Cops and Robbers

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When the two disillusioned policemen start their well-planned heist their scheme starts to unravel. The suspense is unbearable. My nerves couldn’t take it. I had to put the book down and make a cup of tea. London succumbs to a crime wave on Christmas Eve. Officer Pugh uses excessive force to apprehend the conspirators leaving one, identified as Grabber Dan, unconscious after a blow to the head. Joe and Tom cross the line, but I still found myself rooting for them. Perhaps that's wrong, but who among us hasn't occasionally rooted for the rebel and the outlaw. Besides Westlake is very careful. There is very little violence and our two protagonists don't ever hurt anybody. The two victims are a very wealthy brokerage firm which lies about how much is stolen and the Mob. Not actually sympathetic organizations and that's important in stories like this if the reader is to root for the crooks. The cover of the book includes pictures of different ‘cops and robbers’. Can you draw your own picture of what a cop / robber might look like? Nash Hall's dad is a criminal who just can't seem to go straight. He wants Nash to help him commit a robbery. A big one. The trouble is, Nash's mum is a cop. And the robbery is at Nash's school. But Dad owes a lot of money to some very dangerous people and if Nash doesn't help him do the job, it could cost both their lives.

My first Westlake novel. I've been told by readers who are fans that this isn't one of his better works. Evidently it began life as a script (I've seen the movie and it isn't too bad) and Westlake novelized it. However being new to his novels this isn't that bad of a read. I see from looking at his entry over on the Internet Movie Database (imdb) Mr. Westlake did a lot of (uncredited) work on scripts. I guess he would polish a script and give it that certain something that made him so popular.

The robbers of London town plan a desperate crime on Christmas Eve - to steal all the toys they can lay their hands on! Fortunately, the robbers meet their match in brave Officer Pugh who leaps into action and arrests the villains - all except Grandma Swagg who manages to get away.

The robbers of London town plan a desperate crime on Christmas Eve - to steal all the toys they can lay their hands on! Fortunately, the robbers meet their match in brave Officer Pugh who leaps into action and arrests the villains - all except Grandma Swagg who manages to get away. About This Edition ISBN: The book, the story, and the characters are all quite believable for the early 1970s. This wouldn’t (and couldn’t) have worked today. But that’s what’s so great: it’s a point in time when the genius of it all was entirely possible.

Then i read it was written written expressly to be made into a movie and understood why it didnt have the usual Donald E.Westlake quality to it.

Long before Steven Paige and Ed Robertson mused about what they would do if they had a million dollars, Tom and Joe decided it was a game worth playing; a risk worth taking. If your mum was a cop and your dad was a crim who needed your help to commit a crime, would you do it to save him? At what cost?Look at the list of the things that the robbers took on Christmas Eve (found in the illustration showing the Street Map). Find out the approximate value of each item. What is the total value of the items stolen?