Donald Westlake in the late 1960s and early 1970s wrote five novels under the
pen-name Tucker Coe. His reasons for utilizing the pen-name are given in his
introduction to the fine reissue of WAX APPLE, the third of the Coe-penned
novels featuring Mitchell Tobin; what is important and fascinating here is
that WAX APPLE, the previously-reissued MURDER AMONG CHILDREN and KINDS OF
LOVE, KINDS OF DEATH, stand as a documentation of not only an incredible
literary talent in his early stages but also another, regrettably
lesser-known side of Westlake's brilliant, complex literary persona.
Mitchell Tobin is hardly your self-assured private investigator. He is
involuntarily an ex-cop, having lost his badge for carrying on an affair
while on duty --- and while his partner was murdered in the line of duty.
Tobin would be content to stay at home and shut himself off from the outside
world. This is true in the figurative and literal sense; Tobin's only regular
activity is the slow but steady construction of a ten foot high brick wall
around his back yard. Tobin's wife encourages him in subtle ways to get back
out into the world, and it is as a result of this encouragement that Tobin
finds himself involved in the set of circumstances chronicled in WAX APPLE.
WAX APPLE takes place almost entirely at The Midway, a halfway or
transitional house for mental health center patients. Dr. Cameron, the
director of the facility, has been referred to Tobin in order to determine if
anyone is behind what appears to be a deliberate series of accidents which
have been visited upon The Midway's residents. The irony of his presence at
such a facility is not lost on Tobin; the irony becomes stronger when Tobin
breaks his arm in another apparent accident within a few minutes of arriving
at the facility.
When Tobin begins to investigate The Midway's residents, he finds no dearth
of suspects. His investigation takes on a special urgency, however, when one
of the apparently deliberate "accidents" results in a murder. Tobin, in
classic manner, gathers the suspects together and brings the matter to a
surprising conclusion. The real conclusion, however, is saved for the very
last page, for almost the very last paragraph, in fact, and drives home, in a
quietly chilling manner, the degree and extent of Tobin's decompensation.
Five Star's ongoing reissue of the Westlake/Coe Mitchell Tobin mysteries is
one of the more worthwhile projects of the last year, exposing a new
generation and audience to one of Westlake's darker sides. I hope this fine
house will ultimately publish all five of the Tobin mysteries to give newer
readers a chance to experience this lesser known persona of Westlake.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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