The author of more than 90 books — most of them written on a typewriter — Westlake wrote under a variety of pseudonyms including Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, Samuel Holt and Edwin West — in part because people didn’t believe he could write so much, so fast.
His first novel, “The Mercenaries,” was published by Random House in 1960. His early works dealt with organized crime as seen from within. Critics said his early work showed a rigor and objectivity worthy of Dashiell Hammett.
Westlake quickly established himself as a master of what Boucher called “sustained narrative and observation within the framework of a self-consistent world, alien to law and convention.” – ^
I’m sorry to see such a prodigious and playful talent go. Although he wrote entertainment, there was more truth in it than so many of the “literary” and “realistic” negative but uplifting neurosis festivals that people call books at this point.
My favorite is still Help I Am Being Held Prisoner, the story of a practical joker who must find an excuse to stay in jail — so he can pursue his new life of crime, and avoid a worse fate for others.