Split Images

Rating:
Summary: From the Leonard Review Collection: One of his best
Review: A relatively early entry in Leonard's dedicated crime series, "Split Images" ranks near the top of the Leonard pantheon.

Here he begins to solidify the types that appear again and again (although in far more grotesque forms) through his novels: The wealthy white guy with way too much time on his hands and criminal intent on his mind; the dual Detroit-Florida locales; the cops both corrupt and slightly shady. It's the first Leonard I've read and, in my opinion, one of his best, with a thoroughly appropriate and ironic resolution. You can't go wrong if you start your Leonard experience here. If all you've read are his more high profile works (Get Shorty, et al), read this to discover Leonard at his un-selfconscious peak.

Rating:
Summary: This book delivers the goods.
Review: At the beginning of Split Images, two Detroit natives meet in Palm Beach after one of them has shot a Haitian burglar. Robbie Daniels is a multimillionaire industrialist fascinated by guns. Walter Kouza is a former Detroit cop with a well deserved reputation for being trigger happy. Walter is flattered that a rich guy is even interested in talking to a working stiff such as himself. So when Robbie offers Walter a job as his personal chauffeur he accepts the position without much hesitation. As it turns out, Robbie is really a psychopath who has been reading too many spy novels. He has come to think of himself as some sort of international assassin and believes that Walter's background in law enforcement will be helpful as he pursues his human quarry.
The two other main characters in this darkly funny story are Bryan Hurd, a detective in Detroit Homocide and Angela Nolan, a freelance journalist. The two of them are on to Robbie's plan and work to foil him and Walter before the plan can be carried out. Bryan and Angela also become romantically involved with each other in a subplot very germane to the overall structure of the novel.
Elmore Leonard is in top form here. The dialogue is realistic, funny and plentiful. The bad guys are believable enough to be interesting but unbelievable enough so you don't have to feel guilty when some of their murderous antics make you laugh. The action takes place in both Detroit and South Florida and Leonard pulls off the changes in locale with ease. The plot is developed in a very skillful manner and there is an unconventional ending which some might find shocking.
I have to agree with the reviewer who said he didn't understand why Split Images isn't better known. This book is a prime example of why Elmore Leonard's reputation as a great writer is well deserved.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Leonard
Review: Dutch is an inconsistent writer. Half his books are good, half are boring or difficult to read. Split Images is one of the good ones (although not anywhere close to Touch, Maximum Bob or The Switch, in my opinion his best). Great characters, great dialogue, plenty of action and moral ambiguity. A workshop on how to advance a plot with almost nothing but dialogue. I liked it.

Rating:
Summary: Shattered Dreams
Review: I am at a loss to understand why this novel from Leonard does not get more attention. It is quite possibly one of his best. For one thing, it is not as formulaic (if that is a word) as some of his other novels. Sure, the 'hero' is cool, his love interest is likeable, the villain and his sidekick are real characters--all just like they are in Leonard's other novels, but they aren't the same characters.

For one, the arch-bad guy is a millionaire with too much free time on his hands. Robbie Daniels has too much money and is obsessed with crime fiction (kind of like a lot of mystery fans) and the attempted assassination of President Reagan. He is not content to sit on the sidelines and read about murders anymore, he wants to get into the action.

Daniels meets Walter Kouza, a police officer, after an attempted break in at his home. Daniels ends up shooting and slaying the perpetrator, then sits down to have a drink with Kouza. He asks Kouza an interesting question: If you could kill one slime ball, someone nobody in the world would miss, who would it be? Its one of many prepared lines that Daniels has at the ready, and it works. Kouza signs up to help Daniels carry out his fantasy crime.

Kouza is a bit of a stereotypical character. He is an overzealous cop with a few too many shootings in the line of duty under his belt. He can't resist the offer Daniels makes to him, which includes an inflated salary, especially for a cop. Leonard probably does his best writing in this novel with Kouza, who has his act together just enough to be a somewhat successful cop, and a great side-kick for Daniels.

The hero is Bryan Hurd. A detective with Homicide in Detroit. He enters the story as a witness in a wrongful death suit against Kouza in Detroit. At the hearing, he meets Angela Nolan, a freelance reporter. They hit off instantly, trading pickup lines and one liners, most of which make the reader want to groan. They do have several things in common, both are divorced and have a good idea what they want from a new relationship. One other thing, Nolan was working on a story about Daniels, and is Hurd's 'in' into the plot.

