Fire in the Hole

From what I can tell I ordered a hardback copy which is not what I got and not the book I thought I ordered either.

Get it! I cannot tell you how many Elmore Leonard books I have read, but I can tell you this: there is no better master of written dialog on the planet. Crime is his typical subject genre, but I was happy to see a couple of "westerns" in this installation (harking back to his earlier career). For Elmore Leonard, dialog is the vehicle that moves the action along. Character development will come through with dialog, and those character circumstances will begin to engross you. Before too long, you've formed ideas about all of the players, and then all too soon, you are into the thick of the story's situation. Like his novels, these characters are flawed, seedy, heroic and very very human. The stories are typically about situations that could prove to be bigger than the characters themselves. Some will achieve that right of passage, and some will not. This was my first Elmore Leonard experience with short stories. I was very pleased... especially with the ending to the title story -- what a nasty little twist!

One of Leonard's best collections... a quick read and a variety of stories... great at the beach or the subway ride to work...

I am always biased towards short story collections, the buffet of literature. You'll almost always find something you like, and if you don't like it you're not stuck with it for long. I enjoyed all these stories and highly recommend this book. Leonard spans a good range of subjects, settings, and people all while continuing with his strength of character development and gritty plot lines. My only criticisms are that many of these stories read like script treatments for TV and movies. I think that if you take the time to read a book it should offer more than TV in convenient book form. Also, I think Leonard at times takes the easy way out in describing his characters. Instead of spending time describing, he just tells you that he/she looks like movie star X. It's concise but lazy; it does get the job done.

Imagine nine pieces of the best candy you've ever eaten. You try to take your time, but find you eat them much too quickly. They are gone too soon. You wish there were more. And marvel at the skill of the candymaker.

Others have already sung the praises of most of the stories in this collection. I want to correct an oversight. A fourteen- page story, The Tonto Woman, may be one of the very few perfect short stories. My reaction on reading it was that only one short story (whose title escapes me) by Hemingway could equal it in terms of creating another world with completely believable characters, setting and Leonard's impeccable dialogue. If reading can be transporting, then this slim fourteen pages has taken me further than I've been before in a book.