Book Review: Split Images by Elmore Leonard

Synopsis: Lieutenant Bryan Hurd tries to pin a murder on an eccentric millionaire, who secretly likes to hunt people for sport.

This is my first Elmore Leonard book, and I liked it. The characters are all so well drawn and distinct. Even those characters who are basically stereotypes are so in a way that was fun and interesting to me.

It took a while for the plot to get moving. The first part I was a little bewildered trying to understand what the story was going to be. Then it got started, and the characters took over for me.

The plot became really strong near the end. Elmore added some strong twists and reversals that pumped up my suspense.

Based on this book, I would guess that the strength that makes Leonard one of the big names in his genre is that he has a knack for characters. He just made them come to life and made me care about them. For example: I think my connection to Lt. Hurd locked into place when he asked his lover to get the phone because he wasn't wearing any pants. It's a minor thing, but a quirk about answering the phone while naked makes him so much more real to me than if Leonard had made a point to say he gives sneakers to ghetto kids on Saturdays. It's that kind of care that people's Leonard's books with real, believable characters.