Undercurrent, by Bill Pronzini

not bad...

What's the Worst That Could Happen? by Donald Westlake

I always forget how good a writer Westlake is. His characters are always engaging and his plots are clever. This particular book revolves around Dortmunder, a petty thief who is caught in the act robbing the home of Max Fairbanks, a mega-millionnaire. Fairbanks turns the tables as the police prepare to take the burglar away and says that the only thing stolen was the ring on Dortmunder's hand. In spite of his protest's, the police take the ring off Dortmunder's finger and 'return' it to the Fairbanks.

This annoys Dortmunder, and he is a very single-minded person. He escapes from police custody, returns home, and calls in his friends who proceed to not only beard the lion (Fairbanks) in his den once, but three times! Once at home in New York, once at the Watergate in D.C. (heh), and finally in Las Vegas. Dortmunder is truly only in it for the ring, but the robberies are so spectacularly successful that he ends up with a nice little nest egg, insurance in case he has a few lean months. Well, lean years, really.

Fun caper novel. Reminded me a great deal of Ocean's 11 et al. Funny in a very dry and ironic way.

Snowbound, by Bill Pronzini

This is a fun book about nefarious and just unpleasant people. There are only a couple of likeable folks in the story, but it's hard to put the book down.

It all starts with a holdup in a Sacramento bank that goes awry. The thieves have planned for everything, except what actually happens. They get away safely except for a stray bullet one of them takes...and the death of one of the security guards.

Their hideout is a carefully chosen "safe house" in the mountains near a very small town. Within a week of their arrival--posing as businessmen--the valley is snowed in, cut off from the outside world by an avalanche. One of the robbers cooks up a scheme to rob whole valley--he's sure there is a load of cash in the shops--while everyone is still snowed in, and escape on snowmobiles.

Unfortunately, for the other two robbers and the residents of the valley, this guy is not only a careful, thoughtful planner, he is stark raving insane. So they all follow his plan, waiting for him to make a mistake.

Dated, of course, because it's over 30 years old, but a lot of fun to try to see how it's all going to come together only to fall apart.