Rating: 
Summary: Don't Downsize This Book!
Review: Burke Devore is an average kind of guy; someone you might know from the car pool or the PTA. He was a paper company manager for twenty-five years before he was laid-off. Now he's been out of work for two years and he's desperate. He's losing his wife, his family, maybe even his sanity. He just wants his life back. And, as the copywriters love to say, he will do anything to get it.
Westlake has written a nearly-perfect novel with The Ax. It's hard to find much to fault with it--at least, once you get past the rather distasteful premise. Good authors shouldn't be restricted to only pleasant plots, however, and Westlake has done a number with a really nasty one.
The Ax is a fine read and comes most highly recommended
Rating: 
Summary: A Dark and Entertaining Read
Review: Loved it! It's refreshing to read something that doesn't have your neat and tidy typical ending
Rating: 
Summary: Leave it on the shelf
Review: Not the Westlake I've come to know. One of the most distubing books I've ever read. What this society does not need is a primer on murder, how to do it, and how to rationalize it. Can't we outgrow this everybody's-a-vicitm-and thereford-not-responsible attitude? Don't waste your time on this one
Rating:
Summary: Un livre noir
Review: If you like film noir and have the penchant for black humor, you will love this book. To actually eliminate competition is every downsized employee's dream. The reason for the "8" rating is that there could have been more character development, and the book could easily have been longer. You finish the book wishing you had more fun reading! Bet
Rating:
Summary: not as good as the hype but enjoyable
Review: It was fun to read, no question, but it is not one of the best books of the year as the full-page hype ads in the New York Times proclaimed. There were laugh-out-loud pieces of it and westlake is a marvelous writer but it wasn't anything more serious than a tidy little romp into the psychotic world of downsizing. fun., but he should have killed the corporate bosses instead of the poor saps competing for a new jo
Rating:
Summary: Definitely worthwhile
Review: Great read. We know Devore's a killer, but we know we are supposed to sympathize with him, this leads to a great deal of suspense that you don't normally get in a crime book. After all, how many books like this do you read where the hero cop DOESN'T triumph in the end. No suspense there. And speaking of long-winded and bone-headed reviews, notice how Meltzer gives us a zillion words on what he likes about REVIEWS, not books, or even this book in particular
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and surprisingly funny
Review: When I read a book review of a novel, I look for two essential ingredients: First, does the review say what the reviewer thought of the book?
This may be seem fairly basic and obvious, but I'm
always amazed at how many reviewers are so concerned about showing off their own erudition
and familiarity with the subject matter that they
never get around to giving the book a "grade" or
an equivalent.) Second, I want a general sense of
what the book is about. No MORE than than a general sense. I don't mind knowing what happens
in the first few pages but I don't want to hear
about the first 3/4 of the book, much less the
whole thing. Many reviewers seem to think that as long as they
haven't given away the very last page, then they
haven't taken away the enjoyment of the book.
Admittedly, the job of explaining enough so that
the reader knows what the book is about, but not
going too far, can be a tricky line to draw.
Why do I mention all this here? Because a number
of reviews of this book (like the long-winded and
bone-headed review by Rick.Lynch) spoil the
book by informing the reader how many people the
protagonist successfully kills along the way. Thus I couldn't get that out of my mind the whole
way. I don't mind knowing that he tries to kill
people or even how many are on his "hit list"--but
I DON'T want to know whether he succeeds or not.
Having said that, I thought the book was great
and I am surprised at how many of the reviewers
seemed to ignore what I thought was a
wonderful comic element in the book (albeit
somewhat macabre. While having an appreciation for
Westlake's deeper messages of the societal effects
of downsizing, I found myself laughing aloud at least a dozen times
during this book, which I don't do often.
Rating:
Summary: THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE REVIEW IMMEDIATELY BELOW
Review: THE REVIEW IMMEDIATELY BELOW WAS CUT OFF IN MID-SENTENCE. IT CONTINUES HERE.
increase profits by releasing 10 people why shouldn't I do it? What, do I owe these people welfare? Should I augment their standard of living at my expense? Come to think of it, why don't they spontaneously decide to take a reduced salary and send ME money? Question, why does Devore think it's okay to increase HIS profits by putting a 9mm Parabellum slug through one man's eye, and crushing the skull of another with a hammer, yet thinks it is despicable for a CEO to increase the profits of thousands simply by laying people off? Sorry for the preaching, but Westlake did so much himself that I felt justified. Still a good book, well worth the price.
Rating:
Summary: Good, gripping, but not perfect as others have indicated.
Review: I liked this book. It was fast and enjoyable, and I don't give praise lightly (refer to my reviews of those runaway, smash, bestselling pieces of unpublishable shit Absolute Power and The Tenth Justice). And cramming seven homicides into such a thin book didn't leave any room for slow parts, either. My only problems with the book are minor. One -- try as he might, I don't believe Westlake makes ol' DeVore's descent into murder all that convincing. DeVore can whine incessantly and endlessly about his rationalizations, but I still don't see a "regular guy" so cooly and methodically (and often gruesomely) chopping seven other people. In Westlake's favor, I believe it would be next to impossible to convincingly write of such a transformation, so we'll let that slide. Lastly, all the left-wing boo-hooing about those evil corporate CEO's and stockholders was annoying. Question: if I am a stockholder (in other words I own the company with MY money that I earned) and I determine that I will inc
Rating:
Summary: A stunning, convincing portrait of a man driven to murder.
Review: Although a departure from Westlake's usual openly comical crime novels, The Ax is perhaps his finest book yet. The portrait of Burke Devore, an average man driven beyond the limits of despair by being "downsized" out of his middle-class life -- his family falling apart and only continued unemployment in his future -- is wholly convincing and absolutely chilling. Westlake perfectly captures the emotions of a man trapped in that situation and Devore's solution to his problems by murdering his way back to employment and his accustomed way of life seems utterly, horribly reasonable. The writing is excellent and draws the reader on and on, deeper and deeper. The Ax is a startling incisive indictment of the costs of the 1990's mania for "downsizing" or as Burke Devore sees it, the insanity of discarding the society's most productive workers in the prime of their productivity, all to feed the avarice of stockholders and CEO's who believe the end justifies the means
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