This novel has a dark ending, and a bit of a twist, which I was not expecting. Having read two dozen novels by Leonard, there are certain plot elements that I have come to expect. Most were, and somewhat refreshingly, gone or changed. I genuinely felt bad for some of the characters at the end of the novel, and was happy to see others get their just deserts.

Leonard fans that haven't picked this one up yet will find it refreshing. Those that haven't read anything by Leonard should enjoy it as well. If you are a crime fiction fan, this one is definitely for you.

Rating:
Summary: Shattered Dreams
Review: I am at a loss to understand why this novel from Leonard does not get more attention. It is quite possibly one of his best. For one thing, it is not as formulaic (if that is a word) as some of his other novels. Sure, the 'hero' is cool, his love interest is likeable, the villain and his sidekick are real characters--all just like they are in Leonard's other novels, but they aren't the same characters.

For one, the arch-bad guy is a millionaire with too much free time on his hands. Robbie Daniels has too much money and is obsessed with crime fiction (kind of like a lot of mystery fans) and the attempted assassination of President Reagan. He is not content to sit on the sidelines and read about murders anymore, he wants to get into the action.

Daniels meets Walter Kouza, a police officer, after an attempted break in at his home. Daniels ends up shooting and slaying the perpetrator, then sits down to have a drink with Kouza. He asks Kouza an interesting question: If you could kill one slime ball, someone nobody in the world would miss, who would it be? Its one of many prepared lines that Daniels has at the ready, and it works. Kouza signs up to help Daniels carry out his fantasy crime.

Kouza is a bit of a stereotypical character. He is an overzealous cop with a few too many shootings in the line of duty under his belt. He can't resist the offer Daniels makes to him, which includes an inflated salary, especially for a cop. Leonard probably does his best writing in this novel with Kouza, who has his act together just enough to be a somewhat successful cop, and a great side-kick for Daniels.

The hero is Bryan Hurd. A detective with Homicide in Detroit. He enters the story as a witness in a wrongful death suit against Kouza in Detroit. At the hearing, he meets Angela Nolan, a freelance reporter. They hit off instantly, trading pickup lines and one liners, most of which make the reader want to groan. They do have several things in common, both are divorced and have a good idea what they want from a new relationship. One other thing, Nolan was working on a story about Daniels, and is Hurd's 'in' into the plot.

This novel has a dark ending, and a bit of a twist, which I was not expecting. Having read two dozen novels by Leonard, there are certain plot elements that I have come to expect. Most were, and somewhat refreshingly, gone or changed. I genuinely felt bad for some of the characters at the end of the novel, and was happy to see others get their just deserts.

Leonard fans that haven't picked this one up yet will find it refreshing. Those that haven't read anything by Leonard should enjoy it as well. If you are a crime fiction fan, this one is definitely for you.

Rating:
Summary: No one does crime better!
Review: If there is a reader out there interested in trying Leonard for the first time, this is as good a place to start as any (from a numerous selection of good titles). Split Images is a great crime novel, and Elmore Leonard is so subtle in the way he writes, that I find myself reading along with what seems like a classic sort of hard boiled mystery only to realize slowly that I am reading something more than that. There have been a ton of hard school writers after him that adopted his nearly comic overtone, but none are as good. What would make this a good first entry into the world of Leonard is that this novel contains many elements that make it "Classic Leonard."

First, it is set in Detroit. Mr. Leonard has moved around a lot in his writing, setting his novels in several areas, but Detroit will always remain his most fertile ground for a setting. I come from the Detroit area and suffice to say, Leonard nails it dead center in every respect. This is Detroit in all its aging industry and working-class struggle. His ability to describe the look and feel of Detroit is second to none, with the possible exception of Loren Estleman.

Secondly, his characterization is terrific. In this novel, which is about a cop's pursuit of an unlikely team of thrill killers (one is a rich sociopath and the other is a ex-cop with a violent history), Leonard was at the top of his game.

When describing Leonard's strengths, one word always comes up: dialogue. No one writes better dialogue. No one. Ever. You can nearly hear the character's voice as you read. He is so good at writing dialogue that the reader can nearly see the character speaking whether Leonard gives a physical description or not.

Lastly, I can think of no other author that handles the male-female relationship with more grace and style than Leonard. The romance in this book is woven perfectly into the narrative thread so that the lover of action fiction (like me) doesn't find themselves hurrying through the mushy parts. Compare this to the Spenser books by Robert Parker, Where Spenser has a girlfriend names Susan. Lord have mercy on the poor reader when Spenser (Parker) starts yapping about or to Susan. All movement in the books stops stone cold dead while we, the reader, is so obviously meant to be impressed with the couples mature, adult relationship.

