embarrassing me, Wilbur. If I didn't need your fingers, I'd put them in your nose. Sit down and be good."

"You bet," Howey said, and settled on the only uncomfortable wooden chair in the room. He sat there, very upright, feet dancing, fingers playing piano arpeggios on his knees, and grinned and winked in very directions.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because of their comic nature, you always expect Dortmunder capers to only just barely be successful. This would be a good stopping point for the series, if that were the goal, but it's not, so there will be more ineptitude and miscommunication and sighing for our long suffering hero.

One of the more enjoyable ones (because of the success of the caper ultimately?), Westlake puts John through the ringer this time in more horrid ways that previous novels, replete with Biblical allusions since the heist this time, at least the primary heist, is of a nun, kidnapped by her tycoon father. Yes, John Dortmunder is on the side of the angels in this fun caper, and he's going to regret it.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another entertaining addition to the Dortmunder series. This one has more than usual about one of Dortmunder's band of merry men--"Tiny" Bulcher, who is so big he has to go through doors sideways, has "a face like the radiator of a 1933 Ford and two clenched fists like angry basketballs." Even his friends are afraid of him, with only one exception, J.C. Taylor, a very remarkable woman who tells him at one point to "Gentle down, Big Fella," and then when she finds out that he plans to make off with the loot and abandon Dortmunder to the bad guys: "Slowly she looked him up and down, 'So that's why they call you Tiny.'" Needless to say, Dortmunder gets the help he desperately needs.