Westlake is allusive, indirect, referential, a bit rococo, Stark strips his sentences down to the necessary information.

The critics didn't like it at all. They felt it was crude and violent without meaning, and they dumped on it. 'Point Blank' marked a shift in movie-making, and they weren't ready for it. However, I think those were the last negative words ever said about it.

The tortured similes, the brooding introspection, the jaundiced view of society - nobody ever has any fun in a Ross Macdonald book.

Donald E. Westlake Quotes