Donald Westlake, R.I.P.

[yendi]

Well, that's crappy news to kick off the new year.

Donald Westlake has died. Feh. He was one of my favorites growing up, and even his recent books were still fun guilty pleasures. Dortmunder remains one of my favorite characters.

Comments

[cissa.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's sad. I've been enjoying his books for most of my adult life.

[jcfiala.livejournal.com]

Damn.

Ditto on Dortmunder.

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

OH NO!

This makes the approved by Westlake "Parker" adaptations by Darwyn Cooke bittersweet.

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

"Get Real" sounds hilarious! I know what i'll be getting in July.

But Westlake lives on...

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

...in maybe more ways than you think. A participant on Harlan's forum pointed out something:

Joseph Walker
Bloomington, IN - Thursday, January 1 2009 20:26:34
Westlake

...Just a few nights ago I was sitting around with some friends watching an episode of "Leverage," the new caper show on TNT. I remarked on the fact that the show's master thief is named Parker, and noted that this *had* to be the show's way of tipping its hat to Richard Stark. My friends--uncultured baboons all, apparently--had never heard of him, and I spent the next half hour enthusing over the glories of Westlake, Stark, Dortmunder, and particularly that supreme creation, Parker. I got myself so worked up that I shuffled a couple of my favorites ("The Man With The Getaway Face" and "Drowned Hopes") into my reading pile. I'll be reading them in a much different mood, now.

Still, I join you in a "Feh."

[davidlubar.livejournal.com]

What a loss. He was one of my favorites.

[libco.livejournal.com]

That is sad news. I was a huge Westlake fan. Just reread Sacred Monster as a matter of fact.