If the name Elmore Leonard does not manage to create a synapse in your brain, signaling you to a memory of some quality American fiction, then you have missed the boat. Luckily, there is still time to become acquainted with Leonard, starting from the beginning.
Since the 1950s, Leonard has published novel after novel, many becoming bestsellers, either later or instantaneously. His first book, “The Bounty Hunters,” was a Western, but going forward, Leonard branched out into genres of pulp and crime fiction.
In his most recent crime fiction novel, “Road Dogs,” Leonard revisits a few familiar faces — Jack Foley, Cundo Rey, Dawn Navarro, and of course, even some mentions of Karen Sisco. Maybe the characters speak for themselves, but Leonard’s novels portraying these specific characters have all turned into films.
The more popular, “Out of Sight,” portrays the bank robbing Jack Foley played by George Clooney and his female romantic interest, Sisco, played by Jennifer Lopez. Even considering Sisco’s U.S. Marshal status, the book reveals that “Foley’s mind [was] on a woman who made intense love to him one night in Detroit, pulled out a Sig Sauer .38 the next night, shot him and sent him back to Florida.”
Foley then found himself in Glades Correctional Institution where he met Cundo Rey, a middle-aged Cuban man being convicted of a second-degree murder with a great deal of money and connections. Rey has a plan and Foley becomes the part of that, managing to reduce Foley’s 30-year sentence to a mere three months, while being able to leave only a few weeks after him.
Though Leonard is most famous for his works in fiction, he has also dabbled in nonfiction, screenplays and short stories. And, if by now Leonard still sounds mysterious to you, his other stories-turned-films should most definitely get your attention.
In 1953, for instance, Leonard wrote the story “Three-Ten to Yuma,” which was later adapted to film in 1957 and again more recently in 2007. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, showing that a short story can go a long way.
While “Road Dogs” does not seem to be the most interesting of titles, it does become the overall theme and question. There they were, Foley and Cundo, watching out for each other like “a couple of road dogs in tailored prison blues.”
When money, sex, greed and the pursuit of happiness are involved, can you trust your road dog? Leonard makes the reader question this notion throughout. You may be surprised to find out just who is good from bad.
“Road Dogs” is highly recommended for Leonard’s use of dialogue, dark, vulgar humor and overarching story. Even at 83 years old, Leonard is quick as a whip, as his writing still remains out of sight but not out of mind.
Rating: W W W W W
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