Monday, March 28, 2005

Freaky Deaky
by Elmore Leonard

A solid page-turner crime novel by a master of the genre, with a keen ear for dialogue. I would have thought a book about aging hippies, remnants of Weather Underground-type groups, who bomb the bourgeois for money and pleasure, would be tedious and cliche. But Margaret Atwood, who loves crime novels and especially Leonard, recommended this one in particular. Even if Leonard missteps occasionally (such as when a character's blotter acid kicks in in five minutes, making me think "don't write what you don't know"), the story moves along convincingly and, of course, has a twist at the end. Leonard also wrote the book behind the new Uma Thurman and John Travola movie, "Be Cool," the follow-up to "Get Shorty" (also by him). I liked "Get Shorty," but I haven't seen the sequel. My guess: the books are better.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home