The Ax

Starred review from June 2, 1997
Westlake is a consummate pro who can deliver both the cheerful zaniness of the Dortmunder novels and thoroughly convincing noir. The Ax is one of his darkest efforts, a mesmerizing chiller. It takes a familiar plight--Burke Devore, a middle-level executive at a paper company, has been downsized out of what he had imagined was a secure lifetime job--and gives it a terrifying twist. Not content quietly to abandon his decently prosperous existence, Devore searches out the ideal job at the ideal company and then identifies a half-dozen unemployed potential rivals for the spot and sets out to murder them one by one. Devore is quietly methodical, but not all the killings go quite as planned: in one, he has to kill a wife as well; another turns out to be much messier than anticipated; and then, of course, there looms the final necessary slaughter, of the man who holds the desired job. And will the police figure out what links these mysterious killings before Devore has achieved his goal? Writing with deadpan style, Westlake makes Devore's rage utterly believable. What he can't quite manage, however, is to make a convincing serial killer out of someone who is in most respects so normal, even decent and thoughtful. But the suspense is tight as a steel coil, the background sociology is impeccably developed and the book should have upper-level downsizers trembling in their Guccis at the thought of the hideous anguish they are unleashing on the land. Major ad/promo.

May 1, 1997
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.

April 15, 1997
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. ((Reviewed April 15, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)