Money for Nothing

March 10, 2003
Prolific MWA Grand Master Westlake's latest novel has neither the engaging characters of his Dortmunder series nor the comic zing of his previous stand-alone, Put a Lid On It
(2002), but it does offer an entertaining answer to the timeless debate over whether anything in life is ever truly free. Josh Redmont, a struggling New York office temp, receives a $1,000 check in the mail from United States Agent, a firm he's never heard of and, despite his best attempts, is unable to contact. He decides to deposit the check, and it clears. So begins the biggest mistake of his life, as checks arrive each month for the next seven years, seemingly a tax-free error in his favor. Then one day a man on the Fire Island ferry tells Redmont he's from U.S. Agent and states, "You are now active." By now a successful advertising executive with a wife and young son, Redmont finds his life turned upside-down as he's drawn into a terrorist plot to assassinate a visiting dignitary. His only hope is a disgruntled operative, Nimrin, who originally "recruited" him as a mole or sleeper agent without his knowledge. With time running out, Redmont must find two other moles recruited by Nimrin and turn the tables on the terrorists. Westlake creates a fascinating scenario, yet fails to fully develop Redmont and his fellow players. Some of the lesser characters are often more interesting than Redmont, who for all his charm and wit still comes across as a rather dull yuppie. Mystery Guild Featured Alternate.

March 15, 2003
For seven years, Josh Redmont has been receiving $1000 a month from an untraceable source called United States Agent. One day on a dock in Bay Shore while Josh waits for the Fire Island ferry, a stranger sits down next to him and tells him he is now "active." Active, it turns out, in a plot to assassinate the premier of Kamastan, a fictional breakaway state from the former Soviet Union. Josh soon learns that his problems began with a foreign spy's scam to enrich himself at his nation's expense. With the corrupt spy discredited, a new control expects Josh to do as asked or his wife and kids will come to harm. But Josh knows he and his family are slated for execution anyway at the operation's conclusion. His challenge as an amateur against professionals is to thwart the assassination, survive, and save his family. The prolific, Edgar Award-winning Westlake, author of numerous comic crime capers and other mysteries (The Ax), sketches an engaging tale with unexpected twists and turns and a dash of wit throughout. Highly recommended for popular fiction collections.-Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2003
Westlake's recent stand-alone thrillers have been driven by show-stopping premises that place an ordinary man in dangerously extraordinary circumstances. The pattern holds here, as New York advertising executive Josh Redmont finds himself in the middle of an espionage drama, cast as the hero but utterly unprepared for the role. Seven years earlier, Redmont began receiving $1,000 checks, issued by "United States Agent"; after trying unsuccessfully to track down the source of the checks, Redmont began depositing them and has been doing so ever since. His "found money," however, comes with very big strings, as Josh learns when he is approached by an unassuming-looking man who announces, "I am from United States Agent. You are now active." Not just active, it turns out, but up to his armpits in a plot run by former Soviet agents to assassinate a Middle Eastern head of state. Feeling like a "rabbit running with wolves," Josh must somehow circumvent the assassination plot if he hopes to save his wife and child, who have been kidnapped by the agents. For help, he drafts a wacky, off-off-Broadway actor, Mitch Robbie, who has also been cashing checks. Westlake has a special genius for mixing suspense with off-the-wall comedy. He's in good form again here, as the lethal but hilariously slapsticky agents meet their match in the form of a timid ad man and a surprisingly gutsy small-time actor who proves as adept at toting an Uzi as he is at interpreting George Bernard Shaw. Great fun from one of the genre's grand masters. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)