The Hook
Bryce Proctorr has a multi-million dollar contract for his next novel, a trophy wife raking him over the coals of a protracted divorce, a bad case of writer's block and an impending deadline. Wayne Prentice is a fading author in a world that no longer values his work. Proctorr has a proposition: if Prentice will hand over his unsold manuscript to publish under Proctorr's name, the two will split the book advance fifty-fifty. There's just one small rider to the deal...
Praise for The Hook
“What will the knowledge of the crime do to the relationship between the two men? How will it affect their work habits? Will the dogged New York police detective find out anything? How will Bryce's editor react to Wayne becoming, in effect, his star's ghost? All these issues are skillfully dealt with in Westlake's super-clean, unfussy narration, which manages to make the plight of the left-behind writer almost as lacerating as that of the downsized executive in his brilliant The Ax.” - Publishers Weekly