Customer Reviews

Mr. Paradise CD Low Price

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Leonard is at his snappy, not-a-word-wasted best in this crime-gone-wrong page-turner. The crime is the murder of the title character, a rich, elderly Detroit crime boss. His resentful assistant, Montez Taylor, who has been written out of the old man's will, organized the hit. When he learns that Mr. Paradiso's "girlfriend," high-priced call girl Chloe, is making an unexpected visit, Montez tries to call it off, but fails.

Chloe brings along her friend Kelly, a model, who agrees to help out with a titillating cheerleading routine, and Kelly is upstairs when two gunmen burst in, killing both Chloe and Paradiso. Montez intimidates Kelly into pretending to be Chloe - there's a safety deposit box scam involved - but the nice policeman on the scene, quickly smitten Frank Desla, sees through that pretty quickly.

That's the set-up and from there it's just one thing after another in turn after subplot after switchback after double cross in gritty Detroit. Tightly plotted, but character driven, this is as zany, comic and smart as we've come to expect.

What do these reviewers expect? This is the story.

A high-end former Detroit call girl, asks her lingerie model roommate to help her entertain a wealthy octogenarian trial lawyer. By entertain, read she dons a cheerleader's skimpy skirt, but goes topless, while performing pom-pom routines beside a TV set while the lawyer watches videotaped University of Michigan football games.

The plot, to say the least, is imaginative. The characters are unique and unforgettable. The dialogue is snappy and realistic. The story moves and is entertaining.

What did these reviewers expect - a Detroit-based Hamlet? Elmore Leonard is a gifted novelist and Mr. Paradise will add to his reputation as a skilled character crafter.

Shady characters, brilliant dialogue, irony, masterful writing and a lively and humorous story line are what we expect from Elmore Leonard. "Mr. Paradise," a Runyonesque tale, has all this and more...it does not disappoint.

Eighty-four year old retired mob lawyer Tony Paradisio's favorite pastime is watching tapes of classic Michigan football victories with an escort or two cheering topless in ways not athletically encouraging.

After learning that he has been eliminated from Mr. Paradise's will, Montez (Mr. P's main man) arranges a hit that is supposed to look like a home invasion gone wrong.

The perps and Montez are members of the criminal mindless.

Throw in two corpses, a Victoria Secret model witness, an identity switch, assorted lowlifes, a safe deposit box full of loot, the hitmen's "agent" and Frank Delsa (a resourceful Detroit homicide detective)---and the chase is on.

The bad guys feel a sense of entitlement---leading to their demise. Getting caught being the real crime. Double-crosses, scams and deceptions propel the plot.

The tight prose is filled with accurate conversation in the colorful vernacular of the urban scene.

"Mr. Paradise" is a stylistic, unforgettable, witty, fast-paced read. Elmore Leonard is a consistently entertaining writer---do not under rate him just because you like him.

A previous poster mentioned that he didn't get why Leonard is the master of dialogue. He then went on to say he was partial to Dan Brown. If someone says that they prefer the bestselling author of the month (be it Grisham, Brown, etc) that sends up a red flag in my brain immediately. I know not to trust his review or taste. Elmore Leonard IS the greatest writer of dialogue working today. He has the simplest writing style because he just lets characters actions and words speak for themselves. He takes out everything you would normally skip over when reading a book (flowery descriptive paragraphs, etc) and just leaves what we want (dialogue and action). This makes him the easiest read imaginable. Of course, that is, if you like your novels dark, twisted and hilarious. If the last book you read was The Firm or The Da Vinci Code, look elsewhere my shallow, unadventurous friend.

I have only read so far one other novel by Elmore Leonard besides this new one, "Mr. Paradise, and that was "Get Shorty", which was later adapted to the screen, first published in 1990. For the record I do not consider myself, yet, a big fan of Mr. Leonard, but I am slowly warming to his brand of mystery and crime fiction. In his latest novel, "Mr. Paradise" (2004), Mr. Leonard takes us to Detroit, Michigan for the setting of this new work. In it we are introduced to Frank Delsa, homicide detective of the Detroit Police Department, who has a double homicide on his hands. One murder victim is Chloe Robinette, attractive blond escort and personal girlfriend to second murder victim, Tony Paradiso, aka Mr. Paradise, an 84 year old retired attorney. The murders take place in Mr. Paradise's home one night as an apparent home invasion attack. Early on we are introduced to the many characters dotting the landscape of this fast-paced crime novel and we see it through the eyes of detective, Frank Delsa. The pace is quick and the book is a page turner, coming in at 291 pages. The dialogue is snappy and reflects the street slang used by the African-American characters, especially portrayed by Montez Taylor, personal assistant to Mr. Paradise. Overall the book is concise and reveals the mastery of the author in this genre of fiction, peppered with the seamier side of ghetto life and the criminal element. And whereas the book is sleek and sexy it also has a tendency to get bogged down with too many extraneous characters and street slang that is at times hard to follow and often choppy. And as I haven't read a great deal of Mr. Leonard's body of work with which to compare this book I will assume this isn't his finest effort. However, having said that, "Mr. Paradise" is indeed an enjoyable and fast read that reveals an author who it can easily be said is a master of mystery and crime fiction.

