Rating: 
Summary: I am sorry I read it!
Review: Well written, but EXCEEDINGLY UNPLEASENT! I was surely not expecting it to end like that! I am sorry that I read this book. It has extremely disturbing images related in a casual, flippant manner. Indeed, Westlake seems to be more or less advocating MURDER as a means of advancing one's career, maintaining one's lifestyle. Or, as he puts it, "the end justifies the means".
Rating: 
Summary: Sure beats "What Color Is My Parachute"!
Review: Except for Grafton's "alphabet" series and Joe Gores's D.K.A. novels, I'm not an especially devoted reader of mysteries. I've read a few of Westlake's decidedly odd yarns in the past, though, so I decided to believe the rave reviews of this one. And I'm glad I did, because it's terrific. Burke Devore is a decent guy, a 50-year-old middle manager in charge of a specialized assembly line at a paper mill in Connecticut, who gets (as he puts it) "chopped" by the latest round of downsizing and consolidation in his industry. There are a lot of guys with his job description out of work all at once. And he knows that, although he's very good at his job, he's not the best available. After two years of belt-tightening unemployment, of job interviews followed by nothing but silence, Burke is coming to the end of his rope. Then, while keeping up with the comings and goings in his field -- can't let your industry leave you behind, you know! -- he reads an intereview with another manager in another mill nearby, and he knows *that's* the job he wants, the job he *should* have, the job he's entitled to in order to take care of his family. But what to do about all those other unemployed managers? What about the competition? How can he make sure *he* is the best available candidate when "his" job opens up? Well, he's a manager, right? He can manage this. All the time I was reading this ghastly, funny, satirical, terrifying, and very entertaining book, I was thinking what a first-rate movie it could be. I'd pick John Lithgow for the role of Burke.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant and Harrowing
Review: We've been deluged in recent years by books and movies about serial killers that make various attempts to explain their horrific crimes. The causes often lie on terrible childhood abuse. But what if someone committed a series of murders because he was desperate for a job?That's right, Burke Devore in Donald Westlake's chilling and suspenseful new novel becomes a killer because he's out of a job. A middle manager for years at a paper mill, he's been downsized, and as his insurance and unemployment run out, he and his family sink into increasing fear and despair. His wife works two lousy part-time jobs, his son takes to burglary and is arrested. And Burton just can't get hired in his field. It wasn't supposed to be like that. After all, as he puts it so trenchantly, he's middle class, and so, unlike the poor or the very rich, isn't used "to the idea that life has great swings" of fortune. Instead, "the middle class is used to a smooth progress through life." If you give up the highs, you're supposed to be protected from the lows. Like your company dumping you after years of loyal and productive service--and then offering to retrain you as an air conditioning repairman. Now, who'd bother hiring a man over 50 with a few months of training over someone younger who really wanted to do that job? Fully aware of the surplus of middle managers in his own field, and with more of them "chasing fewer and fewer jobs," Devore craftily finds out who his toughest competition is. And after narrowing the list down to those in his New England region or New York, sets out to kill each one so that the next time a plum job comes up in his area, he'll go to the top of the list. It's an audacious, brutal, and crazy scheme, and Westlake's great gift is drawing you into the domestic and professional tragedy of Devore's life so well that you become weirdly complicit in his quiet rage. You don't want Devore to kill anyone, yet you don't want him to get caught by the police. This disturbing tension propels the book forward over the few gaps. While Devore's relationship with his wife is fully realized, his connection with his two children is less so. And in the brief moments when the tension lets up in this harrowing novel, you may wonder a little about Devore's past. Downsizing, as Devore points out, has to be one of the stupidest business ideas in this century: "trashing productive people from productive careers in productive companies." Taut and creepy, THE AX brings newspaper headlines about downsizing to life in a way only as richly experienced a writer as Donald Westlake can do. It's no surprise, then, that in 1993, the Mystery Writers of America named this author of 40 books a Grand Master.
