Riding The Rap
by Elmore Leonard
Review by Sean Doorly

"Get Shorty" was a successful movie because it "got" Elmore Leonard's style down. Thanks to that film, I can't help but cast his newest novel out in paperback, "Riding the Rap."

Bill Paxton would make a great Raylan Givens, the U.S. Marshal hot on the trail of three bad guys -- Chip Ganz (Stephen Baldwin), Bobby Deo (Lou Diamond Phillips), and Louis Lewis (Ving Rhames) -- who have kidnapped retired Miami bookie Harry Arno (Jack Lemmon) and are holding him hostage. The catch is they want Harry to pay his own ransom.

Givens is on the case because his current girlfriend, Joyce Patton (Mira Sorvino), is worried about Harry, her ex-boyfriend.

To top it all off, Givens is assisted by Reverend Dawn (Drew Barrymore), a psychic who is in cahoots with the three kidnappers.

Confused? Trust me, Leonard ties it all up nicely. (As have I. If any of these people are cast, I want credit.)

Some people say that Leonard writes better bad guys, and generally I agree, but the hero of this novel is a great character -- a regular modern day cowboy complete with a Stetson hat, cowboy boots, and a troubled past. "Don't you know who that is? He's the one the Mafia guy drew on last winter in Miami Beach, the two of them sitting at the same table, and this Marshal shot him dead."

Leonard may be a pro with over 30 novels published, and yet you can tell he still gets a kick out of writing. His characters are nutty but believable, and he always throws in some screwball comedy.

I'm sure you have heard about Leonard's legendary knack for dialogue. I read somewhere that he likes to sit in diners and eavesdrop on conversations. I'm not sure if this is true, but whatever he does, it works.

So next time you're in a diner, you might want to look over your shoulder before saying anything. Unless you don't mind seeing your words repeated in the next Elmore Leonard novel.