With Elmore Leonard, you usually know what you are going to get. Leonard's trademark is crisp and witty dialogue, unusual characters, and a plot that reveals itself in surprising ways. This book is no exception. It is not one of his most intriguing works - I found the storyline a little more predictable than normal for Leonard - but it is still a very worthwhile read.

If you are an Elmore Leonard fan, you will enjoy this book. If you have never read Leonard's work, I would recommend starting with Get Shorty, Rum Punch, or Pagan Babies first and come back to this one.

I'm a casual Leonard fan who has read about a quarter of his novels. I loved his latest work, which didn't disappoint in the delivery of numerous double-crosses from a multitude of radical characters. As usually, all his plot threads got tied up nicely in the end, and the dumb criminals got what was coming to them.

This is an edgy novel, full of hip street slang, gang references, modern fashion, and a realistic portrayal of a high class call girl. Has Leonard been consulting with Candance Bushnell to get his sexy female characters right?

When you listen to Mr. Leonard's dialogue, you smell cigarette smoke, hear rap music from young 'gangstas' as they drive by, see slippery lawyers with too much old fashioned Brilliantine on their receding scalps, hear the double entendres and lies people tell eachother, and also, in sparing doses, hope, innocence and dreams.

Sometimes he is criticized for the plot, as in 'not much of a plot.' This seems to be a missed point; I don't read for the plot. I think that Elmore Leonard is a master of how people speak. The real people. Not television people. People like you and me. Or at least the people like you and I hear speaking.

Interestingly enough, Mr. Paradise does have an interesting plot with two young women who find themselves in a gig with an old lawyer (read mob figure), Tony Paradiso ("Mr. Paradise.") Tony is offed and one of the girls with him. The other faces a substantial fortune . . . if she can assume her dead friend's identity.

But then the Detective in charge, the handsome and widowed Frank Delsa, falls in love with her and she, perhaps . . . seems to . . . maybe . . . falls in love with him.

Great action, kind of sexy, and excellent dialogue. And it's Detroit, too, my city. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury

Elmore Leonard seems to run hot and cold in my eyes. But with "Mr. Paradise," he is definitely hot. Frank Delsa, acting lieutenant of Squad Seven, Homicide Section, Detroit Police Department has a couple of new murders to handle. An old rich guy with a penchant for young female playmates - and one of those very playmates who had the misfortune to be right there when Mr. Paradise was on the receiving end of a bullet. She gets one too for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Whodunnit? Well, Delsa first has to figure out who got it. The young hired girlfriend? Or her lookalike friend who came to the house that night and just happened to be upstairs at the time of Mr. Paradise's accelerated exit from this world.
It's a good police story. Characters drift in and out, each adding a little bit of necessary information to the story. None of them will ever win a Nobel Prize, but they kind of remind me of Daman Runyon's people; the dumb folks who think they are smart and wind up wearing orange jumpsuits or buying the Brooklyn Bridge.
The story moves nicely; the few loose ends don't rattle too much and there's a pleasant ending, at least for Frank Delsa.
It's a fun read, a good story.

Jerry

Anthony Paradiso, Sr. octogenarian trial lawyer and U of M alumnus, meets his maker after a session with Chloe, his $900 an hour call girl. Chloe once tried to buy an actual cheerleader's outfit to help Mr. Paradise get his rocks off. Chloe's efforts at customer service were totally rebuffed by the girls who wear the blue and maize to cheer on the champions of the West and not for the purpose of titillating elderly athletic supporters. But even if you can't buy one, you can have one made which is why Chloe was wearing her pleated skirt sans panties in death.

Dutch Leonard takes us on another wild ride through the world of dumb ex-cons, high class hookers, wannabe C.I.s, smarmy defense lawyers, and horny homicide cops to get to the bottom of the perfect crime that wasn't. As always, it's the dialogue that drives the action. No one has a better ear for cop and wise-guy talk than Leonard, who weaves these snippets of conversation into an engrossing tale of perfidy and stupidity.