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The Barnes & Noble Review
When the The New York Times calls someone "the greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever," that's no small compliment. This talented author has shown an extraordinary range in his work, from westerns to crime stories (both contemporary and historical) to a novel about baseball and more.
In The Hot Kid, Elmore "Dutch" Leonard breaks new ground with a fast-paced, multifaceted tale of Prohibition-era crime, told from multiple perspectives that reflect the unexpected shifts of allegiance in this turbulent time. Set against a backdrop of speakeasys and shootouts, fast cars and even faster women, this stirring tale recounts a time when life was cheap on both sides of the law. The story unfolds in Oklahoma, featuring the exploits of four "hot kids" -- young lawman Carl Webster, bad-seed oilman's son Jack Belmont, glamorous gun moll Louly Brown, and true-crime journalist Tony Antonelli.
Carl Webster, since his first personal encounter with crime as a teenage witness to a brutal robbery by notorious crook Emmet Long, has sought justice. His keen mind and sharpshooter's eye quickly build him a hot reputation in the U.S. Marshals Service, especially after he declares, "If I have to pull my weapon, I'll shoot to kill" and proves he has what it takes to back up his claim...
Jack Belmont has big dreams. His goal is to join the ranks of America's most feared criminals…to replace John Dillinger as Public Enemy No. 1. This young outlaw has all the instincts of a cold-blooded killer, plus a powerful thirst for glory. He's got a long way to go to join the ranks of Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, and Machine-Gun Kelly…but he's off to a good enough start that Webster is hot on his trail...
Louly Brown started with nothing…but she wasn't about to settle for that. Her first claim to fame came when her cousin married Charley "Pretty Boy" Floyd. Later, running off with ex-con Joe Young added spice to her life. But she was smart enough to see that helping Carl Webster put a stop to Joe's crime spree would be a better deal than sharing his fate. After the smoke cleared, Louly really came into her own, selling her story to the papers, then setting her sights on the handsome lawman who'd captured her heart….
Tony Antonelli loves the danger and fame that come along with rubbing shoulders with heartless gangsters, dedicated lawmen, gorgeous gun molls, and bloodthirsty vigilantes in the course of his work for True Detective Mystery magazine. Whether he's writing about bank robbers or the Black Hand, the KKK or rum running, or hot young lawmen and cold-blooded killers and their sexy sidekicks, Tony views other people's troubles as more than just bread-and-butter; they provide an adrenaline-charged kick to his own life, as well as vicarious thrills for eager readers.
Elmore Leonard hits his target with The Hot Kid, an unforgettable tale of high adventure where the crooks are out to prove that crime really can pay and where federal marshals trade high risks for low salary to bring these wanted felons in "dead or alive." Sue Stone
Charles McGrath
There's a little irony here, of which Leonard is surely not unaware: he, the novelist, has written a sparer, more faithful account than we can expect from Tony Antonelli, the true-crime journalist. And yet The Hot Kid is not unsympathetic to Tony or to the pulp- magazine impulse -- no surprise when we remember that Leonard got his start writing for magazines like Argosy, Dime Western and Zane Grey.
— The New York Times Sunday Book Review
Patrick Anderson
Elmore Leonard is our Prospero, a magician who has given us inspired fun for 50 years. He floats above the action, amused; his motto is surely Puck's "What fools these mortals be." In The Hot Kid , Oklahoma is his version of Shakespeare's enchanted isle in "The Tempest," a brave new world where maids and monsters, outlaws and oilmen, strange creatures all, act out their dubious destinies.
— The Washington Post
Janet Maslin
One of the built-in pleasures of The Hot Kid is its understanding of celebrity. Everyone in this story, from Carl's pecan-farming father (the nuts turn out to be planted atop an oil gusher) to waitresses, has some incipient claim to fame; the question is how that claim can be exploited. And even the book's most naïve figures wise up in a hurry when the reporters arrive. "I'm getting tired of these interviews," complains Louly, a former cotton picker and delectably tough cookie, once the press decides that she has gun-moll potential. "I've had to make up stories so they stay interested."
