Excellent 1970 jewel heist novel: The Hot Rock. (boing boing, 4/5/2013)
Excerpt: The smart dialogue, clever heist planning, and offbeat characters (the gang's lock picking expert is a mild-mannered, married model train enthusiast without a shred of conscience about the multiple felonies he commits) made this a snappy and enjoyable read.
Another rave review at The Violent World of ParkerThe Parker Novels by Richard Stark (AKA Donald E. Westlake), other works by DEW, and crime fiction in general.
Excerpt: Since I’m probably never going to think a novel hits the funny meter higher than “mildly amusing,” for me to enjoy a comic novel it needs to be great as a novel, apart from its comic elements. The Hot Rock certainly is. It’s a stupendously enjoyable book fully deserving of its exalted status in the pantheon of crime fiction..
An Unfinished Person (in an Unfinished Universe is less enthusiastic, giving The Hot Rock 3 out of 5 possible points, i.e., "worth picking up at library".
I didn't read the book, but I saw the movie.
Film and book discussion (5/30/2012) at MysteryPeople, Austin, Texas. (See also BookPeople)
Two copies of the book available in LINKcat
Middleton owns a DVD copy of the movie.
It's also available in audiobook (cassette) at Reedsburg.
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