The Hook

February 28, 2000
This is a very savvy tale of two writers, instantly recognizable to anyone in the publishing world. Bryce Proctorr is a megaseller who gets million-dollar deals; Wayne Prentice, after a promising start, has fallen into the dread midlist, where his sales records haunt him and he publishes under a succession of pseudonyms to present an unsullied record. The problem is that while Proctorr has hit a major writer's block, Prentice is still productive, though his advances are dwindling. So Proctorr, involved in a protracted and draining divorce from a harridan wife, comes up with this terrific notion. He proposes to Prentice, a friend from earlier days: you take my name, I take your book, and we split the proceeds, on one condition: Lucie must be killed. It's a very promising notion, and once Westlake is over the hump of how the very pleasant Wayne will agree to the deed, and actually manage to accomplish it, much to his own surprise, he is left with a very delicate situation. What will the knowledge of the crime do to the relationship between the two men? How will it affect their work habits? Will the dogged New York police detective find out anything? How will Bryce's editor react to Wayne becoming, in effect, his star's ghost? All these issues are skillfully dealt with in Westlake's super-clean, unfussy narration, which manages to make the plight of the left-behind writer almost as lacerating as that of the downsized executive in his brilliant The Ax. In the end, though, he cannot quite bring his story to an unexpected conclusion, and his last scene, though effective enough, seems to have strayed in from a much less subtly told story. 9-city author tour.

February 1, 2000
In his latest work, Westlake (The Ax) once again proves himself a master storytelling craftsman. Frustrated by what he sees as outrageous monetary demands from his ex-wife, successful author Bryce Proctorr hires an old acquaintance, Wayne Prentice, to kill her. In a variation on the murder-for-hire theme, Proctorr offers Prentice, also a struggling author, both money and the opportunity to publish under his name. While the arrangement seems ideal for tboth parties, it soon becomes evident that such is not the case. Instead of romanticizing or sensationalizing the murder itself, Westlake brilliantly examines the psychological toll that on every aspect of both men's lives. This is not a comfortable read - there are no heroes to cheer for, and the characters evoke little sympathy. It's a testament to Westlake's ability that, despite this, this reader was unable to put the book down. This should be a popular addition to public library collections. - Craig L. Shufelt, Gladwin Cty. Lib., MI

January 1, 2000
Westlake's versatility is legend in crime-fiction circles. His last novel, "The Ax" (1997), was one of his most successful forays into psychological suspense, and his latest plows those same fields with equal distinction. When two writers run into each other in the New York Public Library, a plot is hatched that echoes the devil's bargain in Hitchcock's film "Strangers on a Train." Bryce Proctor is a best-selling novelist suffering from writer's block and a bad divorce-in-progress; even if he manages to finish his latest book, his wife will gobble most of the profits. Enter Wayne Prentice, also a novelist and a former friend of Proctor when both were unknown writers. Prentice is unknown again, slipping sales having left him without a publisher. The hook: Proctor will publish Prentice's novel as his own, giving Prentice half the advance ($500,000). One other thing: Prentice must kill Proctor's wife. As the plot turns into reality (though not in the manner either intended), the two writers-turned-killers find themselves joined in an unholy alliance: Will the instability of one of them bring down both? Westlake salts the stew with lots of fascinating publishing shoptalk, and his portrayal of the psychological unraveling of a writer is made all the more chilling by the quiet realism of its presentation. A fine thriller. ((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)