Anyone who likes thrillers probably knows who Donald E. Westlake is: Author of scores of novels both humorous and hard-boiled, the man whose works were made into movies including Point Blank, and Payback. He wrote the screenplay for the wonderful The Grifters. Lots of us love the terse, violent stories he wrote under the pen-name Richard Stark.
Westlake died on New Year’s Eve of last year, but a never-before-published novel has been discovered and will be released by the terrific publisher Hard Case Crime. The novel is called Memory, and it sounds not only like a good book, but like a movie-waiting-to-happen. It’s about Paul Cole, who’s beaten badly when he’s caught with another man’s wife. As a result of his thrashing, Cain has trouble recalling old memories or forming new ones. He begins to rediscover who he was. Add thrills, chills, and witty wryness.
Hard Case Crime will publish Memory in April 2010. Our calendars are officially marked.
Jim Thompson wrote The Grifters.
exactly, as per the above… a 1961 paperback original, like most of his work.
The article is correct. Westlake wrote the screenplay.
…for the Grifters, that is.