The Moonshine War
by Elmore Leonard
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Description
Prohibition is a big headache for some . . . and a big payday for others, the fearless entrepreneurs with little respect for the law of the land. With $125,000 worth of Kentucky's finest homemade whiskey in his possession, big, hell-raising Son Martin counts himself among the latter. Son knows having this much illegal hooch makes him a very tasty target, but nobody's going to steal it from him. Ware may be coming to his backyard, but Son's not worried. Because when it comes to fighting, show more shooting, and keeping one step ahead of the Big Boys, he's more than good-he's bad . . . and dangerous . . . and deadly. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
The Moonshine War presents a circumstance full of irony. A quiet loner tells his greatest secret one time to his casual army pal. From this premise, an exquisite plot springs to life.
When you think genre, you think clumsy over-writing or cliche but Elmore Leonard is better than that. Yes, most of the conventions of the genre are honored, but not all of them so you can still be surprised. I'd give it an extra half-star if I could.
This book reminds me of pirates looking for buried treasure. Except in this case the pirates are moonshiners and the buried treasure is moonshine. It is an easy to read book which leans to our perception of backwoods people and moonshiners in particular. I enjoyed the story although I felt that it ended too soon. It could have used another chapter. I look upon a story as an historical event and I want to know the outcome, how the characters made out. I need the story to have an ending, happy or otherwise.
Not my favorite Elmore Leonard book. While the book was well written and the plot was good, it just didn't appeal to me. I think what was missing for me was more interesting characters. Only the character Dual was a classic Leonard character and he just wasn't featured enough.
When I want something gritty Leonard supplies it.
Classic EL. I could see Stephen Root playing the dentist.
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Author Information
181+ Works 40,677 Members
Elmore John Leonard, Jr. 10/11/25 -- 8/20/13 Elmore John Leonard, Jr., popularly known as mystery and western writer Elmore Leonard, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 11, 1925. He served in the United States Naval Reserve from 1943 to 1946. He received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Detroit in 1950. After graduating, he show more wrote short stories and western novels as well as advertising and education film scripts. In 1967, he began to write full-time and received several awards including the 1977 Western Writers of America award and the 1984 Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe award. His other works include Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Hombre, Mr. Majestyk, 3:10 to Yuma, and Rum Punch. Many of his works were adapted into movies. Library of America recently announced plans to publish the first of a three-volume collection of his books beginning in the Fall of 2014. Leonard died on August 20, 2013 from complications of a stroke he had earlier. He was 87 years old. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1969
- Related movies
- The Moonshine War (1970 | IMDb)
- First words
- The war began the first Saturday in June 1931, when Mr. Baylor sent a boy up to Son Martin's place to tell him they were coming to raid his still.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)It was here that he stopped and looked back and said, "I got a half barrel and some fruit jars if anybody feels the need."
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 292
- Popularity
- 109,485
- Reviews
- 7
- Rating
- (3.65)
- Languages
- English, French, German, Italian
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 18
- ASINs
- 6
