2. Put a Lid on It by Donald E. Westlake

I'm a longtime Westlake fan, especially of his Parker books. I picked this one up just because it was cheap and I was going to be travelling. My dad finished it in a day. It took me three, but it's that kind of book. Short chapters, always moving forward and humourously entertaining. Westlake has lost the hard edge that he had in the 70's, but he still has a real knack at knocking the establishment. He also can still pull out the great metaphors. This novel pits a professional criminal against the president's re-election team and the latter comes out looking pretty pathetic. It ends a bit easily, but the ride is well worth it.