- Hardcover: 399 pages
- Publisher: Chivers Large print (Chivers, Windsor, Paragon & C; Large type edition edition (31 Dec 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0754030954
- ISBN-13: 978-0754030959
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,421,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
"Eerily gripping...".The Ax" will hold you; you can't forgo finding out how it ends". -- Jeff Brown, People
"Compelling, unpredictable, and ultimately terrifying". -- Robert Wade, San Diego Union
"Satirical, savage, fast-paced....An expertly entertaining suspense thriller". -- Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World
"A mesmerizing chiller...The suspense is as tight as a steel coil". -- Publishers Weekly
For twenty-five years Burke Devore has provided for his family and played by the rules. Until now. Downsized from his job, Devore is slipping away: from his wife, his family, and from all civilized norms of behavior. He wants his life back, and will do anything to get it. In this relentlessly fascinating novel, the masterful Donald E. Westlake takes us on a journey of obsession and outrage inside a quiet man's desperate world. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
I've never actually killed anybody before, murdered another person, snuffed out another human being. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
I've never actually killed anybody before, murdered another person, snuffed out another human being. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
An excellent departure for Westlake, who returns to the horror of The Stepfather, a movie he scripted. Though the central character, Burke Devore, is over the edge, you can't help sympathizing with him, and rooting for him as he bumps off his rivals. I agree with other reviewers that there were too many people on Devore's hit list, but Westlake never repeats himself; each of the killings spin off into a fresh surprise. The murders are graphic and unsettling, as they are even for Devore; the book is not for the squeamish. Westlake brings a twisted sense of humor to this grisly affair, not the lighthearted touch he's known for in the Dortmunder novels, but I found myself laughing several times. The Ax is also a very serious book about corporate greed and the whole "downsizing" phenomenon; anyone who's ever been handed a pink slip will identify with Devore's anger, bitterness, and desperation. I loved The Ax and hope Westlake has time (between his Dortmunder and Parker novels) to write more books in this vein.
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