The Ax

Rating:
Summary: Gives New Meaning to the Phrase "Eliminates the Competition"
Review: Donald Westlake writes straight from the heart. Only "the Ax" is from the darker rivers of the heart. Anyone who has ever been "downsized" or stood on an unemployment line can relate to the feelings of one Burke Devore, a downsized project manager at a paper mill plant, who, by placing a phony ad in a trade journal, acquires all the resumes of those potential competitors who might apply for the same job as him. He simply "eliminates the competition". We might all think about it in our darker fantasies, but Burke goes ahead and does it.

I read this book because it was constantly referenced in the Amazon.com reviews of another Westlake book ("The Hook"). Both books have similarities and differences that abound. The secondary charcters are stronger in "The Hook" than here. We really don't dwell all that much on Burke's wife and even less so on his kids. Yet, like in "The Hook", there is a sense of desperation on the part of the main characters. In both cases, the action is fast paced and we find ourselves hungrily turning the pages.

So, why not 5 stars? A couple of reasons: When Burke's son is brought up on charges of breaking into a software store and the police search his house, they come across the resumes he has collected. The police are already investigating a few of the deaths by this time, yet they fail to make the connection. I wanted to shake Detective Burton because he can't seem to put 2+2 together. He ends up, like the detective in "The Hook", as being almost a wasted character. Some of the murders committed by Burke are committed in a public venue, especially the first one where he shoots a man at his own mailbox and one of the later ones where a person is bludegeoned to death in a parking lot. Yet, no one sees anything. Still, this book has a certain quality, if that is the right word, where we find ourselves rooting for this dark underdog and that, on its own, is reason enough to read "The Ax" and enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Westlake is a genius
Review: First book I've read by him. Puts it down like it should be. Simple to read and puts you right there with him. One of the greats. I already knew that. An amazing book with a particular kind of humor throughout that is typical of Westlake and people like Jim Thompson. Both geniuses. Great book.

Rating:
Summary: I Ask Myself, "Why Did I Read This?" and Try To Answer
Review: Yet another book report. Didn't I hate to do them when I was in school? How things change. Anyway, <u>The Ax</u> is a new genre for me, being a selection from one of my book clubs. It's listed under "Mysteries and Thrillers", which is one area that I haven't read much of before.

The book is the story of Burke Devore, a line manager at a paper mill who is laid off when his job is outsourced. He's in his early 50's, and is finding the competition fierce for the dwindling number of available jobs in his area of specialty. So, he concocts a plan to reduce the competition: just kill enough of the job-seekers in his particular area, which will leave him the best (and only) man for any job (that just might happen to become) available.

As the story progresses, it becomes a battle against time. Will Burke be able to kill enough people and land a job before he's caught by the police or before his marriage or family falls apart? There are, of course, social commentaries about justness of a society that can toss people like Devore out of his chosen line of employment. Perhaps this is meant to get the reader to sympathize or identify with the protagonist in the story, but I can't say it was effective on me.

One thing I've noticed about books, but I can't really quantify, is how "easy" they are to read. As a self-styled slow reader, with some books, it can seemingly take "forever" for me to get through ten pages. With others, including this one, I can whip through 30 pages before I know it. I'm sure this is mainly due to the author's choice of words and sentence structure. According to a review on the back of the book by the <a href="http://www.freep.com/">Detroit News and Free Press</a>, "No one can turn a phrase like Westlake." I'm not exactly sure what <span style="font-weight: bold;">that</span> is supposed to mean. This is a "page turner" novel that might be described as a "psychological thriller", not a great work of literature. While the writing style did make Devore seem to be an ordinary guy, I certainly don't recall any phrases that stand out as being noteworthy.

As I said, this is a genre that I haven't read much of in the past, and I'll say that I don't have any plans to read much of it in the future. When giving a rating of a book, I am torn between just saying how much I liked it and saying how "good" of a work it may be. Just because I don't care for something doesn't make it garbage. However, in this case, I'll rate the book by how much I liked it. I have to ask myself some questions. Why did I read this? What did I gain by reading it? I certainly didn't enjoy it. It wasn't "educational" in a meaningful sense. While some might consider it to be something one reads for pleasure, I didn't find much pleasure in going along for a ride with a murderer. So, I'm forcing myself to give this book my lowest rating so far: one star out of five.

