Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 5, 1993                   TAG: 9306050163
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: C-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Reviewed by JOSEPH WILLIAMS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HERE'S ANOTHER WILD WINNER FROM WESTLAKE

Dortmunder rides again!

I think Donald Westlake gets his ideas from a fantastic imagination and the daily newspapers. In this wild tale, a religious relic, actually a bone, is the means of getting a seat in the United Nations for one of the newly separated nations of Europe. Professional thief John Dortmunder and his gang are hired to steal it. From the pages of the newspaper, Westlake takes the insanity of certain European actions and weaves it into another entertaining story.

He throws in a "mad doctor," the church, Dortmunder's fear of water and a billionaire, along with the wide range of interesting characters who aid and abet Dortmunder in his mad-cap adventures. This is the eighth novel in the series, and they just seem to get better and better.

If you've ever seen a photograph of Westlake, you probably get the image of a man to whom nothing is sacred. In "Don't Ask" he takes on everybody, including the government agencies who hire gun-carrying guards of dubious mentality and background.

Totally enjoyable.

Joseph Williams is involved in the criminal justice system and reviews mysteries regularly for this newspaper.