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suzuzela's review
5.0
The short story that started one of the best shows on TV, Justified. Highly recommended!
completelybookedup's review against another edition
4.0
4.0 stars out of 5.0 stars
"Fire in the Hole" as a standalone is 5 out of 5 as was "Karen Makes Out". I enjoyed the rest of the stories as well, but it did take me forever to read through all of them. Elmore Leonard definitely had a way with characters though and this will not be the last work I read of his.
"Fire in the Hole" as a standalone is 5 out of 5 as was "Karen Makes Out". I enjoyed the rest of the stories as well, but it did take me forever to read through all of them. Elmore Leonard definitely had a way with characters though and this will not be the last work I read of his.
thetarantulalounge's review against another edition
4.0
Leonard is a master of dialogue. He can flesh out characters and mood and cool with a few terse lines.
ericwelch's review against another edition
4.0
A collection of really excellent (well, most of them) stories by Elmore Leonard. My favorites were the collection titled story, "Fire in the Hole" that provided much of the background and basis for the "Justified" TV series (very good, btw.) "Karen Makes Out" was lots of fun. Karen is a U.S. Marshal who has been smitten by Carl, a man wanted (they think) by the FBI for bank robbery. How she deals with it is delightful, indeed. Shades of Raylan in that girl. "Hurrah for Captain Early" provides a nice mix of the role played by black soldiers and some of the discrimination they faced. "The Tonto Woman" is a touching story of a Mexican bandit who crosses the border to steal cattle. Along the way he salvages the wife of the man whose cattle he's about to steal, resurrecting her in the eyes of her husband. Charming.
etigs's review
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
palefire's review
5.0
Great stories from a master of the novel showing his skill as a short story writer. The title story is the basis of the JUSTIFIED series on HBO. There is a baseball story, old folks story and an excellent western. A very quick read making me wish for twice as many stories.
mimie7ea4's review
4.0
3½ out of 5 stars
After finishing this short story collection, I now understand why Elmore Leonard is considered a classic in contemporary Western. He's a skilled writer of viable dialogues that keep his stories moving forward even when there isn't much happening.
Leonard's style can be described simply as punchy because it can pack a punch and punctuate a seemingly simple story with lots of undertones. His writing might look like straight-forward pulp fiction, but there's a sense of "literary literature" in his prose. He definitely knew how to turn a phrase half-way through a sentence to change the whole atmosphere of a story.
Western is not my preferred genre, and I don't often read crime fiction unless it's interjected into sci-fi/fantasy. With that said, I must say this collection of Leonard's stories is a satisfying read.
Review moved to http://covers2covers.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/review-fire-in-the-hole/#more-810
http://1stavenue.booklikes.com/post/768060/review-fire-in-the-hole
After finishing this short story collection, I now understand why Elmore Leonard is considered a classic in contemporary Western. He's a skilled writer of viable dialogues that keep his stories moving forward even when there isn't much happening.
Leonard's style can be described simply as punchy because it can pack a punch and punctuate a seemingly simple story with lots of undertones. His writing might look like straight-forward pulp fiction, but there's a sense of "literary literature" in his prose. He definitely knew how to turn a phrase half-way through a sentence to change the whole atmosphere of a story.
Western is not my preferred genre, and I don't often read crime fiction unless it's interjected into sci-fi/fantasy. With that said, I must say this collection of Leonard's stories is a satisfying read.
Review moved to http://covers2covers.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/review-fire-in-the-hole/#more-810
http://1stavenue.booklikes.com/post/768060/review-fire-in-the-hole
tomasthanes's review
4.0
When I noticed at the end of the TV show Justified, that it was based on the Elmore Leonard book "Fire in the Hole", I figured I'd pick it up and give it a read. I expected a novel but instead got a series of short stories, all well written with interesting characters spanning American history from the last 1800's to the present. Mr. Leonard has a way with Southern and Mid-Western dialects from Arkansas to Florida (with Kentucky between). I enjoyed this book.
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