Nobody's Perfect

A Dortmunder Novel, Book 4

By: Donald Westlake

Narrated by: Jeff Woodman

Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's Summary

It would take a miracle to keep Dortmunder out of jail. Though he cased the electronics store perfectly, the cops surprised him, turning up in the alley just as he was walking out the back door, a television in each hand. Already a two-time loser, without divine intervention he faces a long stretch inside. Then God sends J. Radcliffe Stonewiler, a celebrity lawyer who gets Dortmunder off with hardly any effort at all.

Stonewiler was sent by Arnold Chauncey, an art lover with a cash-flow problem. He asks the thief to break into his house and make off with a valuable painting in exchange for a quarter of the insurance money. Chauncey has pulled the stunt twice before, so it must look real. He’ll give Dortmunder no inside help - a shame since, when this caper spins out of control, he’ll need all the help he can get.

©1977 Donald E. Westlake. Recorded by arrangement with Mysterious Press.com, LLC. (P)2013 HighBridge Company

Critic Reviews

"Wildly funny... Written with Westlake’s usual expertise." ( The New York Times Book Review)

Another Dortmunder mis-adventure.

The owner of a valuable painting hires Dortmunder and his crew to steal his own painting so he (the owner) can collect on the insurance. What could go wrong? If you are familiar with Dortmunder, his crew and his luck, you already know the answer - just about everything.

The first Dortmunder book I read was Bank Shot which I bought from Audible as a light read. I enjoyed it enough to buy The Hot Rock and, by then, I was hooked on Westlake in general and Dortmunder in particular. For a light and enjoyable read these books are hard to beat.

As with the other Dortmunder books you can count on Dortmunder to plan well, select and interesting (and funny) crew for the job and for something, almost anything, to go wrong. From that point on the book is a fun ride with "laugh out loud" moments, unanticipated plot twists and a perfect ending. I don't know how he does it but Westlake never seems to skip a beat. Enjoyable from start to finish and, since Jeff Woodman is doing the reading, you can expect consistently good narration as well as a terrific story. My only complaint is that Audible is missing all of the Dortmunder books between volume 5 and volume 9 inclusive. Still, what they have is worth the credit (and then some).

Recommended.

Donald Westlake doesn't disappoint

I read the first Dortmunder novel when I was a teenager, and the second and third shortly after, and loved them all. Only recently did I find out that there were more, and I was delighted to learn they were available from Audible. Donald Westlake is a wonderful story-teller, filling his books with interesting and erratic people that get themselves into and out of daffy, unpredictable predicaments. Jeff Woodman's reading is delightful; he nails the various personality traits and accents of the characters and flows smoothly from one to the other. Great listen; lots of fun; perfect way to pass the time on a lazy afternoon or a long road trip. Enjoy!

Donald Westlake is very funny.

This is classic Westlake. Perfect and well read. very creative and funny. A lot of fun reading.

Narration can make or break a Story

This is a good story, it really is. I have read this book years ago, this is why I resisted, listening to books on audible, I'm sorry the narration is very poor, some characters sound the same, others seem to blend between each other, there is no hard bitten New York accents, its like the guys reading a grocery list for a lot of the book. Brian Holsopple is a lot better.