Double Feature by Donald E Westlake

I would like to thank Sarah from Titan for an advance copy of this collection in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher - Titan Books

Published - 4th February

Price - £7.99 paperback £5.46 Kindle eBook

Whats Hidden Behind The Silver Screen?

Mystery Writers is America Grand Master Donald E. Westlake was also an Academy Award Nominee - for the screenplay of The Grifters - and a lifelong fan of the movies. So it’s no surprise that some of his most brilliant writing intersected with Hollywood in unexpected and different ways.

Hollywood has unsurprisingly glamour to it - the people in it are perfect to look at; life makes sense and we know (for some) riches and glory awaits. But we also know Hollywood is an industry and one with a nasty bite - stars rise and fall; the people behind the scenes may be more dangerous than any screen villain and the pursuit of fame has ruined many a life. Donald E Westlake in the 1970’s published two novellas focused around the film industry - both very different but a reminder that life rarely is like the movies; now published for the first time in one edition Double Feature is another of Titan’s Hard Case crime tales

The first tale entitled A Travesty introduces us to a critic (you know you can’t trust those reviewers) named Carey Thorpe and we meet him just after he killed his girlfriend in an argument. He covers up the crime but manages to both attract the attention of a grubby private eye; his other girlfriend and most of all the police. Carey finds himself suddenly avoiding detection by weirdly using his critical eye on crime scenes to solve seemingly impossible crimes. But his own case is forever circling him and how much longer can he avoid it?

I was hugely impressed how much I hated Carey within just a few pages we know he is selfish, unpleasant, happy to kill and blames anyone but himself. Impressively Westlake managed to do that with Carey narrating the tale - he is oblivious as to how horrible he really is. Here the narration is an unlikeable character we really don’t like. Westlake sets up the tale with the initial murder scene and then a blackmailer in the form of a private detective who was following Carey’s victim and can now work out who the suspect is. That doesn’t sound too unusual a tale but then Westlake gets Carey involved with the two investigating police detectives and over a shared love of film we managed to get invited into a murder case where his analytical skills pay off and bizarrely a murderer is the best way to catch another. Carey then tries to balance crime solving with evading capture. It feels like a very dark touch of Columbo and with the idea of a criminal aiding the police quite modern just think of shows like Dexter or Hannibal. Westlake in this story has a very economical style and the narrative powers through. Carey gets worse and worse thinking he’s unstoppable so what could possibly trip him up. Hubris though is a great way to bring someone off their perch. It’s a very enjoyable story as you will within a few chapters really want to see someone get their just desserts. The ending is beautifully neat and skilfully sewn up.

The second tale Ordo is a much shorter and quite different tale. This isn’t about a crime thriller but more a trip behind the curtain of Hollywood as a man trying to see where he is heading next and reconciling with his past.

Ordo is a naval engineer serving out his time in his unit quite sedately. He is twice married from a young age but now in his thirties is finding things fairly stable. Until his colleagues realise that Ordo was when he was very young married briefly to one of the hottest box office movie stars on the planet. Ordo is shocked to find the young naive sixteen year old we knew many years ago was now a very very different woman that he’s seen in movies and never realised was his former lover. This consistently puzzles him so he books leave and goes to Hollywood to ask to see movie star Dawn Devayne and she agrees. Ordo has to find out can the past be revisited or are some old wounds now far too scarred over to make an impact. This is a melancholy tale without crime just an exploration of characters.

It asks the question how and why do people re-invent themselves. Ordo feels he is the same blue collar guy he’s always been yet his first wife is unrecognisable in appearance and attitude. And finds himself disappointed that he is still feeling like the person he always was. Is there anything of the teenager named Estelle Anlic left?

I liked the slightly more personal mystery this was solving a reminder that stars are human but also that when people do decide to change it’s usually because they are running away or frightened of who and where they are in life. It’s also very much plays to the phrase you can never go home again and feels a very interesting character study as Ordo samples Hollywood but has to weigh if he could ever get into this life himself.

Overall I found this a very strong collection. Westlake has a wonderful powerful sense of prose and he enjoys both carefully plotting his tales so by the end all the strange elements do come together. It is however a 1970’s collection so while he is trying to do female characters better they still falls little into certain stereotypes - sex symbol; jealous girlfriend etc and a strange impulse to find the leads very attractive but they still feel more interesting and rounded than I was initially expecting. Less forgiving is the use of homophobic slurs for certain side characters or their behaviour. I honestly don’t think this was needed in the reprint and it didn’t serve the story or understanding the main cast. Sometimes I think this needs more scrutiny by publishers over whether this really is damaging the original book to omit such words when not actually relayed to the story. But it is reminder how far we have come but one traders should be aware of. Westlake however is talented writer and one I’d never encountered before and overall found them very interesting reads as taster of 70’s noir.