Customer Reviews

Elmore Leonard's Western Roundup #3: Valdez is Coming & Hombre

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I picked this book up at San Francisco International Airport (which has a great bookstore in the United Airlines terminal) thinking I'd like to relax with a western. I have always loved Elmore Leonard's work, so it seemed like a fit to choose one by him instead of old Louis (another master). I've got to say Leonard HAS IT as a western writer. VALDEZ IS COMING is outstanding. The story is the kind I love: picks you up and takes you for a ride -- non-stop. I think what I liked best about this novel is that Valdez is such a great character, and that the story is absolutely relentless in its pacing. HOMBRE is great as well, also relentless, though I prefer the "voice" of VALDEZ over HOMBRE. So who knew that Leonard was not only THE master at dialogue, but also dynamite at characterization in a very literate western. Read it. You'll love it. I liked it so much that I just now ordered Western Roundup numbers 1 & 2. Thank you Elmore Leonard and thank you Amazon for making it so easy to be a discerning reader. Aloha!

I knew Leonard only by reputation and the movie "Get Shorty". I thought I'd pick him up someday. Meanwhile, I started to read westerns, and picked up a few L'Amours. Louis is good. But a friend told me that Leonard wrote westerns before mystery/thrillers. Try him, he said. I did, first with Valdez is Coming, then with Hombre.

These two books are the best westerns I've read, and I'm reading the rest of Leonards. Stripped-down dialogue, steady action, and an atmosphere and voice that is totally captivating. The ending of Valdez is Coming is powerful and perfect, and I reread it several times. Hombre has great action and a strong moral message, but delivered sparely and without the sometimes windy sentimentality found in L'Amour. These two novels are very, very good indeed.