Help I Am Being Held Prisoner

This was the first Westlake I ever read, when it was new in about 1975. It led to my reading all his other books I could get my hands on, up to the present time; it was obviously a good place to start. The plot is described in the reviews above, and it's funny enough in itself. But Westlake tucks and stuffs hilarious bits and asides into it as compulsively as Harry Kunt sets off his little stunts. I can't count how many books I've read that I have really loved since this one, or how many really laugh-out-loud funny ones, including especially the late Mr. Westlake's. But when I went back and read this one recently, it wasn't dated in the least, and is still one of the flat-out funniest books I have ever read.

Harry Kunt (pronounced "Koont") is a lifetime practical joker, more out of defense for his German name that gets mis-pronounced by everyone. But one day one of his better jokes misfires and ends him up in a maximum security prison, with some very rough characters. Trying to mind his own business, keep his nose clean, serve out his time and to get his practical jokes finally under control, he stumbles across a group within the prison who have a "fix" he gets involved in.. or should I say, gets sucked into! Lots of surprising and funny turns, our hero is never in any real danger as long as he has his wits (and his many ongoing practical jokes) as a defense. I won't spoil the book by revealing any more of the plot. Suffice it to say that it's a very entertaining and funny read. Enjoy!

This is what can happen to you if your practical jokes get out of hand. Life played a practical joke on Mr. Kunt (there's an umlaut above the "u" in his name). He spent his whole life trying to get revenge on the people who laughed at him because of his name. Now Mr. Kunt is in prison for playing a practical joke. He doesn't talk about why he is there because he can't stop playing jokes and he doesn't want the other prisoners to know who it was that loosened the top of the salt shaker, saran-wrapped the toilets, tied their shoelaces together and so forth. Since he doesn't brag about his exploits, the other prisoners assume that he is SO tough that he doesn't have to brag. Kunt ends up associating with the toughest elements in the prison. The toughest gang has an ace. They have a hole which allows them to gambol about outside the prison whenever their prison schedule allows. They also have the perfect alibi for any crime: They are in prison. Naturally, that have to commit a crime. Kunt, not a real criminal, doesn't want to rob a bank. He uses all of his practical joking experience to try to prevent the robbery. In the end, he can't prevent it forever. Kunt finally finds happiness when one of his fellow prisoners accidentally finds a solution to the lifelong problem of his god-awful name.