RARA-AVIS: _The Ax_
J. Alec West (alecwest@pacifier.com)
Sun, 15 Feb 1998 12:40:25 -0800 (PST)
Kimberly,
I read _The Ax_ by Westlake and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was
amazed at
the protagonist's (if you could call Burke Devore a protagonist
<grin>)
ability to survive his hit-list with a combination of luck,
improvisation,
and quick thinking. And, the ending of the novel was one of
those kind of
endings people love to hate openly (though secretly like). My
interview
of Westlake appeared in an earlier issue of _Murderous Intent_
mystery
magazine and we went into detail (mostly, off the record) about
what
inspired him to write this rather timely novel. Don knows
people who have
been (and still are) in Burke Devore's predicament ... and he
wrote it for
them. While these people might abhore Devore's methods
consciously, I'd
bet their subconscious minds were saying, "Go, Burke, go!" All
in all, it
was an interesting study in the Jekyll/Hyde nature of people
... Jekyll
when everything's going well, but Hyde when backed into a
corner. Perhaps
those who gave the book negative reviews did so because of an
inability to
admit the existence of the darker angels of their
natures.
J. Alec West
alecwest@pacifier.com
http://www.pacifier.com/~alecwest
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