PAGAN BABIES. [Paperback]

Elmore. Leonard (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: DELACORTE PRESS. (2000)
• ISBN-10: 067089396X
• ISBN-13: 978-0670893966
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)

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

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Elmore Leonard just can't miss, January 23, 2005

By 

Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pagan Babies (Mass Market Paperback)

Elmore Leonard just keeps going and going and going. I guess he never runs out of insane situations to write about, quirky protagonists, nefarious bad guys and quick-witted not-quite-so-bad guys, conniving (or totally innocent - - but rarely) beautiful women, stellar dialogue, twisted plots...

I dunno, but I'll read anything he writes cuz I know I'm going to be royally entertained.

Pagan Babies concerns Terry, a guy on the lam from the IRS, who hies himself off to Rwanda to stay with his priest/uncle, and while there he witnesses the genocide. Leonard downplays the grisly, horrific details of this, but we can tell it has changed Terry in some fundamental way. When his uncle dies, he sort of assumes the priest alb and carries on in his stead for something like 5 yrs, hearing confessions, giving penance, and occasionally even saying Mass.

He comes back to the states, still playing the priest, and meets up with Debbie Dewey, the usual lovely you'll find in Leonard's books, only this one just got out of jail for assaulting her ex with a Ford Escort and wants to be a stand-up comic focusing on prison humor. Hello? I mean, you can't make this stuff up! But Elmore Leonard does.

They team up to pull of a scam, and things of course go awry - and that's all I'm going to tell you.

Read it. It's a hoot.

25 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leonard at top form, September 13, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pagan Babies (Hardcover)

Father Terry Dunn knows it is time to leave the Rwanda massacre. His church contains forty-seven corpses turning to "leather." Although Terry is hiding as a priest, he cannot take any more of the killing fields. He kills several of the culprits but flees home to Detroit. He originally fled to avoid jail time.

Debbie Dewey has just left prison after three years for trying to run over her former husband with a car. Debbie wants to become a stand-up comic until she meets Terry still masquerading as a priest. They are immediately attracted to one another and he brings her into his current con, bilking wealthy patrons in a save the Rwandan children cause which is another name for his wallet. She ups the ante by persuading him that her ex and the mob boss he is tied to is the perfect pigeon.

PAGAN BABIES is more than vintage Leonard. This novel is classic Leonard wildly destroying moral barriers. The story line is entertaining, never eases up, and contains Mr. Leonard's graphic but picturesque prose that shows he is quite a talent. The characters are typical of Mr. Leonard's novel as they run the full spectrum of sleaze, in other words likable to detestable parasites. This tale is superb reading for those fans that enjoy something different along the lines of a fabulously written crime drama heavily spiced with the absurd.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Strong start, rushed end, October 12, 2004

By 

flodnag (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pagan Babies (Mass Market Paperback)

Ok, so I'm a little late in reviewing this one, it's been out awhile, and I finally gave this one attention over the other hoards of stuff I buy and eventually get too... anyways, enough of that. This started off as a really strong novel, it was quick to set things up, had some very compelling characters, great dialog, off humor, it had it all. It created a great con game and set it up well, had you hoping for the cons, stick it to the badder cons! Problem is, you're over 1/2 way through the book and things are still being set up, doesn't leave much room left for the conclusion... which was, surprise, rushed. I don't know if he was pressed for time, got fed up writing, the cab was out there waiting for him or what, but after such a great set up and things start rolling, it just flew through the last bit. Guess it was to show that it all happened quickly, but still... disappointing. It's well worth reading, maybe deserves more stars but that just a bit of a let down to me.