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3.25 AVERAGE
3.25 AVERAGE
Not bad, but I'm not really a big fan of his jittery prose style. The book was decent, but based on this, Leonard is not an author I plan to make a habit of.
Great fun with hilarious characters and set, as well as this can't-stop-watching specter of semi-ludicrous menace hanging over the whole affair. My first Elmore Leonard book, I expect to begin working my way backwards.
Couldn't finish it. I never got into and I found the dialogue overworked and confusing at times. I guess this is part of a series, which I didn't realize, so maybe contributed to my confusion. Will try some of Leonard's earlier work and see if I like those better.
I'm re-reading Leonard's Carl Webster books. This is better than The Hot Kid. Honey is a great character. The dialog for each person is distinct from the others'.
It's a quick, smart book with a lot of gripping dialogue. I just love the way the Lawman Carl Webster moves through the scenes, picking apart what's important and realizing that his priorities are changing as the story progresses. He's a man who's not afraid of anything and yet he's barely able to keep control of the plot that may be unraveling around him by the beautiful and treacherous Honey. Leonard's writing is, as always, smooth.
The follow-on novel to [b:The Hot Kid|85207|The Hot Kid (Carl Webster, #1)|Elmore Leonard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1316544098l/85207._SY75_.jpg|1838381] once again features US Marshal Carl Webster, who is now forced to live with the notoriety of his past exploits. The time is the early 1940s, near the end of World War II and Carl is called to the Detroit area to expose and nab members of a Nazi spy ring. Not least among them is Walter Schoen who happens to be a dead ringer for Heinrich Himmler and, in fact, thinks he is the Nazi leader’s unknown twin brother. Schoen’s wife of only one year, Honey, has divorced him several years previously but seems likely to hold the keys that will allow Carl Webster to get close to the spy ring.
This novel is told almost entirely through dialog, a technique that Elmore Leonard had perfected over his long career. That makes for a relatively quick read as the pages just keep turning. The plot was unconventional too, and entirely unpredictable. Honey has a way of using her beauty to entice men and whether or not the happily married Carl Webster succumbs to her charms is part of the mystery.
I will confess that Elmore Leonard can be a hot or miss author for me. I really enjoy his westerns where he cut his teeth, but his more recent crime novels have been up and down. This one is a good one for sure, as much due to the character of Carl Webster as to the writing prowess of Elmore Leonard.
This novel is told almost entirely through dialog, a technique that Elmore Leonard had perfected over his long career. That makes for a relatively quick read as the pages just keep turning. The plot was unconventional too, and entirely unpredictable. Honey has a way of using her beauty to entice men and whether or not the happily married Carl Webster succumbs to her charms is part of the mystery.
I will confess that Elmore Leonard can be a hot or miss author for me. I really enjoy his westerns where he cut his teeth, but his more recent crime novels have been up and down. This one is a good one for sure, as much due to the character of Carl Webster as to the writing prowess of Elmore Leonard.
What a disappointment for an Elmore Leonard book. Usually his books are fast paced, funny, and unexpected. This was a bore with flat characters.
Carl Webster comes to Detroit looking for some escaped German POWs. Will Honey, the ex-wife of a friend of the POWs, be his salvation or his downfall?
Yeah, I made the teaser way more exciting than the book. I hesitate to call any Elmore Leonard book bad but this one was definitely on the shitty side of good.
For my money, Elmore Leonard does his best work when pitting guys with various degrees of sleaze against each other in either Miami or Detroit and peppering it with slick dialogue. While this one has a Detroit setting, it's set in the 1940's which kind of removes a lot of the cool factor. Also, German POWs who barely speak English do not have the slickest dialogue in crime fiction.
I felt like I missed something regarding Carl Webster's past relationships with the POWs and why he was so determined to go after them. Turns out I had since that was previously detailed in [b:Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Stories|8540960|Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Stories|Elmore Leonard|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348305520s/8540960.jpg|13408590].
While I thought Carl Webster was a cool guy, I also feel like he was Raylan Givens with a lick of paint. Actually, since Carl Webster has about as much written about him as Raylan Givens, maybe the writers of Justified drew some material for Raylan from Carl. Either way, I felt like this could have easily been a Raylan Givens story with minimal modifications.
My biggest gripe with this was that nothing happened for most of the book. I think the book suffered because the time period was a departure from Leonard's usual and the characters didn't lend themselves to his usual magic. Two stars. I refrained from giving it one star because the book didn't actually suck but it's definitely a bottom shelf Leonard.
Yeah, I made the teaser way more exciting than the book. I hesitate to call any Elmore Leonard book bad but this one was definitely on the shitty side of good.
For my money, Elmore Leonard does his best work when pitting guys with various degrees of sleaze against each other in either Miami or Detroit and peppering it with slick dialogue. While this one has a Detroit setting, it's set in the 1940's which kind of removes a lot of the cool factor. Also, German POWs who barely speak English do not have the slickest dialogue in crime fiction.
I felt like I missed something regarding Carl Webster's past relationships with the POWs and why he was so determined to go after them. Turns out I had since that was previously detailed in [b:Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Stories|8540960|Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Stories|Elmore Leonard|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348305520s/8540960.jpg|13408590].
While I thought Carl Webster was a cool guy, I also feel like he was Raylan Givens with a lick of paint. Actually, since Carl Webster has about as much written about him as Raylan Givens, maybe the writers of Justified drew some material for Raylan from Carl. Either way, I felt like this could have easily been a Raylan Givens story with minimal modifications.
My biggest gripe with this was that nothing happened for most of the book. I think the book suffered because the time period was a departure from Leonard's usual and the characters didn't lend themselves to his usual magic. Two stars. I refrained from giving it one star because the book didn't actually suck but it's definitely a bottom shelf Leonard.
I struggled through this book, thinking it HAD to get better. The writing was meandering and difficult to follow in the beginning. It got somewhat better...but never really painted a clear enough picture of anyone, except Walter. I wanted SOMETHING to come from the story, and nothing ever really did. Honey said and did things for reasons I couldn't explain, and it drove me crazy. You could tell she was fairly smart, but then she'd do a stupid thing for no reason at all.
All in all, not my favorite.
All in all, not my favorite.