Title: Solid Stuff from a Master
Product review: Some might say that if you've read one Elmore Leonard crime yarn, you've read them all. Maybe there is an element of truth to this- slightly addled but well-meaning guy with a checkered past meets smart, sexy dame and pull a convulted scam on rich ne'er-do-wells. That's the essential plot to a dozen Leonard tomes, right? Well, the pleasure of Leonard's work is in the telling, and in watching the chinese puzzles his characters concoct unfold. Stick is no different than Rum Punch or Tishimongo Blues or Pagan Babies or Get Shorty in this regard. But his prose is so crisp, his plots so breathless and his characters so charming that you are so entertained along the way, the template becomes invisible. In fact, since Leonard fans know where he is going to take us, the template allows us to bask in his endlessly clever inventions and his inimitable tone. No one straddles whimsy and menace like Leonard, and only Hiassen and McBain do Florida sleaze as well.
Would you say this review depicts the product in a flattering or unflattering light?
