The Hunted (Elmore Leonard)

 Well, it's been long overdue: I am currently reading a crime novel by Elmore Leonard. I have been wanting to get back to Leonard since January 2025, it was one of my reading objectives that year: add one of his novels to my TBR list. Well, better late than never, I recently bought The Hunted, among a number of his books I was pondering on. I'm reading it now. The hunted of the novel is hero Al Rosen. I say "hero", but maybe it's more fitting to say protagonist, although he is as heroic as one can be in a Leonard story. He is hiding in Israel from Detroit mobsters, drifting in the Holy Land out of trouble, until he saves some tourists from a hotel fire, which gets him his picture in the press... and the attention from the mob. It's a neat thriller so far, with nasty criminals, a sleazy lawyer, great dialogues and plenty of atmosphere.

Elmore Leonard on my TBR list

As I was checking my to be read list recently, something struck me: I have no title from Elmore Leonard. Worse: I haven't read him since, well, a long time ago. I think the last time was circa 2020 or 2021, so a long time ago. And that is terrible. So I will need to sort this out and maybe include one title or two of him. Now, it will not be Cat Chaser, because I read it back in 2007. The second Leonard novel I read, which cemented my interest in him.I have been wanting to revisit it, but I have too many unread novels of his to discover to have time for revisiting any one of them. I just put its cover because I like the look of it, I find it atmospheric. So yeah, If you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments.

Elmore Leonard en bd (et en français)

Je lis trop peu de romans d'Elmore Leonard ces temps-ci. Je compte d'ailleurchanger la donne dès que possible. Or, j'apprends qu'il y a déjà eu une adaptation en bande dessinée de The Hot Kid, rebaptisé Le Kid de l'Oklahoma (mouais). Je sais qu'une bédé, même somptueuse, ça re remplacera jamais la prose originale de Leonard, mais je suis curieux et je vais tenter de mettre la main dessus.

Glitz

I have not done this in a whole, so here is today's reading suggestion: Glitz by Elmore Leonard. The first novel I read from the master and, like for Stephen King before me, the one that got me hooked. So what's this about? Lt. Vincent Mora of Miami is convalescing in Puerto Rico after being shot by a mugger while he was off duty. There he meets local beauty (and prostitute) Iris, while being stalked by former convict Teddy Magyk. Teddy is a small-time criminal and a pathetic loser, he's also a rapist of elderly ladies, a murderer, in sum a very dangerous man. And he wants to kill the Miami cop who sent him in. Mora is resilient, but Teddy is relentless. It's a tense cat and mouse chase where cat and mouse switch roles, the baits are corpses and a true page turner with character and soul.

Bisbee, Arizona

I am reading Hombre by Elmore Leonard at the moment, the first western novel I ever read, I think. They made a movie adaptation, which I never saw. Anyway, in the novel they mention the town of Bisbee, Arizona. Its Wikipedia entry says it's a city, but it really is a town. Funny coincidence, I recently watched (again) L.A. Confidential, which mentions Bisbee as well, since this is where Lynn Bracken, the Veronica Lake lookalike character of Kim Basinger, is from. So... Well, so nothing. I just found it funny, this obscure town (no offense for the people living there), being mentioned in one of the most acclaimed movies of the 90s. It made me curious about it. From what I found on its website, it looks quite pretty. If I ever go to Arizona, I might visit it.

RIP Elmore Leonard

I have learned something very sad today: Elmore Leonard passed away. At 87, it was to be expected, but it is still sad nevertheless. I have to confess, I was disappointed by Djibouti, but he wrote so many great crime novels. I still remember discovering him with Glitz and being blown away. Elmore Leonard had such... I was about to say talent, but this is such a cliché and so ridiculous to say this about a veteran writer, especially such a prolific writer. Leonard has mastery, skills. He was a maestro of crime fiction. I had wanted to quote his ten rules of writing, I didn't know when, then sadly tonight became the occasion. It sums up why he is so admired:

"1. Never open a book with weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said”…he admonished gravely.
5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
6. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip."

He also added one to sum up the ten: "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it." A maestro's words. He will be missed, but his work is immortal (and he wouldn't have forgiven me for this cliché).

