Customer Reviews

City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of those Elmore Leonard books that you just wont find in a bookstore. City Primeval has the characters you expect from a Leonard book, it has the banter, it has the tounge in cheek humor, and it has the plot that Leonard used to such a degree of sucess later on. But in the end, this book just does not meld together in the way that Leonard later perfected. The characters, the bad guys are just a little too stupid and evil here. The whole story relies so heavily upon them, that it falls apart due to Leonards not having yet found his magic that pops up in later books like Get Shorty.

This book was written almost three decades ago and is dated. I think that this might have been released right before Leonard went on a tear and churned out a good ten classics that are not only hillarious, but influenced a generation of writers like Carl Hiasson and Kinky Friedman. Leonard started out writing westerns and crime novels mostly set in Detroit where this book is set. Later he moved all of the action to Florida, and these are where the best of his works are set.

The book starts out with Clement Mansell, a ruthless punk, gunning down a judge every one hates and a young whore the judge was out with. From here it becomes a conflict between Mansell and a hard nosed cop Detective Raymond Cruz.

This book isn't all bad, and is worth reading if you have read most of Leonards more recent work and are wanting to take on everything the author has written. But I would suggest that you not start with this book. Try Get Shorty, or one of his from around 1990-95, and I would say that you will be much happier.

This is one of Leonard's early crime novels when he made the transition from westerns, and though the setting is contemporary, in many ways CITY PRIMEVAL feels like a western, and that's a good thing. Law man vs. bad man in gritty urban Detroit-- a simpler structure than his later books that featured motley crews of bad guys. The dialogue is right on the money, the plot suspenseful. It has everything you could ask for in a good crime book. Compared to a lot of the dreck that passes for crime fiction these days, it's a gem.

I have never been disappointed with Elmore Leonard and though some books are better than others they are all fives. If one has read any of Leonard's older Westerns you can,in these three books, his morphing over to modern day crime from early westerns, that directly links the good and evil of crime, and the consistancy of psychopaths, past and present.

Good guy, bad guy, threatened heroine and a plot, that's it.

Leonard always creates an original and believable plot. His books are not mystery's they are the development of characters, portrayed in pitch perfect dialogue, that come together in believable random ways. You know roughly how they will end, good wins and bad loses, but the trip, with meandering and fascinating building block incidents, are a pleasure.

The psychological depth that he gives his characters always ring true.

In my opinion, Elmore Leonard's claim to greatness as a crime writer stems from five novels that he published from 1974 to 1980 (52 Pick-Up, Swag, Unknown Man #89, The Switch, and City Primeval). One of the strongest aspects of these novels is that each is set in Leonard's hometown - Detroit. In each book, Leonard brings gritty, industrial Detroit alive for the reader and uses the setting to create great crime fiction.

City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit (1980) is the last of Leonard's "great" novels. As the title suggests, Leonard has written a novel with the elements of a western, but sets the novel in Detroit. (Leonard has published many western novels). While this may seem like an odd idea, Leonard carries it off with style.

The novel centers on a confrontation between a Detroit cop - Raymond Cruz - and a killer - Clement Mansell - known in the underworld as "The Oklahoma Wildman." Leonard also supplies the reader with a number of colorful supporting characters. One is Mansell's thrill-seeking girlfriend, Sandy Stanton. Another is Skender Lugjaraj - an Albanian entrepreneur who wants to marry Sandy.

The plot is fairly basic: Clement and Sandy run around Detroit committing horrific crimes, while Raymond tries to arrest them. Leonard starts dropping unsubtle hints fairly early that there will be a final, dramatic confrontation between Raymond and Clement. While not inventive, the plot serves its purpose, it pushes the story forward while allowing Leonard to provide the reader with action, great dialogue, and a sense of Detroit. In City Primeval, getting to the big close is (at least) half the fun - the book is fast-paced and enjoyable.

Leonard's ending is a little different. The end leaves the reader thinking about what Leonard wanted to convey through the scene. Readers will have to decide for themselves how well it works. (I am ambivalent about it).

If you love hardboiled fiction, it doesn't get any better than City Primeval - read it.

This novel is a quick read with characters that you will remember. Leonard just has a way about creating Characters out of cops and robbers that other writers just can't pull off. This book is a bit more raw than his other stuff, but to me this is a good thing. The end is just shocking and leaves you wondering about these characters and what you thought you knew about them.

Bottom line if you like Elmore Leonard read this book, if you don't like Elmore Leonard, read this book anyway, it's that good.
Read it. Soon.

Clement Mansell is a killer without a conscious, and the guts to match. Is he going to blink? And if he does, the question is who's going to make him do it? Raymond Cruz, the cop who is nearly as crazy as he is? Carolyn Wilder, his attorney who is as hard as nails? or some one else? Each page is more intense than the one before.