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Somebody Owes Me Money
by Donald E. Westlake
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Hard Case Crime (2008-05-27)
ISBN: 0843959622
EAN: 9780843959628
Dewey Decimal #: 813.54
Binding/Media: Mass Market Paperback - 253 pages
SKU: HM-LFD9-XWZZ
Condition: As New
Comments: Mass market paperback with new cover art by Michael Koelsch as shown, this is Somebody Owes Me Money by Donald E. Westlake, a 2008 reprint by Hard Case Crime (division of Dorchester Publishing). Clean and tight, like a mass market paperback bought from a drugstore shelf.
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Customer Reviews
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Hitchcock-like Thriller is a Winner...
Rating  (4)
Date: 2010-05-22
Chester Conway is a New York cabbie who wins money on a horserace; unfortunately, when he goes to collect from a friend/bookie, the man is found dead...and Conway is pursued by the police, the mob, and a beautiful blond whose attire consists of a skirt and black leather boots throughout the novel (a plus!)...
Each chapter is a cliffhanger, and there are many 'twists and turns' since everybody seems to think Conway had something to do with the murder...and Conway (like an Alfred Hitchcock character) is in much of the dark as the people pursuing him.
I would have expected more from the ending considering Conway went through a lot in the novel to get to the bottom of his bookie's murder, but majority of the novel has a pretty good pace, and the characters were interesting.
Recommended....
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Somebody shot me, but with whose gun?
Rating (4)
Date: 2010-04-18
SETUP
In NYC, taxi driver Chester (Chet) Conway gets a tip on a horserace from a fare. He places the bet with his bookie Tommy McKay, and wins nearly $1000, but when he visits Tommy to collect, he finds Tommy dead. Subsequently, Chet teams up with Tommy's sister Abby McKay--she wants to find Tommy's killer, Chet wants to find his money. Most of the novel consists of Chet and Abby being chased, accosted, and kidnaped multiple times by two criminal gangs and the police.
COMMENTS
"Somebody Owes Me Money" is not as slapstick hilarious as some Westlake novels. It is a "light humorous crime mystery"---a genre which is all but forgotten these days.
The abrupt solution is "a rabbit pulled out of a hat", with virtually no foundation, and therfore provides little satisfaction.
As I understand it, the solution turns on Chet's reasoning that he was wounded with Abby's gun, and there is only a short list of people who could have stolen it. Yet the shooter claims to have shot Chet with a different gun. If so, what happened to Abby's gun?
VERDICT
A light entertaining story filled with droll humor.
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Everybody's After Chet
Rating  (5)
Date: 2010-04-03
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
When poker playing, racetrack going, cab driver Chester "Chet" Conway gets stiffed on a tip he's a bit miffed. Then the fair gives him a tip of a different kind. A sure thing. The man seemed to know his stuff, so Chet calls his bookie Tommie McKay and places a bet and to his surprise the horse comes in and Chet wins $930, almost a thousand bucks, he feels rich. But when he goes to collect, he finds Tommy "spread out on the floor, sunny side up. With the yolk broken." This is not good, all of a sudden he's gone from riches to inches away from being booked for murder.
And to make matters worse there are two rival gangs who think Chet did it and for reasons of their own are after Chet. Then Tommy's wife goes missing. Things just aren't looking good for poor Chester. And I shouldn't forget to mention Abbie, Tommy's revenge seeking sister, definitely a girl you don't want to mess with.
Chet better find out what really happened before he's next on the list. Plus there's that matter of the almost one thousand dollars, somebody owes Chet $930. This is simply a great story that delivers great characters and some good laughs along the way. Kudos to Hard Case Crime for bringing back this 1969 Donald Westlake Mystery.
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An unexpected gem from Westlake's early years
Rating (5)
Date: 2010-02-08
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This early Westlake novel has been reissued from the terrific Hard Case Crime imprint. Flashes of Westlake's LOL-funny style shine through more frequently than I expected. Up to the standard of some of the Dortmunder novels.
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Great Westlake!
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-06-19
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
It's not the Dortmunder gang but how can you go wrong with Donald Westlake? He's always good for a laugh. Good plot, good writing, good characters. It's not his best, but it's still terrific.
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