361 (Donald E. Westlake, 1962)

It starts with quoting Roget’s Thesaurus of Words and Phrases, explaining that .361 stands for “(Destruction of life; violent death) Killing”. Promising! And it delivers on that tone, as the beginning is quite violent indeed, because after only two chapters, our hero is left without one eye and half his family! He is an ex-marine who had just checked out of Uncle Sam’s services and gets immediately drawn into this “clueless ordinary guy in a wrong place at the wrong time” type of plot. Pretty soon, he finds a sidekick (his brother) by his side, and together they head to the big city to solve the mystery and get revenge. So far, excellent - a real page-turner; I really enjoyed it and hoped the plot wouldn’t get too complicated. This might have happened when the hero visits the public library and suddenly gets a bunch of information about people involved in events that occurred a few years back.

But sadly, it goes in the entirely opposite way. From a hard-boiled whodunit/revenge crime story, it becomes a drama about a lost young man searching for himself and his father. I do exaggerate a bit, and there is a good twist to the story that gives a glimmer of tension and suspense, but the second part was still a major disappointment.

It has qualities. Donald Westlake is a master, and his writing has just the right amount of slang, darkish mood (lots of boozing in hotel rooms!), good descriptions and interesting enough characters. Unfortunately, I find the plot very weak, and the novel feels like it was written by half and then the author just wasn’t quite sure how to take it further.

And there’s one thing in 361 that’s totally amazing and probably unique in the world of crime fiction, at least as far as I know - there are no women characters. I repeat: no women!?!? No femme fatales, mysterious blonde dames, ex-girlfriends, voluptuous secretaries, unhappily married horny beauties, greedy widows, hookers with golden hearts, no provincial girls wanting to become actresses/models, no nothing. Really unusual, especially considering it begins with a guy being discharged from the military!? So I think I’m going to remember 361 by this little peculiarity rather than its plot.

3.5/5

Facts 

Hero:
Ray Kelly, ex-marine

Body count: 
2 immediately, 5 or so later

Locations: 
New York, 200 miles upstate and back to the big apple for the final conclusion

Cool lines:
“You won’t get away with this”, he said. But he was gabbling. It was just a sentence you say when people push you around and get away with it.

I looked pale and young and unready. The gun barrel was cold against my hairless belly. I was a son of a bitch and a bad son.