Raylan by Elmore Leonard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Raylan: “What did he want to know?”
Art: “Whether you’d shot anybody this week.”
I remember reading Elmore’s rules of writing and fixing upon his rule “leave out the stuff people skip”. This novel is a testament to that rule; there is nothing you want to skip in it. This is one of those books that feels like you are immersed in a world, something that Elmore has been widely praised for.
This novel, Raylan, is not really a novel. Think of this work as three novellas held together with some overlap, like, say, a TV series. I think it is fair to say that you can see entire plot and character arcs from seasons two and three of Justified in this book. Clearly this isn’t a coincidence, with Elmore joining the writing team for Justified in the second season.
Far from being a criticism, the similarities between Raylan and Justified actually makes this book a cool compendium companion to the series. Just be warned, Boyd is not quite the devious and intelligent character you want to see succeed, as you do in Justified.
For fans of Justified, you will no doubt have your Morgan Freeman and Sean Connery moment, as you read all of the book with the character’s voices.
Tyson Adams 
Started reading this after hearing the review on The Book Report (http://www.bookreportradio.com) a while ago, and I’m really enjoying it, and it is not something I would normally read.
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Don’t you just love his dialogue? They feel like real people talking.
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Useful info. Fortunate me I discovered your web site by accident, and I’m stunned why this coincidence didn’t took place in advance! I bookmarked it.
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Accidents can have happy results, just ask any teenager on prom night.
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I also heard the review on The Book Report. The audio book is very well read. I am now listening to the book, instead of reading it, which is a new experience for me.
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Tell me how you go with the audio book. I spend a lot of time on the road for work and am thinking I need to borrow some library audio books.
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Perhaps I am getting too lazy to turn pages, but I really like the audio book, especially for traveling. Great for waiting in airports but you need noise reduction earphones to listen on an aircraft.
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I’ve got a review coming tomorrow for my first audio book, Hover Car Racer by Matthew Reilly. I have to agree, audio books are fantastic for travelling. Much better than getting motion sickness from trying to read while travelling.
I love my noise reduction headphones.
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