— The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
Leonard's (Get Shorty) 40th novel is a nearly flawless audio production. Initially, Howard's lackadaisical meter and reading style comes off as flat and unenthused. But as the flavor of the story steeps, his low-key, deliberate delivery sets the perfect pitch for Leonard's stripped down dialogue. His slow cowpoke pace leaves plenty of space for the nuance with which he breathes life into Leonard's characters. Everyone is tough, everyone is cool, and nearly all speak in clipped Hemingway-like sentences. However, Howard carefully assigns each character a specific voice, timber and speed, saving the most calm and cool for Carlos "Carl" Webster, the young, quick-drawing U.S. marshal hero of the tale. The only thing amiss with this package is the music that opens and closes each CD. This is a western tale of shootouts, cattle rustlers and bank robbers. The swanky, sultry jazz music with lilting sax better fits Chandler than L'Amour. Once past these spurious strains, however, the listener is in for a satisfying earful. Simultaneous release with Morrow hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 28). (May) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Leonard's encyclopedic knowledge of crime history and wry humor make his novels reading experiences to savor. His latest is no exception, pitting two bright, gutsy young men against each other in a deadly cat-and-mouse game. In the fall of 1921, 15-year-old Carlos Webster witnesses Emmett Long rob Deering's drugstore in Okmulgee, OK, and shoot Junior Harjo, just for being there. Ten years later, Carlos is a rising star among the U.S. marshals, with eight notches on his gun, including one for Emmett Long. Jack Belmont, the ne'er-do-well son of an oil baron, has one ambition-to become Public Enemy Number One-and lives life accordingly. Many of his schemes are hare-brained and misfire; some, like the massacre of seven Ku Klux Klansmen, have redeeming value; others, like the murder of his sidekick, Norm, can't be proved. When Jack challenges Carlos, and the two draw beads on each other, it is only a matter of time before one lies dead in the dirt. Leonard's 40th novel is a winner in the tradition of Get Shorty and Be Cool. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/05.]-Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Leonard's 40th novel sweetly revisits the Depression, when every Oklahoma kid dreamed of growing up to be a lawman or a gangster. The hot kid is Carl (ne Carlos) Webster, a young U.S. marshal out of Tulsa with so much fire in his belly that some folks wonder if he actually enjoys killing bad guys. But the sobriquet could apply just as easily to Jack Belmont, a wildcat oilman's son whose idea of a good time is raping an underaged girl, blackmailing his father about Nancy Polis, the mistress he's keeping in Sapulpa, and kidnapping Nancy when the old man brushes off the extortion attempt. Or even to Tony Antonelli, an Okmulgee reporter who finds his true calling when he shakes the facts from his feet and goes to work for True Detective Mystery determined to chronicle the adventures of Carl and Jack. The antagonists oblige by tangling again and again over a period from 1927 to 1934, swapping women, preening remarks, schemes and occasionally bullets. Along the way, there are bloody tangles with bank robbers, soiled law-enforcers, Klansmen, Kansas City ward-heelers, and aspiring gun molls like Louly Brown as wholehearted in their auditions as if they were aiming for Hollywood stardom-as in a sense they are. Although the body count is high, Carl and Jack emerge from each encounter as unscathed as Kabuki warriors, ready each time for a rematch for which they're more motivated than ever. Their persistent efforts to turn themselves into mythic heroes in the manner of Pretty Boy Floyd, the talismanic celebrity gangster forever just out of Louly's reach, echoes Bonnie and Clyde. But Leonard's sly take on the price of notoriety is a lot more genial and laid-back. The whole sepia-toned caravan, infact, is so relaxed that even the most violent felonies may leave you smiling. Leonard's gentle epic is as restorative as a month in the country. Author tour
From the Publisher
This is a novel that... is all about style, literary and otherwise.” — New York Times Book Review
“THE HOT KID brims with the sly humor, sparse prose and razor dialogue we expect from the master” — Los Angeles Times Book Review
“The writing is pitch-perfect throughout...it’s all pure Leonard, and that means it’s pure terrific.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Clear, fast-paced and masterfully structured.” — Philadelphia Inquirer
“The HOT KID is Elmore Leonard- a master- at his best.” — Oklahoma City Oklahoman
“...expertly crafted, deftly balanced.” — Houston Chronicle
“...Rips along like a bandit’s getaway car...THE HOT KID is Leonard at his best.” — Tulsa World
“...delivers the goods in a top-notch amalgam of sagebrush western and mob drama.” — Lexington Herald-Leader
“There’s nothing Elmore Leonard doesn’t know about stylish writing, and THE HOT KID is him at his compressed best.” — Detroit Free Press
“Wonderfully funny and hair-raising...THE HOT KID is splendid.” — Providence Sunday Journal
“Elmore Leonard unspools the definitive portrait of 1930s lowlife” — Boston Sunday Globe (Stephen King)
Praise for MR.PARADISE: “The dialogue and the characters crackle ...MR. PARADISE is a perfect crime caper from a master.” — Detroit Free Press
“Smart writing about dumb crooks.” — Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“His 40th crime novel—and he just keeps getting better and better. ” — Deseret News
Los Angeles Times Book Review
THE HOT KID brims with the sly humor, sparse prose and razor dialogue we expect from the master
Houston Chronicle
...expertly crafted, deftly balanced.
Providence Sunday Journal
Wonderfully funny and hair-raising...THE HOT KID is splendid.
Detroit Free Press
There’s nothing Elmore Leonard doesn’t know about stylish writing, and THE HOT KID is him at his compressed best.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Clear, fast-paced and masterfully structured.
New York Times Book Review
This is a novel that... is all about style, literary and otherwise.
Lexington Herald-Leader
...delivers the goods in a top-notch amalgam of sagebrush western and mob drama.
Oklahoma City Oklahoman
The HOT KID is Elmore Leonard- a master- at his best.
Tulsa World
...Rips along like a bandit’s getaway car...THE HOT KID is Leonard at his best.
Deseret News
His 40th crime novel—and he just keeps getting better and better.
Boston Sunday Globe (Stephen King)
Elmore Leonard unspools the definitive portrait of 1930s lowlife
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Smart writing about dumb crooks.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Smart writing about dumb crooks.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
THE HOT KID brims with the sly humor, sparse prose and razor dialogue we expect from the master
Boston Sunday Globe
"Elmore Leonard unspools the definitive portrait of 1930s lowlife"
AUG/SEP 05 - AudioFile
Arliss Howard offers a straightforward reading of Leonard's latest, a foray into the 1930s’ Wild West. The hot kid of the title is a young U.S. marshal based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who wants to become the most famous lawman in America by nabbing gangsters--Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde. The gangsters, meanwhile, are striving to be number one on the FBI's “Most Wanted” list. This is perfect territory for Leonard, who makes the most of the adventure. Howard adopts the tone of a movie western, reminiscent of John Wayne or John Ford. It’s gritty and direct, and it works. The only difficulty is with the high number of quote attributions in Leonard’s dialogue-driven book, some of which Howard reads in the voice of the speaker, rather than the narrator. It can be confusing. Otherwise, this is an entertaining listen. R.E.K. 2006 Audie Award Finalist © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
