Drowned Hopes

Dortmunder's past comes back to haunt him when he returns home after an unsuccessful burglary and finds his old cellmate sitting in his living room. He needs Dortmunder's help in retrieving $700,000 that he'd buried in a small town 30 years before. The problem is that, while he sat in jail, the State of New York flooded the area to build a reservoir; the loot is now under a few feet of dirt and many feet of water. Being a man of great determination but few ethical principles, the thief plans to blow up the dam, emptying the reservoir but also flooding the inhabited countryside to get at his stash. Dortmunder pleads with him to be allowed to retrieve the money another way. His first attempt fails. And his second. And third. Meanwhile the thief is losing patience...

“Laughs that land on every page...the author's inventive mind never fails him - New York Times Book Review”

It's all funny. Nobody does caper better than Westlake - Publishers Weekly

Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008) was a prolific author of crime fiction. In 1993, the Mystery Writers of America bestowed the society's highest honour on Westlake, naming him a Grand Master.

30 years earlier:Tom Jinson and his team pulled a big job, a very big job. When his partners ran into trouble Tom was left holding the cash, all $700,000 worth, and he buried it in a small upstate New York valley town... And then managed to get himself thrown into jail.Today:Dortmunder returns home one evening to find ex-cellmate Jinson waiting for him. Given a 70th birthday release from prison, Jinson wants his help to recover the money. Inconveniently, the town has since been flooded to become part of New York City's reservoir system and the cash now resides under three feet of dirt and fifty feet of water... Jinson's solution is to blow up the dam.Tomorrrow:Can Dortmunder make Jinson keep his dynamite finger from twitching, and can the New Yorkers cope with life upstate?"Westlake is a crime-writing machine bordering on genius" Daily Mirror

Dortmunder's past comes back to haunt him when he returns home after an unsuccessful burglary and finds his old cellmate sitting in his living room. He needs Dortmunder's help in retrieving $700,000 that he'd buried in a small town 30 years before. The problem is that, while he sat in jail, the State of New York flooded the area to build a reservoir; the loot is now under a few feet of dirt and many feet of water. Being a man of great determination but few ethical principles, the thief plans to blow up the dam, emptying the reservoir but also flooding the inhabited countryside to get at his stash. Dortmunder pleads with him to be allowed to retrieve the money another way. His first attempt fails. And his second. And third. Meanwhile the thief is losing patience...

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