Book Review: The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard

Synopsis: Carl Webster, a young US Marshal works to capture various bad guys in the thirties while building his myth.

This one took me a while to really get into. There are a series of flashbacks and flash-sideways to establish the characters. I wasn't paying enough attention to completely figure out what it was all about. Later on I realized it was to establish Carl and Jack Belmont, the antagonist. Perhaps if I'd been paying more attention, my favorite part of the book wouldn't have been so cool. About half or three-quarters of the way through, I realized that Carl and Jack have almost identical backgrounds. And they are equally hesitant to shoot.

Once I got into the story, once I knew what was going on, It was an enjoyable story. Something along the lines of The Untouchables. As I've spoken of minor character traits in previous Leonard books, I'll add one here. There's a point where Carl is facing down some pretty tough people while someone is cooking in another room. He stops in the middle of a dour statement to say, "That smells good." As I've said before, that makes him so much more human than rescuing any number of kittens.

Oh, another Elmore Leonard trait: denouement? What denouement? This is the second Elmore Leonard book I've read that ends immediately after the climax. Done right, that's not a bad thing. And Leonard does it right.