CASTLE IN THE AIR

Another posthumously reprinted over-the-top comic heist that Westlake, the universally acclaimed master of the subgenre, originally published in 1980.

On his way out the door from the country of Yerbadoro, President Escobar Lynch plans to exit with the greater portion of the presidential castle he’s occupied, which is to be disassembled and shipped stone by stone to the French countryside for reassembly on a lot he and his wife, Maria, have carefully selected. And that’s not all he’s taking: Some of those stones have been hollowed out so they can serve as receptacles for a fortune Lynch has plundered from his people. It seems only fair that someone else should steal his ill-gotten goods in turn, so beautiful Yerbadoroan insider Lida Perez engages master criminal Eustace Dench to engineer the heist, splitting the proceeds equally with her. Since it’s impossible to tell in advance which stones are treasure troves and which are nothing but stones, Dench contracts with French con man Jean LeFraque and veteran German criminal Herman Muller to assemble teams that will be responsible for different phases of the intricate operation. What could possibly go wrong? As it happens, several noncomplications, from general ignorance of the caper by law enforcement to too few opportunities for individual team members to showcase their varied skills to lots of relatively innocent jostling among teammates competing for prominence with their more consequential double-crossing of each other, keep this from achieving the heights of Westlake’s best work.

What remains is the lazy, teasing mastery of a cat playing with a ball of exceptionally high-priced yarn.