One of the very last projects I had in grad school was basically a book report and author profile of the book The Hunter and its author Donald Westlake (writing under the name Richard Stark). Yes, that seems like a random assignment, especially since it was for the one film class I took. Since then I've always wanted to read another book by Westlake and was excited to see that the mystery book list has three of them. I started with Bank Shot but now I realize that this is the second book in his Dortmunder series and the first book is on the list too... so maybe I should have started with that one. Oh well.The set up of the novel is pretty simple. The story follows John Dortmunder and his band of thieves in their attempt to steal a bank. Not rob a bank... steal the entire bank. They think they can do this because the bank is temporarily housed in a mobile trailer while the original building is being remodeled. So basically their plan is to attach the trailer to a truck and just drive off with it. Of course there are complications and the whole thing is just one big comic misadventure after another.
The whole time I was reading it I kept thinking that it would be a funny movie... and apparently it was made into a movie in 1974, so now I've gotta try and track down a copy. I enjoyed the book and it was a funny quick read. I don't think I'd call it a classic though. The characters aren't that fully drawn out (maybe I'm just missing something since I didn't start with the first book in the series) and the whole plot is pretty simple. Good but not great. I'll go with a B+.
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