Cat Chaser [Paperback]

Elmore Leonard (Author)

Book Description

Series: Elmore Leonard Library | Publication Date: November 1998

The hero of "Cat Chaser, " George Moran, isn't looking for trouble but finds it anyway when he winds up in bed with the wife of a drug-dealing mob-connected Dominican cop -- vicious, macho and ready to follow George to the ends of the earth, which in this case means Miami.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the world of Elmore Leonard novels, two ex-soldiers 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

About the Author

Elmore Leonard has written more than three dozen books including Cuba Libre, Rum Punch, and Get Shorty, and numerous screenplays. He has an unparalleled reputation among lovers of mayhem, suspense, and just plain wonderful writing. A Grand Master Award winner of the Mystery Writers of America, he has been likened to everyone from Balzac to Dostoevsky to Dickens to Dashiell Hammett -- but he is, in fact, entirely and entertainingly sui generis.

He lives in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Perennial (HarperCollins) (November 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688163416
• ISBN-13: 978-0688163419
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,454,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elmore Leonard has written more than forty novels, including bestsellers Up in Honey's Room, The Hot Kid, Mr. Paradise, Tishomingo Blues, Pagan Babies, and Glitz. Many of his books have been made into movies, including Get Shorty and Out of Sight. He lives with his wife, Christine, in Bloomfield Village, Michigan.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leonard at his peak, December 2, 2006

By 

S. Harris (Spotsylvania, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cat Chaser (Mass Market Paperback)

I think Leonard is still cranking out good stuff, but if you want to catch Leonard before the serious buzz started to attach to him, Cat Chaser is a great place to start. George Moran, ex-Marine, ex-Detroit native, and owner of the Coconut Palms Resort Apartments, is like so many heroes in Leonard's world, a guy looking at middle-age who, nevertheless, holds to a personal code, even as he stands at crossroad that has him looking back and looking forward, while sharks snap all around. With his moral compass intact, he always seems to know what to do in any situation, even if he makes it up as he goes along. Enter another ex-grunt and ex-actor Nolan Tyner (who is a dead ringer for Owen Wilson - 15 years before Wilson even appeared in a movie!), who is now an alcoholic private investigator staked out at pool side, and things start to happen.

Oh, there's a lady that needs saving, Mary de Boya. Like Moran, she's an ex-Detroit native and, complicating things, wife to a former torturer from a south American country and now Florida real estate magnate, Andres de Boya. There's another bad guy named Jiggs Scully, who is lethally memorable - even by Leonard's villain-meter. And, of course, a lot of money under the torturer's bed , and page after page of great dialogue. (As a subplot, it's very interesting to see who is the most dangerous bad guy - de Boya or Scully, their conversations together were for me the high points of the novel. Two killers playing chess.) To tell you more would be to cheat you a bit.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leonard's most overlooked., March 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Cat Chaser (Paperback)

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.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars True love, violence and intrigue part waves in Florida., July 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Cat Chaser (Paperback)

Not much is happening in Pompano Beach, Florida, where George Moran owns the Coconut Palms Motel. The sun rises and falls, as always, converging on his little view of the ocean. But the ex-leatherneck is not content to live forever next to the pool with a six-pack in his grip. A sentimental vacation to Santo Domingo, where Moran was shot in the leg by a sniper in '65, ignites old memories and Moran ends up going to bed with Mary de Boya, the beautiful wife of a Miami millionaire and former Dominican army general.

Once again, Elmore Leonard delivers another ruthless tale of intrigue and violence that is sure to move you in directions unimaginable.