Great characters, Coherent plot, and of course Leonard's great writing style with that ear for dialogue. A perfect Elmore Leonard book from start to finish. ( )

the ones with a believable romance are better than the others ( )

In no other novel is it more clear that Leonard, at his best, is not a genre writer at all, but a mainstream novelist who happens to write about people who get involved in crime. When this approach does not work, as in this book, it can be an embarrassment. The so-called plot is full of implausibilities, which make the enjoyment of the book a real pain in the neck.

The usual snappy Leonard dialog is still there, but there's a lot missing... ( )

Well-written, well-plotted, fun to listen to the recorded version (Frank Muller does bad guys with brio) but any deeper moral or even history lesson escaped me. ( )

I have to say, as a person reading WAY outside her chosen genre, I enjoyed this book pretty well. This is one of the books I acquired when my husband and I merged our libraries, and I probably would not have gotten to reading it any time soon, had it not been for Go Review That Book!
I enjoyed the fast-paced writing style, as well, with the exception of how we seemed to be jumping in to the middle of the action towards the beginning. It took quite some time to really get a feel for these characters, and by the time I did, I felt like I had missed some plot points that I hadn't understood were important because I hadn't gotten to know the characters. It sort of felt as though I was reading something from the middle of a series, but as all the characters seemed to have their stories neatly tied up in this book, that must not be the case.
The resolution of the tale was quite satisfying, although throughout the book, I didn't really see how it could come to a conclusion I'd be happy with. I'm impressed with Leonard's story. ( )