Rating:
Summary: fun reading - when "downsizing" preceded "outsourcing"
Review: The grim situation in "The Ax" is that a professional white-collar man is cut from his job and becomes increasingly frustrated with his subsequent job search. Instead of adapting his skills or changing careers, he decides to kill off the competition. His targets are not the executives or consultants that directly cost him his job, but people who were axed, just like him.

The humor in "The Ax" is dark, indeed - he knocks off one guy who is tending his lawn (thus trying in vain to keep up appearances in his suburban environment) - the protagonist has to identify himself with his victims in order for the plan to work.

Another reviewer made some statement about "how the number of good jobs continues to decline in the United States," which is baloney (and has been baloney since this novel has been published). If you don't have to define what a "good" job is, then of course you can claim that there's more or fewer "Good" jobs than before. Because the world changes over time, someone who wants to continue doing the same thing for a living year after year after year is going to have substantial difficulty, regardless of the economic conditions. The protagonist of "The Ax" doesn't want the job as much as he wants the excuse to start killing people slightly more qualified than he is.

I'm not a big fan of mysteries, or in this case, murder-novels, because murder as an economic choice would seem to me to be a rare and inplausible act. I don't identify or sympathize with this character. However, Westlake is clearly having fun with the story, and the reader will have fun also.

Rating:
Summary: Dark, Unpredictable, Gripping... A Must Have Thriller
Review: This book is nothing less than a masterpiece of suspense. My heart was pounding with every turn of a page. Yet it was impossible to stop reading. I had to know what happened next. You will love this thriller, guaranteed. Here is taste of what you'll get with absolutely no spoilers.

For twenty-five years Burke Devore worked loyally as a paper mill manager at Halcyon Mills. But when the company merged, he as many others found himself unemployed. Burke Devore is getting desperate and the clock is ticking.

There is a job opportunity for Burke but there is also one problem he will have to deal with. There will be others searching for his job, others who have better and more impressive qualifications than him.

They want something that belongs to him and he cannot allow that. There is only one way to settle this dilemma. The competition must be eliminated. Burke comes up with a plan to find out who these usurpers are. He must now track them down and ... kill them.

"I've never actually killed anybody before, murdered another person, snuffed out another human being [...] either I can do it, or I can't [...] I have to get out of this morass, and soon"

Can Burke go through with his plan? And if he can, will he get away with it? What if after all the preparation, all the work and planning, all the sacrifice, something went wrong. What if the next banging on the door is an officer waiting by to take him away?

You will have to read the book to find out.


Rating:
Summary: A Machiavellian Look at Layoffs and Their Consequences
Review: Corporate flacks refer to downsizing, rightsizing and streamlining when jobs are cut. Those who lose their jobs refer to receiving pink slips, having been axed, being put out to pasture and losing their livelihood. In the darkest moments, the unemployed sometimes contemplate murdering the profit-loving people who decided to eliminate them.

Naturally, this anger is usually redirected into diligent efforts to find another job and the pain slowly fades after the new position is found.

But in some industries, the jobs are gone forever. If two companies have too much capacity, they may consolidate all the manufacturing into one plant and shutter the other. If enough companies acquire one another, most people with an industry-specific skill may never be able to find work again . . . except as a cashier in a fast food restaurant. What should these people do? Social Darwinists would suggest that the answer can be found in the concept that the fittest will survive.

Donald E. Westlake starts with this exact situation for his dark satire on corporate life, The Ax. Burke Devore knows how to make a certain kind of paper product, and little else that anyone else would value in an employee. Two years of being unemployed strip him of his confidence, his scruples, his emotional life and his dignity. His family will soon be out of money, and the fall will become worse. What should he do?

