Rating: 
Summary: Don't Keep a Lid on the Secret that is Westlake
Review: This mightn't be Westlake's greatest literacy achievement but it is still pretty good. Meehan a career criminal who has spent much time behind bars hijacked a federal truck mistaking it for something else. He now faces a lifetime in a federal facility and does not look forward to it. One day a man comes to visit him telling him he is his new lawyer. Meehan sees straight through him but this does not matter he is still recruited. This man and others want Meehan to commit a crime to save the president of the USA from a scandal and if he does he will be a free man. This is an interesting book although not Westlake's best. That title would by far go to his masterpiece the Ax. Corkscrew is another good novel as well. This one is worth reading as well but it is not in the masterpiece league of the Ax.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful summer week-end read
Review: Weary of torturous plots that didn't make sense that I've been suffering through because they were "highly recommended" by people with "reputations", I reached for and started reading "Put a Lid On It" by Donald Westlake who wrote the dark "The Ax" and "The Hook". Every word of this comic caper was a joy including the dedication. I won't give you the plot (it's readily available). But let me tell you no plot summary can tell you the subtle ironic messages about our presidential election process I found in this crime caper. The ending is funny and touching. Don't miss this.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful summer week-end read
Review: Weary of torturous plots that didn't make sense that I've been suffering through because they were "highly recommended" by people with "reputations", I reached for and started reading "Put a Lid On It" by Donald Westlake who wrote the dark "The Ax" and "The Hook". Every word of this comic caper was a joy including the dedication. I won't give you the plot (it's readily available). But let me tell you no plot summary can tell you the subtle ironic messages about our presidential election process I found in this crime caper. The ending is funny and touching. Don't miss this.
Rating: 
Summary: Francis Meehan, Recidivist
Review: Westlake is a master of both the comic crime novel and the caper story, and here he combines both to great effect. Francis Xavier Meehan (known always as "Meehan") is a felon and a recidivist. ("That's what they'll put on my tombstone, 'Francis Meehan, Recidivist'.") He's also very bright and an autodidact, mostly because there's lots of time to read in jail. This time, he's awaiting federal changes for having highjacked a truck he didn't know was carrying the U.S. Mail, and he's definitely not looking forward to federal time. So he's cautiously interested when a politician from the president's reelection campaign committee comes to see him about engaging his professional burglary skills to recover a "package" that could damage the president's chances and which is presently in the possession of the Other Side. The problem is, as Meehan lays his plans and tries to set up a team to do the job, nobody in Washington can keep their mouths shut. Jeffords, the political contact, is a hoot. Goldfarb, Meehan's lawyer, is another one. And Meehan himself is a trove of highly quotable dialogue and observations, espeically when it comes to the Ten Thousand Rules. Like many (perhaps most) of Westlake's yarns, this would make a pretty good film, too.
Rating:
Summary: PROFESSIONAL THIEF vs. POLITICAL CROOKS
Review: Westlake is up against the real crooks this time as he takes on the spindoctors, dirty tricks and honorable candidates of our national political scene. And you know he's going to win in the end by poking fun "RIGHT" and "LEFT!" Francis Xavier Meehan is a thief. He's also sitting in jail getting ready to be found guilty of "big time" federal charges because the ordinary truck he helped hijack wasn't full of the expected computer stuff from Mexico, but U.S. Postal Service mail. Then out of the blue a very non-lawyerly person claiming to be his lawyer shows up at the jail to see him and makes him a deal that he can't refuse. It seems as if the president, who is running for re-election has committed a slight political blunder, which just happens to be detailed on a video tape the opposition is going to release as a last minute dirty trick that will blow the election. So Meehan agrees to the offer which is to steal the tape and watch the federal charges disappear. So, do you really expect a bunch of politicians to ever do anything right - especially in a Westlake comedy of errors? Before long everyone from the opposition to international espionage agents know that something is brewing with Francis Xavier. There's no "little blue dress" in this political farce, but expect to see just about everything else. Westlake has returned to his classic comic crime style for this one and created a whole new cast of enjoyable characters that really deserve a second visit. Hint. Hint. This one has my total recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: Who Are The Real Crooks?
Review: Westlake writes a clever crime novel about a career burgler hired by the President's re-election campaign staff to prevent an 'October Surprise'. Our protagonist agrees to sign on, on the condition that his past be wiped clean, and that he be allowed to clear out a collection of antique guns as part of the deal. By the end of this brief yet satisfying yarn, readers will be left to ponder who the real crooks in this tale are. May Mr. Westlake live many more years, so that we can savor more or the same. He is truly one of the true legends of American fiction for the past four decades or so.
Rating: 
Summary: Throw it away
Review: Wow, talk about a poorly written book, this is it.Dismal plot,sentences structure like a 10 year old,honest.I could only read 40 pages or so before quitting, and I love this genre. Sounded more like a punk little kid trying to talk tough and failing.There are lots of better mysteries out there.
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