[.ca] Cat Chaser (ISBN 0060512229)

From Amazon.com:
In the world of Elmore Leonard novels, two ex-Marines can sit around a hotel swimming pool in Florida and, as if it were perfectly natural, chat about a friendly fire incident during an "interventionist action" in Santo Domingo. His characters have learned the futility of complaining about a life where deadly violence and moral obligations are all too frequently intertwined. In Cat Chaser George Moran is the hotel manager who got shot at back then; now, he's rekindling his intimate acquaintance with the wife of Andres de Boya, a former Dominican military enforcer who currently invests in real estate with a healthy sideline in drugs. A dizzying series of plot twists involving various grifters and strongmen (both hired and freelance) leads to the grimly comic suspense action that Elmore Leonard fans have come to know and love. But as always, it's Leonard's impressive ear for dialogue that raises Cat Chaser above the herd of crime novels. An example: "That's correct," Scully said, "I'm a consultant... I advise people on business matters, act as a go-between, bring people together that want to make deals... things like that. You want to know any more, come by my office, we'll have a coffee sometime. Okay? Right now I'm going to see Mr. Pradi. Where you come in--I'm gonna knock on his door, he don't open it then I might have to kick it in. I mean the business I got with him is that pressing. So you can give me a key and maybe save yourself a door. What do you think?" Well, what do you think? --Ron Hogan

the usual Elmore Leomard competence...:
For fans for Elmore Leonard you already know he writes tight crime novels often strewn with humour and great characters. And despite being largely formulaic in approach (..his lead characters all seem to be the same) he succeeds in entertaining the reader. And the same holds true with 'Cat Chaser'. With 'Cat Chaser' we have an ex-military guy in south Florida involved doing hanky-panky with the wife of a former monster from a Carribean country (Dominican Republic) before the Americans kicked him out. The outcome is inevitable but along the way we meet strange characters (the usual Miami oddballs, and a few imports from the Dominican Republic) who do some very strange things. While here are also a good number of funny bits Leonard is no match for the Florida comic crime novel master Carl Hiaasen. Bottom line: a fun if not enthralling Elmore Leonard venture. Fans will rejoice.

Leonard's most overlooked.:
When you get caught up reading a writer's work there's always one selection that always stands out. CAT CHASER is mine. The characters, the dialogue, the location (you can see where he got Cuba Libre from) all fit together like a favorite quilt you just can't get rid of. It's the hero who decides it's time to do it one more time. Maybe not for the woman, but just out of curosity. A plot worth reading and a hero as cool as LaBrava or Chili Palmer.

Good Read for a Day at the Beach...:
This was the first Elmore Leonard novel I've read, though I SAW Out of Sight and Get Shorty. Obviously, I felt like I knew what to expect before I opened the book: numerous plot twists, character's who've seen better days and tight dialogue. I'm not a fan of "detective" fiction, so I can't really compare it to that. I found the setting to be compelling: motel in South Florida, the Dominican Republic. I thought the main character's experience with the Marines in the Dominican Republic was interesting. Frankly, as a 28 year old, I wasn't even aware that Marines were in the Dominican Republic at that time. Book is a quick read, no matter how you slice it. Despite the "adult" subject matter, it occurs to me that Leonard novels would make a good read for a certain kind of high school student. Leonards books are always cheap to pick up and widely available. The rythym of the dialogue in "Cat Chaser" is above average.

Fast read!:
With the exception of a princess phone and a couple of black and white TVs,Elmore Leonard's 1982 "Cat Chaser" is as contemporary as today's paper. It is well crafted, full of the usual Leonard streetwise, quirky characters. One con artist after another trying to out con the other. Escapist reading at its best.