361

by Donald E. Westlake

Book Overview

The men in the tan-and-cream Chrysler came with guns blazing. When Ray woke up in the hospital a month later, he was missing an eye, and his father was dead.Then things started to get bad... From the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0843953578
• ISBN13: 9780843953572
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Hard Crime Case
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.3" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Great read, my first hard case crime book.

Early Donald Westlake

The folks behind the Hard Case Crime series are doing the reading population a great favor by bringing back early works by noir masters, and especially this one by Donald Westlake, whihch was originally published in 1962. The background is a bit quaint, but the characters and emotions are up to date. There's an initial mysterious murder of the protagonist's father, and from that flows a tale of blood vengeance. There's always something happening in the book, and it's short enough so that it can be read at almost one sitting, which is how I did it. I've enjoyed all of the Hard Case Crime novels I've read to date, and I look forward eagerly to having more.

Vintage Westlake in a top-drawer noir

A reprint of a 1962 issue from Random House, 361 is a noir with a hardboiled tone. Ray Kelly musters out of the Air Force and meets his dad in New York City. On the way home to Birmingham, a drive-by shooting leaves his dad shot dead and Ray in the hospital, both ankles crushed and one eye missing. What ensues is a sinuous route of blood payback, family revelations, self-doubt, and mob violence. Ray Kelly despite his relentless nature and mean streak is a likeable protagonist, worthy for any fan/reader to root for. Westlake's seamless plotline, deft dialogue, and smart pacing. 361 is another brisk-paced satisfying read from the folks at Hard Case Crime. Recommended.

Hardboiled overdrive!

Hardcase Crime is to be commended for bringing hardboiled classics like 361 back onto the shelves. Westlake is generally known for his humorous heist novels under his own name, while his "Richard Stark" pseudonym is famous for the wonderfully dark Parker novels. Seeing an early grabber like this one under Westlake's own name is a triumph for his fans. 361 deals with a Ray, a young man who easily, almost naturally shifts from an ex-air force soldier into an avenger upon the underworld when he and his father are driven off the road by a hail of bullets from an unknown assailant. After awakening in the hospital to learn he's lost an eye, full use of his legs, and his father, he becomes a coldly calculating deliverer of violence. Learning that his father had once worked for a law firm which handled many mobster clients, Ray uses all his wits and a sudden penchant for brutality to work his way through the crime world until he finds the man responsible. This is a gripping, straight-forward, in-your-face tale of revenge that throws sparks on every page. A terrific gem in the genre, and a wonderful chance to see how this sort of tale was told back in the day. Highly recommended.

Early Westlake available again

Just when Raymond Kelly was returning from military service, just when he was ready to settle down and spend some time with his family -- his brother, his father, his brother's wife whom he's heard all about and is excited to see in person for the first time -- just then, that's when it all went wrong. One occasion of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and a month later he wakes up in a hospital room minus a father, a sister-in-law and an eye. With no family left but his brother, Bill, they set to find out who is responsible and wind up discovering a little more about their family than they ever guessed, including the surprising significance of their father's last word. But blood must avenge blood, so Ray and Bill spend a lot of the novel playing a Holmes and Watson with attitude. The prose in 361 is so fast that I had to slow down my reading just to keep up. It is a fascinating example of the development of Westlake's craft. Most of the Westlake I've read came from a much later period of his career (1980s or later), and I've not read any of the Richard Stark novels, but this book seems like it would suit Parker fans more than those of his comic mysteries. The many fans of other Hard Case Crime novels, however, will eat it right up. Only his third novel, 361 is not as solid and confident (or as funny) as the only other earlier work I had read -- the Edgar Award-winning God Save the Mark, published just five years later in 1967. What carries it along wonderfully, however, besides the pure power of the storytelling, is the sense that, behind the typewriter is a writer intensely trying to make an impression on the reader. And, as usual, he succeeds. One thing was decidedly familiar, reminding me of the Donald E. Westlake style his fans know and love: the number of surprises present in this story allow for plenty of leeway in telling the story. You start to think he's going one way, and he goes another. Or he'll spring something unexpected, hiding it within a paragraph of description or "stage business" (as opposed to giving it its own paragraph like most writers do), thus guaranteeing that the reader does a mental "double-take." That's the kind of writing that makes me celebrate. And that's the kind of writing you can expect from 361.

Tough Guy Fiction At It's Hardboiled Best!!

This novel is, in a word, FANTASTIC! I defy anyone to pick it up and not devour it in one sitting. With a rocket-fire pace and characters that leap off the page, this revenge tale sucks the reader in to a world of violence and the consequences of that violence. If you think you know where this story's going, you're wrong. Twists and turns abound. And these characters are tough! They make Mike Hammer look like a wimp. Yet they are not one-dimensional. They live and breath and we understand why they do what they do. 361 has been out of print for far too long. This little gem of a book is simply not to be missed. Kudos to Hard Case Crime for bringing it back. A great, great read all the way. One of the best!