City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit

A friend heard I'd never read a book by Elmore Leonard. He knew I'd been reading the Parker series by Donald Westlake, who wrote them under the name Richard Stark. I was up to number nine in the Parker series, when a package arrived in the mail -- two cheap paperbacks of Leonard novels, the sort of slim volumes that fit easily in the back pocket of a pair of jeans -- sent by my Leonard-liking friend. I dove immediately into City Primeval, which is subtitled High Noon in Detroit.

I'm only really just beginning to read novels like the Leonard books, and the Parker series. After a life in literary fiction and science fiction, I'm making my way through hardboiled fiction -- mysteries, crime, thriller. It's been a lot of fun. I'm not totally show more new to this stuff. I'd read some Mickey Spillane in college, under the influence of John Zorn, who wrote a great suite in Spillane's honor. I read a lot of the Black Lizard crime novels as they were being reissued, especially enjoying Jim Thompson, Paul Cain, Charles Willeford's Burnt Orange Heresy (which is a hardboiled novel that arts critics should read), stuff like that. I've read (or listened to unabridged audio books of) pretty much all of John le Carré, up until the last two or three of his books.

And that's just novels, a point I'll get back to at the end of this, a point that was very much on my mind as City Primeval was making its pleasures clear to me. For when it comes to television and movies and comics, this fictional mode that I mostly avoided in written work is something I actively seek out in visual storytelling. So by the time I got to Elmore Leonard, I was already a fan of heists and criminal pursuits and urban detection. I just have, in the past, consumed it not as a novel but as The Wire, or NYPD Blue, or The Shield, and so on. Hong Kong action flicks. Hollywood crime thrills, like Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight, itself based on an Elmore Leonard book.

Anyhow, as for City Primeval, it's subtitled High Noon in Detroit for a reason. That's what the book is -- a long tense plot with limited violence, leading up to an all-but-inevitable confrontation. The confrontation will, it seems like, be between the two main characters: Cruz, a recently divorced cop with a penchant for being clean cut despite his city's high scum quotient; and Mansell, a self-proclaimed wildman who, as put by one person who knows him better than she would prefer, was born about 100 or so years too late. You know how Sawyer, in an early episode of Lost, says that he's no longer in civilization; he's in the wild? That's how Mansell acts, even when he's in civilization. (Yeah, another TV reference from me.)

The book opens suddenly, with Mansell unwittingly killing a prominent and much-hated Detroit judge after a bad case of road rage on both their parts. It's a brief tour-de-force, moving back and forth quickly between the points of view of the judge and Mansell. That taut format is then expanded for the rest of the book, which cycles with ease from Mansell to Cruz and back again, making stops along the way for the viewpoints of Mansell's girlfriend and lawyer, Cruz's fellow detectives, and some criminals with their own reasons to want Mansell off the streets.

Leonard keeps things moving, which is especially to his credit since omniscience is rarely in the favor of a thriller. We, the reader, know just about everything. There's one point toward the end where the cops clearly know what they're going to do, and he keeps this from us, but otherwise, we know pretty much everything -- most importantly that Mansell didn't single out the judge. It was coincidence that the guy Mansell killed was a notable part of the justice system. That's a red herring that keeps Cruz and his peers off course for quite a stretch. Watching Cruz track Mansell and trap him is great fun, and I'm sure this won't be my last Leonard book.

Back to TV for a moment, I've long wondered why The Wire wasn't as popular as The Sopranos. After reading City Primeval, I guess I know why. There's so much of the Wire in City Primeval, that it's clear to me that as new as The Wire was to me, it wasn't to everyone. Perhaps it wasn't the series' much-praised complexity but its familiarity that caused it to be less special to a broader audience. There are, simply put, far more city-crime novels packed with characters than there are mafia novels disguised as family dramas. show less

Story takes place in Detroit and tells the story of a seriously crazed 'Oklahoma Wildman' Clement Mansell who knows how easy it is to get away with murder - thanks to some nifty courtroom moves by his beautiful, tough-as-nails lawyer Carolyn Wilder. But now the killer's senseless execution of a crooked Motown judge has inflamed the ire of homicide Detective Raymond Cruz, a good cop who believes in old-fashioned justice. When Mansell tries to extort money from the 'Albanian' Skender Lulgjaraj, Cruz isn't about to let Mansell slip through the legal system's gaping holes a second time. Even if that means maneuvering the psycho into a wild Midwest showdown that only one of them is going to be walking away from...

The City Primeval by Elmore Leonard is a take on a wild west showdown but this one is set in modern times in the city of Detroit. Clement Mansell is a killer, he knows how easy it can be to get away with murder and so he keeps a high profile, tough-as-nails female lawyer on retainer. Her mistake is thinking that she can control him. A senseless act of road rage has him murdering a crooked judge along with his girlfriend and the lead detective in the case, Raymond Cruz believes this killer shouldn’t get to slip away by using technicalities of the legal system even if it means manoeuvring a showdown that will allow only one of them to walk away.

Leonard’s take on a modern western was written in 1980, and although it is dated with show more references to discos, Afros and Plymouth automobiles, this is good crime story. The contrasts between the loud showy, psycho Mansell and the quiet, steady, old school policeman, Cruz keeps the reader involved and anticipating the confrontation that is coming.

The author moves his story along with his excellent use of dialogue that brings the 1980’s to life. The seedy side of Detroit is showcased as the story unfolds in a dry, hard-edged manner. The City Primeval is a tightly-written, original crime story where the protagonists play a cat-and-mouse-game that keeps the suspense level high. show less

A cop and a lawyer who both generally believe in the system of law and order they serve get drawn into a case in which the system is failing. A judge and his female companion are murdered, and it soon becomes clear to just about everyone who the murderer is. But without clear evidence, he'll never be convicted. In fact he's killed 7 people before this case, and has gotten away with all those crimes and many other less lethal crimes without being convicted, and he's not worried this time either.
So, when the system has proven it cannot take down this master criminal thug, it may come down to those few people who know enough about the case to be willing to work outside the law, albeit reluctantly.
I am not quite sure why this book was show more included on a 1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die list, though I suppose for a man compiling such a list this novel might be an appealing choice. It does tap into boyhood Wild West fantasies of gunslingers' duels and gangster plots. And, while it is a police procedural/small-time gangster crime novel, it is also addressing the motivations behind why cops and thugs act the way they do. Still, while I liked this book, I would not have included it on such a list. show less

The most recent Justified was based on this novel. The novel was much better though I really did like the original Justified series. The story was a bit light but it read well and fast though there were a couple of over explained detours. Written in the late 70's there was a lot of the N word and it may not have been allowed in these more sensitive times.

Not one of my favorite Elmore Leonard crime novels, but he still manages to tell an entertaing story that is a quick, but compelling read.

I've read LOTS of Elmore Leonard and this is one that ranks near the top (everything he wrote is good, some just better than others). Perfection. Not a flaw in the book. Great dialogue, Great Characters.