All in all, Leonard is the best crime writer of the past thirty years - maybe forever.

Rating:
Summary: Good, though it reveals one of the few weaknesses of Leonard
Review: Let me start off by saying that Elmore Leonard is the best crime writer around and probably one of the best American fiction writers alive. His writing is rarely anything but great. His worst novel blows away the likes of Stuart Woods or John Grisham's best. So when you appraise something like "Split Images", he's really at a disadvantage because you're comparing it to his other works; i.e. you end up forcing him to compete with himself.

Leonard did something very gutsy and, for him, unusual by putting the "dark turn" in this novel. But it inadvertently exposed a a somewhat common flaw in his storytelling: lack of believability in the romance to begin with. In "Split Images", I never really believed that Angela Nolan (the journalist) and Bryan Hurd (the cop) fell in love that quickly. It was way too simple. I find that the romances (the secondary story in a lot of his novels) are often unpersuasive. Two good looking people are attracted to each other, have great sex, and then fall in love. Or, fall in love and have great sex. All in about the space of 72 hours. It's all just a little too clean. The secondary romances in his novels are more believable and realistic when they don't work out. When the woman or the man looks at the other and says, this simply will not work. (Like in "The Gold Coast".)

It's unfair in a way. Grisham, Ludlum, Woods, etc., they're allowed to throw in stock, unrealistic romances because the characters aren't all that realistic to begin with. Leonard can't really get away with it because his writing, his storytelling and his characterization is just too good. If you're like me, you end up thinking the unrealistic romance isn't worthy of the rest of the story. Or of the writer.

Still, even when he's not great, he's still very, very good and probably the best crime fiction writer around.

Rating:
Summary: Good, though it reveals one of the few weaknesses of Leonard
Review: Let me start off by saying that Elmore Leonard is the best crime writer around and probably one of the best American fiction writers alive. His writing is rarely anything but great. His worst novel blows away the likes of Stuart Woods or John Grisham's best. So when you appraise something like "Split Images", he's really at a disadvantage because you're comparing it to his other works; i.e. you end up forcing him to compete with himself.

Leonard did something very gutsy and, for him, unusual by putting the "dark turn" in this novel. But it inadvertently exposed a a somewhat common flaw in his storytelling: lack of believability in the romance to begin with. In "Split Images", I never really believed that Angela Nolan (the journalist) and Bryan Hurd (the cop) fell in love that quickly. It was way too simple. I find that the romances (the secondary story in a lot of his novels) are often unpersuasive. Two good looking people are attracted to each other, have great sex, and then fall in love. Or, fall in love and have great sex. All in about the space of 72 hours. It's all just a little too clean. The secondary romances in his novels are more believable and realistic when they don't work out. When the woman or the man looks at the other and says, this simply will not work. (Like in "The Gold Coast".)

It's unfair in a way. Grisham, Ludlum, Woods, etc., they're allowed to throw in stock, unrealistic romances because the characters aren't all that realistic to begin with. Leonard can't really get away with it because his writing, his storytelling and his characterization is just too good. If you're like me, you end up thinking the unrealistic romance isn't worthy of the rest of the story. Or of the writer.

Still, even when he's not great, he's still very, very good and probably the best crime fiction writer around.

Rating:
Summary: One of Leonard's darker novels.
Review: Of the half-dozen Leonard novels I've read, 'Split Images' is the darkest, and the best (surprisingly, you don't hear much about this one, all the praise being reserved for the likes of 'Get Shorty' and 'Rum Punch'). As is typical with Leonard's work, the bad guy, and the henchman of the bad guy, are the best characters, the hero always being cut from the same cloth, however cool that cloth might be. Robbie Daniels is a flat-out sociopath who, bored with running the business he inherited from his father, wants to become a freelance hitman. He enlists the help of trigger-happy Homicide cop Walter Kouza, and the results are bloody (and frequently hilarious). Only a Homicide lieutenant and his journalist girlfriend stand in the way. 'Split Images' has genuine suspense, a surprising conclusion, and enough savvy talk and jokes to keep even the hardest-to-please reader entertained.

Rating:
Summary: good book as always
Review: split images is about a rich white boy who loves guns and feels invincible.he kills people with no remorse and even hires a homicide detective to work for him.a nice quick read if your into crime novels.