Rating: 
Summary: Elmore Leonard just can't miss
Review: Elmore Leonard just keeps going and going and going. I guess he never runs out of insane situations to write about, quirky protagonists, nefarious bad guys and quick-witted not-quite-so-bad guys, conniving (or totally innocent - - but rarely) beautiful women, stellar dialogue, twisted plots...
I dunno, but I'll read anything he writes cuz I know I'm going to be royally entertained.
Pagan Babies concerns Terry, a guy on the lam from the IRS, who hies himself off to Rwanda to stay with his priest/uncle, and while there he witnesses the genocide. Leonard downplays the grisly, horrific details of this, but we can tell it has changed Terry in some fundamental way. When his uncle dies, he sort of assumes the priest alb and carries on in his stead for something like 5 yrs, hearing confessions, giving penance, and occasionally even saying Mass.
He comes back to the states, still playing the priest, and meets up with Debbie Dewey, the usual lovely you'll find in Leonard's books, only this one just got out of jail for assaulting her ex with a Ford Escort and wants to be a stand-up comic focusing on prison humor. Hello? I mean, you can't make this stuff up! But Elmore Leonard does.
They team up to pull of a scam, and things of course go awry - and that's all I'm going to tell you.
Read it. It's a hoot.
Rating: 
Summary: Leonard at top form
Review: Father Terry Dunn knows it is time to leave the Rwanda massacre. His church contains forty-seven corpses turning to "leather." Although Terry is hiding as a priest, he cannot take any more of the killing fields. He kills several of the culprits but flees home to Detroit. He originally fled to avoid jail time.Debbie Dewey has just left prison after three years for trying to run over her former husband with a car. Debbie wants to become a stand-up comic until she meets Terry still masquerading as a priest. They are immediately attracted to one another and he brings her into his current con, bilking wealthy patrons in a save the Rwandan children cause which is another name for his wallet. She ups the ante by persuading him that her ex and the mob boss he is tied to is the perfect pigeon. PAGAN BABIES is more than vintage Leonard. This novel is classic Leonard wildly destroying moral barriers. The story line is entertaining, never eases up, and contains Mr. Leonard's graphic but picturesque prose that shows he is quite a talent. The characters are typical of Mr. Leonard's novel as they run the full spectrum of sleaze, in other words likable to detestable parasites. This tale is superb reading for those fans that enjoy something different along the lines of a fabulously written crime drama heavily spiced with the absurd.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than The Hunted
Review: I didn't like Leonard's last published book The Hunted at all (which was actually written a long time ago). Considering that this novel also moves its protagonists out of the US and even chooses genocide ridden Rwanda as a backdrop, I wasn't feeling too good about this one when I picked it up. I'm glad to report that I was wrong. In Pagan Babies, a fake priest returns from Rwanda to set up a con which isn't as huge as some of the other reviews might seem to declare, but which brings back familiar Leonard traits: great dialogue (even though even the african housekeeper seems to have adapted well to the characteristic talk of the protagonists), a likable hero (who is described in a wonderful way, which just about describes just about every Leonard hero I can remeber (and I have read about 25 of his books): "he was confident in a very low-key way, not trying to be cool and yet he was"), an interesting heroine, some dumb mafia guys and just enough plot to keep everything moving. It's not up to par with Leonard's best work, and the ending is a little sudden and not all that logical. But it's a huge improvement over the last book. Finally, I was one of the doctors who went to Rwanda after the genocide to help, and his description of the situation which could have been awkward works pretty well, especially considering the context of a crime caper. This I definitely didn't expect. And it made me wonder where Mr Leonard got his information.
Rating: 
Summary: couldn't finish it
Review: I've always liked his books despite their flaws. I like his unpredictable plots and anything goes approach to plotting ... but he's clearly become wrapped up in the Elmore Leonard myth, and the writing style has deteriorated and the plots have become more forced and the characters more forced. I tried reading another recent book of his, and I'm noticing the same thing in that. Frankly, I don't have the patience to get through the awful writing and over-reliance on "snappy" dialogue that is supposed to be so "realistic and gritty" and whatever other adjectives people want to apply to his dialogue writing skills. The fact is nobody, but Nobody actually talks like that. All the characters speak in the same style of one-liner quips and pseudo-street lingo, whether they're a lawyer or hitman or a modern day Christ figure, and it grows stale and repetitive, and now that seems to be all he relies on, his supposed "ear" for realistic dialogue. I'm sorry, but no one I know, in the entire circle of people I have to interact with daily, talk like some snappy-speaking wiseguy. Conversations do not flow like that. Yes, he has a way with language, but it's gone stale. There's still some older books I'll check out of his, but his new ones I've now given up on. (You know, there's a reason his books don't make good movies -- in movies his dialogue doesn't work when real life people actually have to recite those lines, and it takes a Quentin Tarantino to rework the dialogue to make a good movie from one of his books.) You'll find the same problem in the Robert Parker books.
Rating:
Summary: Leonard's best!
Review: I've read 7 or 8 of Leonard's books, and this one is certainly the his highest achievement. The story is taught, the characters well drawn, and the writing some of his best.