In a diabolical plot that will intrigue you, Devore checks out his competition and decides to eliminate them . . . much as Machiavelli's Prince was told to kill his enemies. How does an ordinary middle manager who is desperate improve his situation? Devore's answer will chill you to the deepest layers of your soul.

Normally, I find dark satires to be hard to take. The Ax overcomes that problem by presenting the alternatives to the satire in stark and understandable terms. If business is really war, there will be casualties . . . regardless of the personal morality of those involved.

At the end of the book, you will find yourself with a better understanding of the harm that these corporate euphemisms are doing to our society and our people. And you will find yourself wanting to do something about it. Greed for more is not always a good thing, despite arguments favoring unrestrained free markets for goods and labor.

I came away thinking that as the number of good jobs continues to decline in percentage terms in the United States, The Ax could become a reality for some rather than just a thought-provoking, gut-wrenching satire.

Build value for all!

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, bizarre and disturbing
Review: I'm a big fan of Donald Westlake. I love his comic crime novels where I find myself rooting for the slightly inept bad guys to get away with their crimes. When I decided to read The Ax, it never ocurred to me that I'd end up rooting for Burke Devore to get away with multiple murders.

This is a book about one man, written entirely in the first person. A man who believes he can rely on no one but himself. In that vein all the other characers are merely shadows, or stick figures. They exist only through Burke's eyes. He IS the book.

Burke is a former production line manager in a paper mill who was laid off in the mid-nineties and has been unemployed for two years at the time of the novel (1997). He is at end of his rope -- his unemployment has run out and so, it seems, have his job prospects.

Burke decides to take matters into his own hands. He places an ad in a trade journal to evaluate the competition. Then, he decides to just get rid of them. He selects the job that he wants and then he kills off the competition AND the incumbent.

Burke goes on a killing spree through New York, Conn., and Mass. He kills the competition in broad daylight by the side of the road and in a crowded parking lot. He kills in a deserted mall parking lot and he even blows up a house.

The fact that Burke gets away with all these murders is completely implausable. The fact that the cops don't catch him and that he even manages to get rid of the evidence of his son's (unrelated) breaking and entering is unlikely. The fact that the search of the house that follows his son's crime raises no questions in the minds of the police is ridiculous. But it doesn't really matter. The fact that it is so unlikely that he'll get away with it all makes us identify with Burke all the more.

As the book progressed, I found myself disturbed by how much I could identify with Burke. I've never been laid off -- I work for one of those places that used to provide 'lifetime employment.' Not anymore. I can imagine myself laid off, desperate, looking for a job, as my family loses more and more opportunity and my retirement plans slip away. Can't most all of us?

Most of us can't imagine taking Burke's reasoning to the final end -- that the end of providing for his family (at one point in the book, Burke bristles when the judge says that Burke's son "comes from poverty.") justifies any means, even murder. But, many of us can identify with his desperation.

This is satire at its finest -- dark, disturbing and with an edge of truth. This book could certainly be read simply as a book about a serial killer, but it is truly much more than that. It is a book about Every Man for the age of downsizing, much as Death of a Salesman was about the Every Man of its time.

You might find it disturbing, but do read this book. Donald Westlake has outdone himself this time.

Rating:
Summary: A classic, do not miss
Review: Westlake creates great suspense through one of the creepiest narratives ever written. Great structure and a justfied ending give this book some real punch. The real thrust of Westlake's talent is shown through his ability to make the reader empathize and even root for a very sick man. Well done and towards the very top of my list.

Rating:
Summary: Read This if You Have a Few Hours to Kill!
Review: Burke Devore was a paper company manager for twenty-five years until the day he loses his job through corporate downsizing. For two years he is unemployed, attending many interviews but losing out to other people in the same situation as him with slightly better skills or experience. His marriage is disintegrating and his son is in trouble with the law. He finally has had enough and comes up with a brilliant plan to become employed again by getting rid of his competition. He does have a lot of time to kill after all!

This is a brilliant novel with an extremely interesting and unique idea. I will definitely think twice the next time I have to send in a resume. I will also read more books by Westlake in the future.