Out of Sight and Cuba Libre
by Elmore Leonard
Phoenix, HK$128 each
If you haven't discovered Elmore Leonard yet, might I politely ask what have you been doing with your life? Reading Dan Brown, J.K. Rowling and Ian McEwan, I dare say. Well, burn them immediately (all right, spare McEwan's A Child in Time) and pick up these handsome re-issues of two of Leonard's finest works. All his classic hallmarks are here. Plots that grip like a terrified mountaineer. Characters who materialise vividly in the mind's eye. Dialogue that fizzes like a lit stick of dynamite. Out of Sight is probably the better known thanks to the excellent film adaptation starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. But even their flammable chemistry can't match the fireworks sparked by Leonard's prose. The plot features two law-crossed lovers: Federal Marshall Karen Sisco and Jack Foley, an urbane bank robber who has just escaped a Florida prison. The real sparks, however, fly thanks to lines like: 'I always like nuns. They're so clean. They never seem to sweat.' Cuba Libre is set on the war-torn island at the end of the 19th century. Horse wrangler Ben Tyler is facing a firing squad. He would be scared if he weren't so worried about all the money he is owed. One of his creditors is Rollie Boudreaux, who advises: 'Beware of anyone who's read a book and, hence, believes he knows everything.' Read Elmore Leonard and you might just make a start.