Rating:
Summary: chilling thriller!
Review: This is a very unsetteling book that I could not stop reading. this is the story of man who has a plan to eliminate the competition for a Job he applying for, and when I say eliminate I mean Murder! Sounds simple, and it is but the author makes it horrifingly real. Good writing with a good story. Also check out "A Tourist in the Yucatan" interesting mystery /thriller
Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: This mystery is distinguished by its unusual plot: an out-of work paper executive decides to murder his way back into a job. Unlike most first-person villans, the narrator is almost sympathetic. There isn't a lot of suspense, as a result, but the book is well-written and a pleasure to read. And it makes you think.
Rating:
Summary: A total hoot! You'll root for this zany murderer!
Review: I read this book in one sitting. Westlake does such a masterfuljob of making you understand this twisted guy's motivation, you'llactually find yourself rooting for this serial killer not to get caught. Couldn't put it down, and share it with all my friends and family. A wonderful change of pace.
Rating:
Summary: Dark an realistic thriller with great ending.
Review: Interesting, disturbing and realistic book, about a man downsized out of his job who winds up doing some disturbing things in order to find the job of his dreams. I really got hooked onto this book, from it's first person point of view, the detail that he goes through not only to commit his acts but to conceal them. I also like the fact that the narrator wasn't a total monster. He's written as a man normal man who only has this alternative. He also makes you actually have some empathy for the narrator, which makes this book all the more disturbing. I found myself actually wanting him to get the job. And the ending was the best, I really didn't suspect it would end in such a dark way but I still loved it. Recommended but not for the recently axed
Rating:
Summary: Very Compelling
Review: The Ax is not a very likable book. But that said, you won't be able to put it down. Thank goodness, it can easily be read in one sitting. The story begins as Burke Devore, laid off paper mill, middle manager, completes a plan to get a new job. He's been out of work for over a year and though he's been on many interviews, has not gotten a new position. After analyzing why this has happened, he concocts a way to eliminate the competition for a very specific job and puts his plan into motion. This is a terrifying novel, told by the main character that will leave you on the edge of your seat. The writing is compact, gritty and true to life. There's not a spare word in the story. And, Burke Devore is so well drawn and developed, you believe he might live right next door to you. A good novel that has the one element that makes a suspense thriller great...it's plausible. Read The Ax, you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Delightfully dark!
Review: Westlake's ingenious plot of a downsized executive's attempts to reenter the industry is underscored with the macabre. The protagonist, Burke Devore, makes a dalliance with death, as he literally kills of the competition for a position in industrial paper sales. Westlake's novel couldn't be more disturbingly apropos, with hundreds of organizations laying off thousands of workers. His everyman protagonist struggles to find a job, but realizes, after collecting his competitors' resumes through a bogus help-wanted ad, that he doesn't have what it takes professionally. The reader can't help but be moved by his strife, and that's when the twist comes in. Devore decides to kill the top seven competitors, and he has all he needs: names and home addresses from the resumes. Westlake maintains the everyman in Devore as he becomes a murderer. His character is sickened by the first killing, but gains confidence with each murder. Occasional comic mishaps and brushes with law enforcement caused me to turn each page with giddy anticipation, both anxious and afraid to see if Devore would succeed or be caught. Westlake's writing is direct and clear, and his ending dovetails nicely with the rest of the novel. It's a short one, yet enjoyable, even if you're not into dark comedy.
Rating:
Summary: Truer than you think...
Review: If you think Donald Westlake's "The Ax" is pure fiction, think again. Last year the Bank of America eliminated 19,000 jobs (more than ten percent of its workforce) while at the same time paying its top three executives (Hugh McColl, Kenneth Lewis, and James Hance) compensation packages worth $76 million, $44 million, and $44 million, respectively. That's $164 million to just three employees! The next sound you hear may just be the scrape of a whetstone across the blade of an ax. Wait! Make that 19,000 axes!
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