Cultural Gentleman
raylan by
Elmore Leonard:
The Review
by James Marwood
For many of us summer means time to dig
into a good book. Either traveling or lounging
on holiday, the relaxation is enhanced by a
good engrossing fiction. For that there is
no-one better than Elmore Leonard, the late,
great American crime novelist.
His last novel, Raylan, is one of his absolute
best and a gem of hardbitten American grit lit.
Familiar to fans of the TV series Justified the
titular hero is a rangy, gunslinging cowboyhatted US Marshal. A rough hero from the
wrong side of the tracks in rural Kentucky, he
is a flawed hero who frequently pays the price
for his uncompromising sense of decency and
honour.
The hat, by the way, is very important.
Leonard was very critical of the hat worn by
James LeGros in the film version of Pronto.
Apparently getting the hat right was a
condition of him signing over the rights for
the TV series. The correct hat is a Stetson
Open Road, often called a Dallas
Businessman’s Special.
Raylan is the fourth tale involving this
character, following the novels Pronto and
Riding the Rap, as well as the short story Fire
In The Hole. In this story elements from the
TV series have been included, changing the
events depicted in earlier stories.
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This refined approach leads to a cinematic
and slick action thriller, but all wrapped up
in Leonard’s fantastic text.
This was Leonard’s final novel before his
passing in 2013, and it shows him at the
absolute peak of his game. If action thrillers
and the gritty American crime style are to
your taste then this should be a book you
read. It might not be high literature, but it is
certainly a classic.