Tour and Review: Raylan by Elmore Leonard

Title: Raylan

Author: Elmore Leonard
Year Published: 2012

Genre: Adult Fiction

Pages: 216

Rating: 4 out of 5

Location (my 2013 Google Reading map): Kentucky


FTC Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review from TLC (thank you!)

Summary (from the back of the book): When Dickie and Coover Crowe, dope-dealing brothers known for sampling their own supply, decide to branch out into the body business, it's up to US Marshall Raylan Givens to stop them. But Raylan isn't your average marshal; he's the Laconic, Stetson-wearing, fast-drawing lawman who juggles dozens of cases at a time and always shoots to kill. But by the time Raylan finds out who's making the cuts, he's lying naked in a bathtub, with Layla, the cool transplant nurse, about to go for his kidneys.

Review: My dad has read all the Elmore Leonard books and I had read none until I finished this one last night. It definitely feels like a man's book and is so different from the "female" books I usually read. I don't really like to label books that way, but I think it will help readers of this review get a flavor for what the book is like.

• Guns. There are guns. Lots of guns. Glocks, .44s, automatic weapons, and more
• Sex. Men talk about getting it on with the female characters, even if they don't have a chance with them, or if nothing comes of it. There is still talk about her body, that they want to have sex with her, why they didn't, etc. And this is true for the "good" guys and the "bad" guys. And, it's true of both sides' conversations with each other.
• Drugs. The first half of the book the "bad" guys are marijuana growers and dealers. Those that don't grow it or deal it are smoking it or dealing with moonshine.
• Gambling. The first half of the book involves a little horse racing while the second half sees a young woman who is a whiz at poker.
• Murder. So much death. It's what keeps Raylan, a US Marsall, going in this book. He is after the kidney stealers in the first strand, the coal mining executive who shot a miner in the second strand and in the third strand he's dealing with dead stripper/bank robbers.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book. Half way through when the story was solved I couldn't figure out why we were going to start all over again with a new set of characters and a new storyline, but a friend assured me that Leonard always does a fantastic job of bringing it all together. And, he was right. In the end, Raylan gets the girl and the bad guys are all dead.