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In case there is any reader out there so sheltered as not to know, Elmore Leonard is an extremely productive writer of the hard boiled genre. So hard boiled is he that were I to meet the gentleman I would never dare approach him with a hard cover to be autographed lest I, in my accustomed clumsy manner, trip and inadvertently strike him with the book thus fracturing his integument. In a bio that I found, I read that Leonard developed an interest in writing when still at school in Detroit in 1935. From school he went on to join the Navy (obviously not the Queen's Navy) which may account for his development in writing 'Real Men's Fiction'. When he left the Navy he went on to an advertising agency and in addition began writing short Western fiction. In 1966 he became a full time writer and changed from Western to contemporary fiction and concentrated on full length novels. He has also written screen plays including treatments of his own books. Leonard was awarded the supreme accolade by his peers of the Mystery Writers of America by being given the Grand Master Award. All the above explains how Elmore Leonard became such a talented writer and achieved such a command of his chosen field. In general, I am not a lover of hard boiled fiction. It is amazing what threats to one's sensitive person by a close family member can do in persuading one to enlarge the scope of one's reading. Luckily, the threats were not so intimidating as to force me to change forever from my preferred sub-genres, but enough for me to imbibe Rum Punch. The characters in the book tend, to my mind at least, to be caricatures of people. I could not find one wholly 'good' nor sympathetic person in the novel, although the reader is able to understand the motivations of the main characters. Personally, I find the insouciant destruction of human life, even on a fictional level, somewhat nauseating. To his credit, Elmore Leonard is not one of those authors who dwells lovingly on the gruesomely gory details of the demise of his baddies. Or his goodies. Still, the body count is high. This book, which became the basis for the movie Jackie Brown, begins with white ex-con Louis talking to black crime organiser Ordell Robbie. Ordell wants to involve Louis in a meeting with a neo-Nazi he calls Big Guy. It quickly becomes apparent that Ordell deals in guns. Jackie Burke is an air hostess who is used by Ordell to bring money, his payments from customer Mr Walker, into the country. Jackie is caught by the Feds who have been notified she is bringing money in a larger quantity than the permitted $10,000 into the country. They discover, unexpectedly, that she has unknowingly also brought in some cocaine. She is thus coerced into becoming an initially unwilling accessory to catching Ordell. Max Cherry is a bail bondsman who becomes increasingly aware that the insurance company for which he works has become crooked. He is intimidated into employing Louis and is approached by Ordell to launder money put up for bail by Ordell. A very complicated plot sees Cherry introduced to and falling for Jackie and becoming a part of the sting to catch Ordell for the Feds. The writing is attractive: powerful and easily understood with lots of action and an involving story. If you like Leonard's brand of humour, a very intricate plot and random acts of casual murder, then this book should charm you. rum Editor's Note: This book was originally published in 1992. The review is of the Australian edition
Reviewed by Denise Wels, August 1998
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