Rating: 
Summary: Uncomfortably enjoyable
Review: Let me first say that I love Elmore Leonard on principle. I enjoy the pacing and the humanization of his characters, regardless of where they fall in the moral spectrum. That said, I was intrigued by the plot involving the genocidal activity in Rwanda. Leonard was careful to keep the genocidal activity comedy free, although you couldn't help but feel undomfortable from page one through the end. It is a well crafted book, with several engrossing passages, and the typical Elmore Leonard dialogue, rife with witticisms, but the utterly depressing backdrop is a bit much to deal with. Read with caution
Rating:
Summary: Strong start, rushed end
Review: Ok, so I'm a little late in reviewing this one, it's been out awhile, and I finally gave this one attention over the other hoards of stuff I buy and eventually get too... anyways, enough of that. This started off as a really strong novel, it was quick to set things up, had some very compelling characters, great dialog, off humor, it had it all. It created a great con game and set it up well, had you hoping for the cons, stick it to the badder cons! Problem is, you're over 1/2 way through the book and things are still being set up, doesn't leave much room left for the conclusion... which was, surprise, rushed. I don't know if he was pressed for time, got fed up writing, the cab was out there waiting for him or what, but after such a great set up and things start rolling, it just flew through the last bit. Guess it was to show that it all happened quickly, but still... disappointing. It's well worth reading, maybe deserves more stars but that just a bit of a let down to me.
Rating:
Summary: A new twist for Leonard
Review: One of the joys of Elmore Leonard's books is that one can always predict certain things about them and yet he always surprises. The surprises aren't always good and the books don't always work, but he is so dead on often enough that I automatically buy any new book he publishes. In Pagan Babies he presents what is in many ways the typical Elmore Leonard crime story of inept crooks, betrayal, misplaced affection, and unanticipated outcomes but he departs from his tradition by having part of the book set in Rawanda after the bitter period of genocide. "Father" Terry Dunn, a pretend priest half-heartedly ministering to a flock severly depleted by murder, returns to the U.S. to settle an outstanding felony charge against him. He joins forces with a bitter ex-con who served three years for trying to kill the husband who defrauded her, and they set out to try a scheme that will get her money back and provide money for the orphanage in Africa that still haunts him. Mixed into the stew is a larcinous friend of Terry's who feels that he is owed $10,000 for his part in the crime that caused Terry to have to flee the country, a simple minded Hoosier hitman named Mutt, the sleez ex-husband, and various mobsters. The plot is tight, the dialoge is vintage Leonard, and the resolution to the story, while anticipated in part, has enough surprises and ironic twists to be satisfying. I have to say, however, that as much as I enjoyed the book, it seemed to lack the zest and energy that Leonard's best books embody. There was a certain flatness to many of the scenes, as was true in his historical novel Cuba Libre. Since the story seems to leave a number of the characters embarking on new endeavors, I expect we will see them again in future books. I hope so. I would hate to not find out what happens to Debbie Dewey and her career as a stand-up comic. And Mutt is just too good a character to dump. I'm already looking forward to the next novel, whatever Leonard chooses it to be.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun Read
Review: So the book loses some steam towards the end--that was the point. The ending is intentionally slowed down, there's not much bang-bang. The story begins just at the end of the horrible Rwandan Civil War and concludes with a new, peaceful beginning for the war-torn nation. Some fans may experience a "let down" because the story starts off so ferociously, you expect the proceeding pages to explode in your hands. But the story does take a contemplative journey in redemption. Can a criminal find it in his heart to care for others rather than himself? The opening scene in Rwanda is so vivid and scary you'll get hooked by the story lickety-split. And when Father Dunn, the protagonist, heads back to Detroit to pull off a scam on behalf of Rwanda's orphaned children, he crosses paths with mobsters, hustlers, convicts and whores. Entertaining stuff. "Pagan Babies" has great seedy characters. Wicked dialog. There's a really cool character, a standup comic, Debbie Dewey, who messes around with Father Dunn--of coarse, you'll learn more about the "Father" as the story unfolds--and that relationship gets all screwed up. This was a fun read, and I would recommend this book to anyone. I don't think it'll disappoint you.
Rating:
Summary: Another great from the master
Review: There are a lot of great crime fiction writers out there (and even more not-so-great ones). Among the greats, Elmore Leonard stands out as one of the masters. In this book, all of the things that make his books great are here: crisp and realistic dialogue, morally ambiguous characters, plot twists and betrayals. In this case, Father Terry Dunn returns home to Detroit from Rwanda, where he has been a helpless witness to genocide. Meanwhile, Debbie Dewey is just getting out of prison, intent on getting back at her ex-boyfriend who ripped her off (and who she hit with her car, hence the prison sentence). Dunn and Dewey - each with their own agendas - team up with the intention of taking the ex-boyfriend for $250,000. Oh, and then there's the mob, too.... This book is fun from start to finish, another indication as to why Leonard has an almost legendary status in the field. As in his famous quote, he leaves out the parts the people skip over, leaving only the great stuff. There are no heroes and few villains in this story and Leonard never hints as to whether the ending will be happy, downbeat or ambiguous (and I won't either). In his books, they can usually go any number of ways. I recommend this book not only for crime fiction fans but fiction fans in general. Leonard's skills transcend the genre and should be a great read for most people.
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