Up in Honey's Room

Plot and character really don't matter that much in an Elmore Leonard story. This is about people talking to each other; this is about how to make words on paper sound like something. After all he's done for us Elmore Leonard can publish his shopping list, for all I care. "Up in Honey's Room" may not be the next "Killshot," but it's still got what it takes to preserve The Great Elmore's reputation as a beacon to guide us into the future of fiction writting. What people want when they read is to see a movie. Elmore Leonard still has much to teach us about that. As for what Detroit was like during WWII, He was there, not me. But my father came of age in Minneapolis in the 30s. This story reminds me of a lot of Dad's stories: lots of colorful characters, good and bad, who had in common only that they were a bunch of wackos.

Elmore Leonard has written at least 40 novels. Published last year in hardcover and being released this month in mass market paperback, Honey is among the best--if not the best, just because it departs from the customary. It is different from his past work in the sense that it is set in the last days of WW II and the characters include a supposed Nazi spy ring and two escaped German POWs. What is familiar is that it takes place in Detroit and U.S. Marshal Carl Webster returns, seeking to recapture the escaped prisoners. A review can't capture the delightful story of Honey and do it justice. Just read the novel and enjoy the inventiveness, humor and writing of Elmore Leonard.

This was my first novel by Elmore Leonard. I was taking a few flights and the first of which had a 4 hour lay-over so I finished the book I had and picked up Up in Honey's Room. I read it everywhere I went, and as a testament to to how good it is- after getting to my final destination with a 5 and a half hour car ride home, I sat in the airport to finish the book. I feel a lot of others covered the plot, but as someone who can't compare it to Leonard's work, amazing dark humor and very pulp material.

I gave this 5 stars because it's an Elmore Leonard book, and if you're a Leonard fan that's all you need to know. The "Hot Kid" Carl Webster is back, this time chasing escaped Nazis loose in Detroit near the end of WWII. Dialogue drives the plot in this novel (as in all Leonard's books), and the firecracker female lead Honey Deal more than holds her own in the smart sexy conversations between the two lead characters. I think we'll be seeing more of Miss Deal.

I usually don't care for sequels but this follow up to Leonard's "Hot Kid" I enjoyed more than the original. I would not mind seeing More Of US Marshal Carl Webster in the future! It's the final days of WWII and Gunslinging Marshal Webster is back in action trying to track down two escaped German POWs. He follows them to Detroit were they are being hidden by a German Butcher. The buthcher's exwife is a beautiful smart talking blonde named Hone Deal, who soon has straight arrow Marshal Webster considering breaking his marriage vows. The fun is in watching the interaction between Webster and Honey, while the marshal tries to find the escapees. I don't want to give away too much but this book's strength lies more in its use of humor than in actual crime plotting--Typical of this author. While "Hot Kid" was a kind of updated western, "Honey Deal" is a kind of sophisticated pot boiler mixed with some slapstick! Leonard is the master at mixing Genres.