The Hunted [Paperback]

Elmore Leonard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1986

Al Rosen was doing just fine, hiding out in Israel - until he decided to play Good Samaritan and rescue some elderly tourists from a hotel fire. Now his picture's been published in the press, and the guys he's been hiding from know exactly where he is. What's more, they're coming to find him - crooked lawyers, men with guns and money, and assorted members of the Detroit mob who are harbouring a serious grudge. Playtime in paradise is officially over; Rosen's a million miles from home but with a bull's-eye on his back. His only ally is a US marine who's been looking for war ...and has now found one.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Elmore Leonard is our greatest crime novelist...the best in the business."
-- The Washington Post

"The coolest, hottest writer in America."
-- Chicago Tribune

"The greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever!"
-- The New York Times Book Review

"Nobody but nobody in the business does it better."
-- Daily News (New York)

"CRIME FICTION'S GREATEST LIVING PRACTITIONER."
-- The Washington Post Book World

Also by Elmore Leonard
Be Cool
Cuba Libre
Out Of Sight
Get Shorty
Riding The Rap
Pronto
Rum Punch
Maximum Bob
The Moonshine War
The Switch
Gold Coast
Swag
The Big Bounce
Mr. Majestyk
The Tonto Woman And Other Western Stories
Elmore Leonard's Western Roundup #1
Elmore Leonard's Western Roundup #2
Elmore Leonard's Western Roundup #3
Available from Dell And Look for
Pagan Babies
Available in Hardcover from Delacorte Press --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

From Miami to Detroit to Hollywood, Elmore Leonard has carved out a classic turf--and populated it with unforgettable schemers, wiseguys, misfits, and hit men. In The Hunted, Leonard goes international, as a man named Rosen runs from some Motor City mobsters--all the way to Israel--and a U.S. marine finds a perfect little war.  Al Rosen is lying in bed with a beautiful divorcée when the hotel around them bursts into flames--and Rosen's photograph is captured on the news wire. Suddenly lawyers, guns, and money are coming after Al. So are two guys with bombs. Rosen knows his high life in the Holy Land is over. What he doesn't know is that he's about to meet the best friend a fugitive could ever have: a U.S. marine who has been looking for a future or a fight, and is willing to kill for both.... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 295 pages
• Publisher: Popular Library (April 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0445402040
• ISBN-13: 978-0445402041
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,809,160 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

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Evolution of a Marine, October 26, 2003

By 

DJK ver 2.0 "Reader and Movie Buff" (Richardson, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hunted (Mass Market Paperback)

I was a little skeptical of an Elmore Leonard novel set in Israel. However, 'The Hunted' pleasantly surprised me.

Al Rosen is hiding out in Israel, living off the checks sent his way by the company he helped found. He spends his days hanging out in hotel lobbies, getting sun, and just simply staying out of sight. Before he knows it, he finds himself on the run after his picture appeared in the daily newspapers in the States--the result of having helped a dozen senior citizens escape a hotel fire.

Sgt. David Davis is about to finish his tour with the marines. The big problem is that he has no idea what to do with himself once he is out. On the side, he has helped deliver packages for Rosen, without really knowing who Rosen is. Before he knows it, his future plans are of no real concern as he attempts to help Rosen out of his mess.

I'll give Elmore credit, he took what I thought would be an uninteresting setting, and really turned it into something. There isn't a lot, but Leonard makes some interesting observations about Israel and Americans there. Most of it comes from the ignorance of some of the American characters as they interact with the Israelis.

The dialogue is classic Leonard. Some of the best conversations come between Rosen and Davis as Rosen attempts to give Davis advice on what to do when he finally gets out of the marines. Nearly every scene involving Mel Bandy, Rosen's sleazy lawyer (and he is sleazy), involve some comical dialogue. Rosen's assistant, Tali, has some decent remarks as she deals with Bandy and translates for others.

The only disappointment is the end. To some degree, it seems like Leonard just ran out of things to write about and came up with whatever plausible ending occurred to him. Still, its a good read and will be appreciated by Leonard fans.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No Good Deed..., July 3, 2005

By 

Bill Slocum (Norwalk, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hunted (Mass Market Paperback)

Al Rosen stuck his neck out to help the government put some goons in prison, only it didn't go according to plan. Now Rosen is in hiding for his life. Life was still good until Rosen helped some old timers get out of a burning hotel, and wound up getting his face in the papers. Now he's on the run in Israel with three killers on his tail and a U.S. Marine for company. The Marine wants to help. Maybe he should ask Rosen what happens to do-gooders.

Elmore Leonard in 1977 was still years away from being embraced for marrying suspense stories with witty dialogue, quirky characters, and off-center humor, but he was well on his way toward perfecting that approach when he wrote "The Hunted." In some ways echoing Leonard's past as a writer of westerns, with Mexican standoffs by dry wadis, "The Hunted" isn't exactly scintillating by Leonard's later standards, but it more than holds its own.

You can almost see Quentin Tarantino adapting it for the screen, with Rosen's way of wooing 40-something women to bed and characters who digress about God while waiting for the guns to start blazing. The bad guys are not without their enjoyable qualities, and there's Mel Bandy, a fat lawyer of no discernable morals whose idea of wooing an attractive assistant involves walking around her in a towel and inviting her to bed with him by telling her she can close her eyes and pretend it's someone else.

Leonard throws some nice philosophy here, too, though it doesn't get in the way of the terse narrative:

"Don't let people scare you; because nine times out of ten they don't know any more than you do," Rosen explains to the Marine. "Or even less. They got there pushing and shoving, acting, conning...If they had to get by on basic intelligence - most of the people I've done business with - they'd be on the street selling Good Humors and probably ------- up the change."

"The Hunted" didn't amuse me like great comic Leonard novels such as "Maximum Bob" and "Freaky Deaky." It didn't thrill like "Rum Punch" or "Bandits." The plot is actually kind of threadbare, and a little nonsensical, when you think about Rosen's unresolved financial situation and how it's supposed to be resolved by a visit from the untrustworthy Bandy.

But "The Hunted" manages to keep you reading, and surprises you more than a little at the end. You'll enjoy the amiable company of both the good guys and bad guys while appreciating Leonard's mastery of his craft. He hadn't entirely moved out of the Western idiom even as he left the American West, but considering that he was the author of westerns like "Hombre," why should he have been in any rush?

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Another Elmore book, just like all the other Elmore books, January 3, 2001

By 

Martha R. Ulfelder "personal chef and busy mom" (Worcester, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hunted (Mass Market Paperback)

I think I've figured out why Leonard is the lit crits' token crime-writer darling: They don't give a rat's behind about plot, and neither does he. Me, I like a little plot in my crime books.

What's interesting is that this book was originally published in '77, and back then, Leonard actually bothered to cook up some pretty good stories (especially in The Switch). So you can read The Hunted as a harbinger of modern Leonard. He starts with three or four good characters (the no-BS middle-aged hero; the black-guy-and-white-guy likeable hoodlum team; the attractive young woman who knows how to watch out for herself). He has them sit around in bars, cars and hotels staring at each other. Eventually, there's a showdown. No twists, no real surprises.

OK, fine. But as far as I can recall, every single Leonard book since the mid-1980s has gone the same way. I suspect Leonard starts with the showdown, then works backward to figure out how it developed. This guarantees lots of filler; you get the feeling Leonard gets a kick out of showing you his cast of characters, and another out of his climax, and doesn't much care about the stuff in between. Hence cars, bars, hotel rooms.