Well-written, well-plotted, fun to listen to the recorded version (Frank Muller does bad guys with brio) but any deeper moral or even history lesson escaped me. ( )

I have to say, as a person reading WAY outside her chosen genre, I enjoyed this book pretty well. This is one of the books I acquired when my husband and I merged our libraries, and I probably would not have gotten to reading it any time soon, had it not been for Go Review That Book!
I enjoyed the fast-paced writing style, as well, with the exception of how we seemed to be jumping in to the middle of the action towards the beginning. It took quite some time to really get a feel for these characters, and by the time I did, I felt like I had missed some plot points that I hadn't understood were important because I hadn't gotten to know the characters. It sort of felt as though I was reading something from the middle of a series, but as all the characters seemed to have their stories neatly tied up in this book, that must not be the case.
The resolution of the tale was quite satisfying, although throughout the book, I didn't really see how it could come to a conclusion I'd be happy with. I'm impressed with Leonard's story. ( )

The first of Leonard's books I read was Cat Chaser, and I think he may well have written better books, but I retain a deep regard for this one because it convinced me that there was life in the crime novel after Raymond Chandler. Famous for his convincing dialogue, and his self imposed writing rules such as no more than three exclamation marks per book, Leonard stands tall among today's living writers. ( )