Items20The creator’s order
  1. 1The hot rock (1970)The hot rock (1970) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1970Dortmunder can plan a theft; getting rid of the need to steal the same emerald again is harder. Westlake makes each complication require a new job, with the crew’s different habits and abilities turning logistical revision into comedy. This first Dortmunder novel is a particularly good starting…0
  2. 2The score (1964)The score (1964) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1964Parker’s target is an entire town’s money in a single night, so the job depends on assigning roles and controlling a much larger operation than an ordinary robbery. Richard Stark, Donald E. Westlake’s other major crime-writing name, gives the preparations a cold economy very different from…0
  3. 3The Great Train Robbery (1975)The Great Train Robbery (1975) 7.6/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1975Edward Pierce’s scheme to steal gold from a train in 1855 London needs access, copied keys and people who can perform the right social role at the right moment. Crichton lets the separate preparations become pleasures in their own right, then brings them into a moving operation. This is a…0
  4. 4The lock artist (2010)The lock artist (2010) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 2010Michael’s unusual ability with locks makes him valuable to criminals who need one specialist to finish a dangerous job. Hamilton balances the concentration of safecracking with the young man’s art, attachments and desire to escape the life others arrange around his talent. The narrative moves…0
  5. 5The asphalt jungle (1949)The asphalt jungle (1949) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1949A jewel robbery needs a planner, muscle, technical skills and a way to turn the haul into money. Burnett makes the chain of dependencies unusually revealing: the apparently respectable lawyer financing the operation is as important a risk as anyone breaking into the building. Dix, hired for muscle,…0
  6. 6Clean Break (2004)Clean Break (2004)Published 1 Jan 2004White’s racetrack robbery depends on several people performing limited parts at a tightly chosen moment. The pleasure is seeing the operation divided into tasks, then watching how information escapes the boundaries the organiser imagined. Ordinary participants bring private relationships into a…0
  7. 7The Sacred Art of Stealing (2002)The Sacred Art of Stealing (2002) 7.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 2002A bank robbery staged as an extravagant performance catches the attention of a police officer who recognises that the apparent job cannot be the whole story. Brookmyre makes the audience’s expectations part of the criminals’ material, giving misdirection a theatrical pleasure. This is the second…0
  8. 8Bank Shot (1972)Bank Shot (1972) 9.3/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1972Dortmunder’s crew considers a bank temporarily operating from a mobile home and sees an opportunity to take the whole thing. Westlake gives the absurd premise practical resistance: moving the target creates a fresh collection of problems that opening a safe would never have caused. The second…0
  9. 9Drowned hopes (1990)Drowned hopes (1990) 7.3/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1990The money was stolen long ago; the operation here is getting it out of a town now submerged beneath a reservoir. Dortmunder must devise repeated recovery attempts while an impatient former cellmate proposes a solution that would destroy other people’s homes. That changing physical problem earns its…0
  10. 10Kahawa (1982)Kahawa (1982) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1982A freight train carrying valuable coffee becomes the target of an operation crossing the Uganda–Kenya border under Idi Amin’s rule. The logistics extend beyond taking the cargo to transport, sale and the incompatible interests of the people financing and carrying out the job. Westlake’s standalone…0