Rating: 
Summary: A Good Buy!
Review: This book was poorly written. Its plot was somewhat implausible and the characters were anything but dynamic. It seemed more like a screenplay thinly disguised as a novel, as it possessed very little literary merit. I would not recommend this book to anyone who values his or her leisure time.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book - dumb reviewer
Review: That dumb reviewer would be me. The last two books I have read have been Elmore Leonard novels: "Touch" and "Out of Sight". Though I am an avid film buff, and was vaguely aware of the movies of the same name, this college-educated would-be writer never put, literally, two and two together to link these books until I finished this one and read of few of the Amazon reviews. Two movies are going to be rented tomorrow, and I will look into ways to get my IQ increased. What makes me an even bigger [idiot] is that I read both of these books a few years ago, and was giving them a "refresher" reading before writing the reviews.So without seeing the movie, I will say that I liked the book very much. Just like "Touch", it's a short novel that almost makes me think I'm not reading a full book. But unlike "Touch", which I think could have gone on a lot longer, this one pretty much ends where it should. It tells the story of a bank robber who escapes jail. While doing so, a U.S. Marshall gets taken hostage, and the two wind up riding together in the trunk of a car as part of the getaway. I should mention that the Marshall is a very attractive young female wearing a designer outfit while stuffed in the car with the escapee. Now being a Leonard novel, you have to throw convention out the window. The "hero" is a career criminal, who would have to kill as part of his job if necessary. He has also just whacked a prison guard with a two-by-four after betraying the participants of another breakout to make his own getaway. So he's not really the kind of guy you bring home to dad if you are a woman. But wait, it's still a Leonard novel. The Marshall has ironically already been involved with a bank robber in her life, and is impressed how the robber acts like a gentleman during her ordeal. After she gets away, she finds herself strangely drawn to the man, a fact that is noticed by her father, himself a former lawman. So of course these two have to somehow get together again, or we wouldn't have a story. Since we know this will happen, there is no suspense there. But how both feel about it before this happens makes the novel special. As he is escaping a thirty year sentence, with more to follow if caught, and she is sworn to uphold the law, they can't possibly make it together. Or can they? See you at the video store.
Rating:
Summary: The movie is very close
Review: I picked this up after seeing the great movie with George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, and Ving Rhames. I wanted to see how close to the original the movie came. Yes, it is very close. The book is very heavy on dialogue. I found this well done. The book moved rapidly, but I felt I understood the characters involved. It is hard to read the book without seeing the actors in the movie, because the words in the script are identical, in places, to the words in the novel. Some of the characters described by Leonard are not as you would find in the movie. In the book, Buddy (Foley's partner) is described as a white redneck. For Mr. Ripley, the stock swindler, he has little to no part in the novel, just a brief mention. If you think you shouldn't read the book because you know how it ends, you are mistaken. Without giving details, the ending of the book is not the same as the ending of the movie. It is a quick, but good, ending.
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