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A review by luana420
Fire in the Hole by Elmore Leonard
5.0
This is truly Leonard at his best, punchy, witty and badass. I wonder what the editor saw in "When the Women Come out to Dance" when it was first released, as that was its original title. Its current title "Fire in the Hole" only became that as the eponymous short became the basis for the pilot episode of Justified -- and it's very impressive how much of it is translated so perfectly in the episode.
"Women" is pretty good tho, a kind of crime Twilight Zone episode with a dark twist at the end. It's VERY funny how this essentially builds up as "Bound but with straight women" so you know how up in his own world Old Man Elmore was (in the final story "Tenkiller" the female lead wants to get rid of the unwanted attentions of a villain by saying she's a lesbian but... she... can't... bring herself... to... say... the word...).
The Tonto Woman and Hurrah for Captain Early are quality western shit, which unfortunately got reprinted in "The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard" so I'd actually read a good chunk of this collection before. Good re-reads tho!
"Women" is pretty good tho, a kind of crime Twilight Zone episode with a dark twist at the end. It's VERY funny how this essentially builds up as "Bound but with straight women" so you know how up in his own world Old Man Elmore was (in the final story "Tenkiller" the female lead wants to get rid of the unwanted attentions of a villain by saying she's a lesbian but... she... can't... bring herself... to... say... the word...).
The Tonto Woman and Hurrah for Captain Early are quality western shit, which unfortunately got reprinted in "The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard" so I'd actually read a good chunk of this collection before. Good re-reads tho!