Rating: 
Summary: Elmore Leonard Turns On The Magic In Colder Climbs
Review: Far away from miami, the crime goes cold up near lake michigan as The Blackbird (A One Shot, One Kill Professional) & a small time crook, try to get rid of all witnesses after a scam goes bad. They don't have much luck as in this tale the bad guys are the bad guys. This is an amazing book that grips you where it hurts, and twists and turns the whole way through. A definate recomendation.
Rating: 
Summary: A near-masterpiece.
Review: From 'Split Images' to 'Get Shorty', a run encompassing about ten books, Elmore Leonard could do no wrong -- every one of these titles is compelling. 'Killshot' ranks as the best (perhaps tying with 'Split Images') book of this period. The plotting is clever in that it is put at the service of the characters -- action unfolds from character, rather than being imposed on it. And the prose, especially the dialogue, is pitch-perfect. (Compare Leonard's dialogue with that of James Ellroy, and see why Leonard is still regarded as the master.) What makes Leonard's books so enjoyable, however, is the amount of arcane information he's able to put into his story without ever making it feel crammed. He's written about graphology, Mississippi rivermen, high-steel construction, and Elvis Presley conspiracies (all 'Killshot'); leprosy and embalming ('Bandits'); St Francis of Assisi ('Touch' and 'Bandits'); the overthrow of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic ('Split Images', 'Cat Chaser'); photography and the Secret Service ('LaBrava'); casino operations ('Glitz'); hippie politics ('Freaky Deaky'); and countless other subjects. His facility for making these things interesting almost defies belief. Surrender yourself to 'Killshot', especially the redoubtable Carmen Colson, and find your plams getting sweaty, your mouth dry, and your heart racing. You'll laugh a lot, too.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as great as some people seem to think
Review: I agree with the reviewer from Albuquerque who says "Killshot" is mediocre. I've read two books by Elmore Leonard, this one and "Maximum Bob". Neither impressed me. They weren't awful, just not good enough to spend money and time on in my opinion. That is not how I felt after reading Raymond Chandler for instance. One thing I did get a big kick out of in "Killshot" is the protected witnesses being sent to live in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and hating it. Having grown up in that part of the country, believe me, that is a fate worse than being left to fend for themselves.
Rating:
Summary: Another fine outing by Leonard.
Review: I often wonder how Leonard can make the reader laugh at violence, cringe at the tender display of emotion, and sympathize with the least desirable characters in the book. The characters are original and well developed, and their actions are pure comedy, though you don't laugh the whole way through. When reading, the audience can actually be duped into thinking that these characters exist, even if the plot is beyond believing.
Rating: 
Summary: A dud!
Review: I'm a big fan of Leonard's books, but this one is a dud.
He breaks his own rules and gives us dull summaries of the lives
of the characters right as he's trying to get the plot going,
and it comes off flat. Plus, not a character that's very interesting here. Plot is uninteresting. Compared to Stick or Swag or Get Shorty, this book is just pedestrian.
Rating:
Summary: Both grim and funny
Review: Killshot remains one of my favorite Elmore Leonard novels despite how much I enjoy his later work. Leonard's writing has gone through a number of stages, and Killshot was written when his tone was darker than his most recent fiction. The set up of a savvy native American assasin who teams up - with misgivings - with a small time (incompetent) crook, creates a situation where failure is almost predictable. This is wonderful writing of a sort that transcends the typical mystery/thriller. Funny and grotesques by turns, this is one great read. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Killshot Is Not Great, It's Mediocre!
Review: Killshot was my first Leonard book. I chose it because all of the rave reviews it has received here. I bought it from a used bookstore and read the inside cover pages in which various media outlets also gave Killshot excellent remarks.
Honestly, Killshot is not that great of a book. Its main characters Carmen and Wayne are dull, average joes whose dialog is insipid at best. The killers Richie and Bird are the characters who carry the book. I feel more scenes should have been written for the killers. The pace of the book is lethargic and could have been 20 to 40 pages shorter. Minus the mundane dialog and trivial interactions between the Colsons. I don't think this book is "chilling" or "nail bitting" at all. The plot although it sounds interesting doesn't quite live up to what I was expecting. There is no real shocking twist that I thought would happen either. Killshot is not a bad book it's just mediocre. Next I'll read Leonard's "Split Images" or "The Switch" maybe even "Rum Punch".
Rating:
Summary: Story of an aging hit man - Leonard style
Review: The theme of this book is one that Elmore Leonard uses often, and nearly always to great effect - a romantic couple is swept innocently into the world of crime and has to discover heretofore-unknown resources to save themselves. The reason this works so well for Leonard is that it lets him write to two of his great strengths. First, of course, is the world of criminals and cops. His criminals are always incredibly well drawn and always very distinct and three-dimensional. I have never read it anywhere, but I would guess that Quentin Tarantino must have been a big Leonard fan in his developmental years. His screen killers bear the hallmarks of Leonard characters; i.e. impassioned conversations about everyday things (like the two hit men in Pulp Fiction discussing McDonald's Big Macs) while dwelling in the sub-culture of crime and violence. The second and less-commented-on strength Leonard has is the ability to portray the tugs and pulls of a male/female relationship with such effortless accuracy. In the interplay of the novel's husband and wife team, the subtle, aggravating, thrilling differences between man and woman are expertly rendered with a few classic, Leonard strokes. Also, Leonard is also the master at local color and authentic detail. His research and detail always has the feel of easy, unforced truth. But let's face it; crime is what makes Leonard tick - the deal, the scam - and the men and women licking their chops over money and guns. It is certainly all here in this book. Here, it's an extortion scheme combining the efforts of an aging, nearly burned out hit man (Armand Degas) and a clever, hyperactive sociopath (Richie Nix). As always, Leonard develops his characters with subtle, concise power. Nix slowly becomes a truly frightening, dangerous character, My favorite element of the book is Leonard's portrait of the half Ojibwa, half Canadian hit man, Armand Degas. In a way, the book is his somehow his story. From the beginning, he seems vaguely aware that his end is coming. Leonard's portrayal of this tiring man of violence lends certain poignancy to this character that stays with the reader. All in all, classic Leonard - meaning a work that will keep you turning pages in effortless joy.
Rating:
Summary: Another Stroke of the Master
Review: There are many interesting ingredients: a setting on the U.S.-Canada border; a cold-blooded Indian hit man; a psycho, rep-building sidekick; victims willing to fight back, one a high-iron construction worker; an F.BI. agent with more libido than intelligence. At many points I said to myself "Oh no! They're not going to do that!" There were some tedious arguments among the killers and among the victims. The dialogue had a you-are-there authenticity. Some of the events didn't. The ending hits like a punch in the gut.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Read
Review: This is the first Elmore book I have read and I loved it. It is very much in the vein of Pulp Fiction and Out Of Sight which were heavily influenced by Elmore's books. Great Book read it!
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