Unknown Man #89

I just finished re-reading Unknown Man #89, many years after the first pass through the book. It is Leonard at his very best. In fact, for sheer intelligence and craftsmanship, this is as good as the crime novel ever gets. Most crime writers can't write convincing love scenes or complex love relationships. This one does. The unfolding relationship between Ryan and Lee is by turns warm, loving, desperate, funny, and playful, bringing a depth of characterization to Ryan that one almost never sees in this genre. And the bad guys? Vintage Leonard slimeballs. Perez, and the burn he gets in the end, is vivid, plausible and delightfully odious. Rarely is a comeuppance as delicious as this fellow gets. But he keeps scamming to the very end. Elmore Leonard is the king of American crime writers, and one the great novelists in America. This is him at his best.

A hero with a troubled past. A modern day damsel in distress. Villains with competing agendas who are themselves interesting but keep you guessing. What's not to love? This is Elmore Leonard at his best, epitomizing the genre. Several mysteries come into play as the story unfolds. Perhaps the biggest mystery of all, though, is why this book never got the recognition it deserved or caught the right attention to merit transformation into a great movie. Whether or not this happens one day, the book remains a great read.

Written in the '70s, "Unknown Man" established a template that has endured into the new century: super cool male lead, troubled but likeable damsel in distress and a couple of black guys with baggage. Jack Ryan, Detroit process server with a street smart, easy going manner that lets him rise above the ugliness of his business, is a character from whom Rayland Givens and Chili Palmer will naturally evolve. Jay Wilt, one of Jack's sleazier clients, hires him to find Robert Leary, Jr. with a last known Detroit address from 1941. Robert is not at all what the early description suggests, and Jack is not the only one looking for him. A hardened street dude named Virgil took the rap for a robbery he and "Bobby" committed, and he's determined to het his money or get even.Along the way Jack finds Lee, a hopelessly drunk bar fly. Jack is a recovering alcoholic who has slipped more than once. When he reaches out to pull Lee out of the gutter, the darkness and reality of what they both are going through contrast with the otherwise too cool to be true plot, but it doesn't weigh the story down. Lee cleans up just fine becoming Denise. Jack is saving her, falling for her and either hiding her from or finding her for the man from New Orleans who wants to share Robert Leary's lost inheritance with her.The story builds to a climax of unusual alliances, great street action and an Elmore Leonard good guy facing off with a bad guy who might be just as cool under pressure. You won't guess the ending, you don't need to - but if you're an Elmore Leonard fan, you won't be surprised by it.

My first approach to Elmore Leonard had been "Get Shorty".Nothing especial. But this crime story is really involving and impressing.Absolutely to read.

Leonard is an experienced writer who knows precisely how to sketch the human frailties of his characters. Jack Ryan is the process-server so good at finding people that he's approached by some shady businessmen to locate a woman with a ruinous drinking problem. What's at stake is the money and maybe a chance for something that can pass for love, but the gallery of crooks includes a violent ex-con and an amoral wheeler-dealer. The text reads truer than life; this is surely an Elmore Leonard classic