Instead of robbing a bank, Dortmunder tries to steal the whole building Encyclopedias are heavy, and John Dortmunder is sick of carrying them. While in between jobs, the persistent heist-planner is working an encyclopedia-selling scam that's about to blow up in his face. The cops are on their way when his friend Kelp pulls up in a stolen Oldsmobile, offering a quick escape from the law and a job that's too insane to turn down. Kelp's nephew is an FBI washout who's addicted to old-time pulp novels and adventure stories. He tried being a cop, and now he wants to be a robber. His target: a Main Street bank that has temporarily relocated to a large mobile home. Breaking in is impossible-there are seven guards and a police station down the street-but mobile homes were meant to be driven. Dortmunder just has to drive the bank away.
"[Westlake's] most durable character¼. Whatever can go wrong in the man's elaborate attempts at larceny invariably does, and in the most amusing and unexpected ways possible."
Los Angeles Times
"Everyone who's read Donald Westlake knows he's the funniest man in the world."