1. Never open a book with weather. 2. Avoid prologues. 3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. 4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely. 5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. 6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose." 7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. 8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters. 9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things. 10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/entertainment/movies/Elmore-Leonards-10-Rules-of-Good-Writing.html#hWkWuKiGWjQv6eMg.99

Pirates of today and yesteryear

Summertime is not quite coming, nevertheless, I have decided to read something that would be appropriate for summer. Which means mainly crime fiction. Violent, nasty crime fiction. I had not read the prolific Elmore Leonard in a long while, I have decided to read (one of?) his latest: Djibouti. I chose this one for a number of reasons. Among them, I was curious about such a contemporary novel, set in a contemporary time, with contemporary issues and background, written by... a 85 year old writer. I also chose to read this novel because it is about pirates. Modern day pirates. And I LOVE pirate stories, which I think go hand in hand with summertime. I used to play pirates a lot as a child, during summer. They were the traditional ones of folklore of course, but sometimes we did have make belief games that were modern high sea adventures too.

I also borrowed from the library a book about the history of piracy, from antiquity to today. I intend to blog more about it another day. So expect to see and read about pirates a lot on Vraie Fiction. I am very jealous of Elmore Leonard. Not only because he is a great crime writer (and remaining great as a prolific one!), but because he managed to be original again. One of my dreams was to write a book about contemporary pirates. And Elmore Leonard just did it! I envy him, but I will still enjoy the novel. Of course I will, it is about pirates.

Of cats and crocs

Sometimes there are news that make me despair of the human race, yet there are others that make me marvel about the animal kingdom. And when I learn about cats, it is to marvel at their intelligence, beauty, resilience, and overall superiority. Cats are superior creatures and I am convinced that one day, when mankind will have disappeared due to its own stupidity, the feline race will take over and this planet will be in good hands. Or paws.

Anyway, yesterday Matt Dillahunty linked on Facebook an article about a sicko who had murdered a cat of a Democratic Campaign Manager. It had got me very upset and gave me bad dreams. Wanton cruelty over animals, especially animals I love, always makes me upset. I learnt today in the Metro (your reference for pointless news when you are tired) that a cat had won a fight against an alligator over some chicken. It scared the alligator off! Somebody filmed it and it got viral on Youtube. Okay, this is pure trashy news. And after watching the video I am honestly not very proud of the human species I mean somebody should have worried about the cat. I didn't like the cheap laugh, the amused comments, the whole America's Funniest Home Videos feel and look, nothing in fact but the fearless, in your face attitude of the feline.It is the attitude that got the better of the saurian, not the cat's size, not its claws or fangs, but its stare, its fearlessness, its character.

I don't know exactly why, but I make an association with both stories. In Elmore Leonard's Maximum Bob, an ex-convict, pathetic criminal is compared to an alligator: stupid, mean, but dangerous. The sick guy who killed a cat is also a mean, stupid, cold blooded, cold heart saurian. He should be locked away for good. But hey there are cats. Smart creatures that can hold their ground. It does not mean they are soft: anyone who has seen a cat hunting can witness how merciless they can be. But there is no real meanness to it: cats do it out of hunger and for self preservation. And unlike crocodiles, alligators and other saurians (who eat their own offspring) they are capable of tenderness and empathy. And they get the better of alligators sometimes. I hesitated to upload the video here, but decided to do it anyway.

One haunting, defiant line from Elmore Leonard

I read Cat Chaser by Elmore Leonard back in 2007, I haven't read it again. I don't remember all that much about it. But there is a line, from the beginning of the novel, that got stuck in my head and that I reread from time to time. I just find it so brilliant for some reason. Here it is:

"Mario, there's a certain amount of shit you have to put up with in this business, but you just went over the limit."

Elmore Leonard is famous, and deservedly so, to give great dialogues ("dialogue like broken glass" says the back cover of the book), lines cut by razor, all vivid and bloody. The rest of what George Moran says is equally brilliant, but this first line got stuck in my head since 2007. I am not quite sure why. Actually, I do: because I wished I had said it, or something similar, to some people whose way to despise and stigmatise me I could not stand and that were really giving me a load of crap. This line just exposes hypocrisy, this social cowardice we often call diplomacy and is just brilliant. Sure, I would have got into trouble saying it. Still, I regret I did not.

Ancient Rome and sort of ancient America

Well, this Summer is not as bad as last year's, but it's certainly isn't the greatest. It's grey again, so I spent the day job hunting (I hope it will eventually give results) and watching Rome. Even after the departure of Ciaran Hinds (as he played Caesar, he left when his character got murdered), it's still an addictive series.

I am also reading The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard, which I borrowed from my brother-in-law. He didn't like it, but so far I find it a wonderful crime novel and a vividly acurate period piece. In this entry, I have to seemingly radically different topics, but in a way, they share similarities: both describe with authenticity a certain time in history, both are about a troubled period in a young but powerful nation that is about to become an empire, both have really great dialogues (Elmore Leonard is the all-time master in that regard), both are very violent, as history and human passions always are.