I thought I had read this in the past, but couldn't find a record of it in my Library Thing book list. This was a weird one for me. The first half of the book it seemed like nothing was happening. Of course the writing and dialogue was flowing as usual. But, everything was a set up for the last half of the book. ( )

A good, fun little book. Elmore Leonard certainly has his own style and it shines through very well here. Great characters, great story, great dialogue. Very enjoyable.
( )

Outstanding convoluted crime caper. La Brava, an ex secret service fellow, now sensitive photographer to the street people of miami, gets mixed up with older starlet that he idolized as a 12 year old. He's seen all her movies and we play a game where she is acting out parts of the noir-ish movies in this story. Without giving it away, the starlet is mixed up with a big bad boy / man from the Bayou. That manchild makes a Cuban boatlifter friend and recruits him to assist in a complicated plan to bilk 600K out of a pleasant older guy (ex mobster). Lots going on! a bit of John MacDonald updated and maybe without as much of the self satisfaction of Travis. Which is to say- great book, great story. Perhaps a tad tiring with the nostalgic play on old movies, but as i am susceptible that kind of thing, i can live with it. ( )

the most noir-ish of the elmore leonards i’ve read so far, and the best (those two things are probably related) ( )

If you like hard-boiled detective stuff, this is for you. Leonard even throws in a faded 1950s movie star so you get a bit of film noir along the way.

Halfway through, there’s a twist which isn’t entirely unforeseeable, and it all reads pretty well. While it is a novel that very accurately captures its era, this in many respects is a shame.

Misogyny is rampant with all the women being represented as sexual objects in one way or another and all the men represented as macho in one way or … well pretty much one way.

For these reasons, I didn’t find it too pleasant a read and the novel will not age well. Having read this and City Primeval, I’m not sure that Leonard, like Tartt, has more than one novel to write. It’s not a novel I need to read more than twice and I won’t be expanding my literary horizons with more of his oeuvre. ( )