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The Ax, by Donald E. Westlake
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The multi-award-winning, widely-acclaimed mystery master Donald E. Westlake delivers a masterpiece with this brilliant, laser-sharp tale of the deadly consequences of corporate downsizing.
Burke Devore is a middle-aged manager at a paper company when the cost-cutting ax falls, and he is laid off. Eighteen months later and still unemployed, he puts a new spin on his job search -- with agonizing care, Devore finds the seven men in the surrounding area who could take the job that rightfully should be his, and systematically kills them. Transforming himself from mild-mannered middle manager to ruthless murderer, he discovers skills ne never knew ne had -- and that come to him far too easily.
- Sales Rank: #612457 in eBooks
- Published on: 2001-04-11
- Released on: 2001-04-11
- Format: Kindle eBook
Amazon.com Review
Donald E. Westlake, justly named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, has written everything from comic capers (the Dortmunder series) to the darker adventures of ace criminal Parker during his long career. But he's never come up with anything scarier or more timely than this story about a downsized executive who decides to kill off the competition. Burke Devore could be your neighbor: a laid-off paper company manager watching his life and family fall apart as he tries desperately to get a job. The plan he finally comes up with involves murdering seven men very much like himself, and Westlake's most impressive achievement is to make the serial killings understandable if in no way justified. Selected titles from Westlake's vast list of books available in paperback include: Baby, Would I Lie?, The Fugitive Pigeon, Pity Him Afterwards, and Trust Me on This.
From Library Journal
Burke Devore, 52, laid off from his middle-management position at a paper mill two years before, decides to eliminate competitors for a dream job at a mill in New York. He places dummy ads in trade journals to attract them, then stalks and kills them (at first with a pistol, later in a variety of disgusting ways?most in broad daylight, with no witnesses). That's about all there is to this strange novel from the author of the John Dortmunder mystery series, e.g., What's the Worst That Could Happen? (LJ 9/15/96). A potentially compelling look at the effects of long-term unemployment on the psyche of a man of limited prospects and intellect, the result is merely a step-by-step guide to executing innocent people, generally lacking in conflict, irony, and farcical elements. Devore's wife and children are sketchy, and humorous situations are underdeveloped. The point of all this is buried deep. Not recommended.?Laurel A. Wilson, Alexandrian P.L., Mount Vernon, Ind.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
In a sharp departure from his comic crime novels, veteran author Westlake has penned a chilling portrait of a downsized middle manager turned serial killer. Two years after being laid off from his job at a paper company, Burke Devore is becoming increasingly desperate as he watches everything he's worked for slip out of his grasp. He hatches a bizarre plot to target the job he wants and then eliminate his likely rivals for the position, literally killing off the competition. Soon suburban streets and shopping malls are littered with the bloodied corpses of unemployed paper executives as Devore schools himself in the methods of murder, variously shooting, hacking up, and running over his victims. Bypassing satire and heading straight for horror, Westlake offers an ingenious depiction of the perfect nineties employee--a cold-blooded assassin whose only loyalty is to himself and his family. This cold, clever novel is bolstered by Westlake's inventive plotting, his meticulous use of abundant, credible details, and his burning anger over corporate tactics. Joanne Wilkinson
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Fast moving & highly entertaining!
By Amazon Customer
Burke Devore, a victim of corporate downsizing, has been out of work for two years. He had put in 25 years of loyal service in a specialized field, as a paper mill manager. After two years of job seeking, he has become desperate enough to commit murder. He conceives a plan to weed out the competition for the job he wants. He ends up stalking and killing a number of people who have better qualifications than he for his dream position. The premise could be believable, but I felt the author could have done more to develop the gradual loss of morality in his character. The reader never knows what kind of man Devore was before the downsizing. The story begins when Devore has already apparently suffered through two long years of agonizing disappointments. He has become a murderer in his mind at the time the book opens. Later into the book, the author does go back and fill in some of the missing development. He also shows how the numbing of Devore's values has affected his marriage and the way he handles the situation when his teenaged son gets in trouble for burglary. The book definitely had a message. I'm just not sure I liked the message. I didn't find Devore to be very likeable, which to me, was the weakness of the story. Nevertheless, I think it's a very well-done book, and I recommend it to those people who will look for a deeper meaning as well as those who will just read it as an adventure. I'd enjoy hearing from other readers, to discuss what you thought of Devore's character...
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
A MODERN DAY MORALITY TALE...
By lawyeraau
What do you do when you are over fifty years old, and the company for which you have worked for nearly a quarter of a century is downsizing and gives you the ax? One would think that you would simply get another job. Wrong! In this era of corporate downsizing and fierce competition, that may be easier said than done. Ask Burke Devore.
Burke Devore, unemployed now for nearly two years, would like nothing better than to get a job commensurate with his experience as a product manager for a paper mill corporation, but as I said, competition is fierce. Desperate in his quest for the american dream that seems to have turned into a nightmare from which he cannot wake, his middle class life is spiraling out of control. He must regain control by whatever means necessary. Burke Devore, thinking out of the box, simply decides to eliminate the competition...literally. Our erstwhile serial killer is mad as hell, and he isn't going to take it anymore.
This darkly satirical and provocative novel is a veritable page turner. Moreover, there is an underlying social commentary that permeates the plot, which serves to make the reader complicit with the protagonist, as he moves forward with his deadly agenda. Well written and original in concept, it makes for a book well worth reading, especially by those who enjoy mysteries and novels of suspense.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
A very different Donald Westlake novel.....
By John R. Linnell
As I started through this novel,I kept finding myself listening to the rational and sympatheituc justification for becoming a serial murderer and finding it somewhat compelling. Because the focus of the book, Burke Devore, a downsized paper mill production manager seems otherwise normal, even "someone like us", you become caught up in the madness and nearly find yourself tending to excuse it. Will there be a day of reckoning for the innocent lives so callously taken?? That my friends is one of the beauties of the book. It is unsettling reading...but it sure could happen. I hope Mr. Westlake will return to his previous style of writing, but he sure has proved his versatility.
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