Two nights ago I finished Jim Thompson’s “The Getaway,” the book on which the movie starting Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw was based. I loved the movie, and wouldn’t mind seeing it again. The movie followed the book in some ways, but there were major differences.
The book was very good until the last ten pages or so, when the main characters end up in Mexico. Then it got really strange. I’m really not sure what happened in those pages, or what Thompson was thinking. The movie ending was superb, on the other hand.
Last night I finished Donald Westlake’s “361,” another novel in which the protagonists (as in “The Getaway”) are criminals. My first Westlake novel. Will definitely read more.