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Title: Okay, 4 and a half stars
Review: If I remember correctly, this was Elmore Leonard's breakout book, and at the time long books were in fashion. "Books by the pound," people in the book biz used to call them. I have a feeling EL's publisher encouraged him to write long this time, and I think the book suffers a bit for that. So I'll knock off a half star from my rating for verbosity. Still, it's a wonderful read with colorful characters, wry humor, and great dialogue. And as an extra bonus, EL tackles new locales here--Atlantic City and Puerto Rico instead of his usual Detroit and Miami. It's a classic hardcase good guy vs. wacko bad guy tale, and what could be more satisfying than that?
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