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Road Dogs

3.4 of 5 stars 3.40 · rating details · 1,661 ratings · 294 reviews

Legendary New York Times bestselling author Elmore Leonard returns with three of his favorite characters: Jack Foley from Out of Sight, Cundo Rey from LaBrava, and Dawn Navarro from Riding the Rap.

Jack Foley, the charming bank robber from Out of Sight, is serving a thirty-year sentence in a Miami penitentiary, but he's made an unlikely friend on the inside who just might b...more

ebook, 288 pages

Published May 12th 2009 by HarperCollins e-books (first published January 1st 2009)

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Apr 19, 2013 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review, much like an Elmore Leonard novel, is destined to be short and to the point. As it should be.

Road Dogs picks up where the novel Out of Sight left off. In Out of Sight we were introduced to Jack Foley, a bank robber whose escape from prison leads to his "kidnap" of U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco. Star-crossed lovers far more interesting than Romeo and Juliet, Jack and Karen are a couple who are meant to be, but can never be. Watching the sparks fly between them and their ongoing banter mad...more This review, much like an Elmore Leonard novel, is destined to be short and to the point. As it should be.

Road Dogs picks up where the novel Out of Sight left off. In Out of Sight we were introduced to Jack Foley, a bank robber whose escape from prison leads to his "kidnap" of U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco. Star-crossed lovers far more interesting than Romeo and Juliet, Jack and Karen are a couple who are meant to be, but can never be. Watching the sparks fly between them and their ongoing banter made Out of Sight one of my favorite Leonard novels.

Road Dogs follows Jack Foley's life after Karen Sisco. When fellow inmate Cundo Rey (a wealthy Cuban with serious outside connections) pays for a high-powered attorney to help Jack reduce the 30 year sentence handed down by a judge aptly nicknamed "Maximum Bob" (for his propensity to always give the maximum sentencing allowed), Jack finds his sentence significantly reduced. And he also finds himself in debt to Cundo. As a result, Jack gets mixed up with Cundo's wife, Dawn Navarro, and various plots from conning a wealthy movie star to robbing Cundo himself. All the while, a zealous FBI agent is watching Jack's every move.

As with all Leonard novels, it's hard to track where the narrative will take us, which is always part of the fun. For me, however, the real joy in a Leonard novel comes from the dialogue. No one, and I mean no one, has a better ear for the natural rhythms of everyday speech than Leonard. He can develop entire characters simply based on their conversation. Little is needed in the way of physical description; you can take the measure of a character simply from the sound of his or her speech.

Despite all of this, this is not Leonard's best novel, but even a mediocre Leonard novel is better than most popular fiction out there today. Foley still comes across as the likable scamp of a bank thief, but it lacks the sizzle that came from his interaction with Karen Sisco. I did enjoy seeing Dawn Navarro again and thought her character the most interesting in the book. A psychic with a real gift for seeing the future, she opts to make her living pulling cons and waiting to get her hands on Cundo's money. Her constantly shifting persona as she plays one man against another is like watching a reptile blend into its surroundings and waiting for its prey. I wouldn't mind seeing a book turn up in the near future strictly focused on her life after Road Dogs.

Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder (less)

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Aug 07, 2010 Kemper rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery

Out of Sight was one of my favorite Elmore Leonard novels (and a great movie despite having Jennifer Lopez in it) so I was really excited to hear that Jack Foley would be a character in this one along with a couple of other Leonard characters from other books, Dawn Navvaro from Riding the Rap and Cundo Rey from LaBrava.

Unfortunately, half of what made Out of Sight so fun was Karen Sisco and Jack’s crazy romance, and with no Karen in this one, the whole book doesn’t have the same zing. Dawn was a...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Josh Gaines rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Elmore Leonard has had a long, long career in writing, and it’s not even done yet; the man is in his eighties and is still cranking out at least a novel every year or so. When I read such a well-seasoned author with a large catalog of works for the first time, I tend to usually want to start of with a book that is considered one of his best, or at least choose one from the ‘prime’ of their career. This may be a clue as to why I did not enjoy this book at all, because I did not use this tactic wh...more Elmore Leonard has had a long, long career in writing, and it’s not even done yet; the man is in his eighties and is still cranking out at least a novel every year or so. When I read such a well-seasoned author with a large catalog of works for the first time, I tend to usually want to start of with a book that is considered one of his best, or at least choose one from the ‘prime’ of their career. This may be a clue as to why I did not enjoy this book at all, because I did not use this tactic when I picked up Road Dogs from the library on a whim. Had I realized it was such a recent novel of Leonard’s, I probably would have chosen something else, for a number of reasons.

First of all, this book involves three characters that were featured prominently in three previous, separate works. As far as I know, this is the first time all three of them have appeared in one storyline together. Secondly, perhaps Leonard isn’t ‘writing them like he used to,’ as it’s a sad truth that some authors kinda go downhill later in life. That is, admittedly, a pretty general statement and perhaps an ignorant one, but also sometimes true. Basically I’m just saying: I didn’t enjoy this book at all, but I can’t let it be my only reference for judging Leonard’s work because maybe it’s simply not his best.

I like to describe his writing style as ‘crash-bang,’ in the sense that it moves quickly and deals with harsh, fast, crime-world themes. I understand that this is characteristic of Leonard’s style. He has said about his own writing, “I just cut out all the boring parts,” which I kept in mind while reading this and had to agree that he does a good job of sticking to that. The book is highly dialogue driven and Leonard doesn’t shuffle around the bush of edginess; he dives in. These characters are dirty, hard-ass criminals with big attitudes, and they talk like they mean it.

‘Road Dogs’ is a term that refers to a pair or group of men inside prison who look out for eachother; a sort of exclusive title for those who have endured something extremely taxing together. This is the situation for Cundo Rey and Jack Foley, the former a California housing guru of Cuban descent with drug and gang associations in his past, the latter an infamous bank-robber with a record-breaking total of banks robbed. Also in the mix is Dawn Navarro, Cundo’s kind-of wife, a saucy high-class woman with psychic abilities who doesn’t seem to do much of anything but live off of other people’s wealth.

This sounds like an interesting mix and the makings of a compelling story, and it kind of is, but the novel is a weird and unfocused one, to say the least. Let’s start with Jack Foley: he has the makings of a badass, don’t-take-no-shit cool-guy, and yet his coolness is never quite realized in the book because he’s just mostly lazy and inactive. He is given this level of respect for his many bank robberies and is held in this sort of legendary high-regard in the crime world, and yet in this book he does almost nothing but drink and sleep with Dawn behind Cundo’s back.

Cundo is a tiny Cuban man who has a lot of crooked money but is actually sort of stupid and ignorant. He has a macho attitude, but really knows almost nothing of the empire he supposedly runs. The main plot involves Jack and Dawn scheming to steal Cundo’s fortune and make off with is while he is in prison.

Dawn is a sex-hungry, manipulative fox, and while she is written with cunning, she’s not altogether likeable. To add an odd, non-realistic element to the mix of this novel, she has actual psychic abilities, both to read other’s thoughts and to see dimly into the future.

I kept waiting for the book to open up, to really get cooking and for some shit to go down, because I got the sense that that is what was supposed to happen. Everybody talks so big and tough and there are plenty of criminal characters so I figured eventually there would be some big gunfight showdown or bank robbery or drug bust or something crime/thriller-esque. But it never came, except for at the end, where there does occur a mildly climactic killing. But it was deeply unsatisfying, and I finished the book thinking, ‘What the heck was the point of that?’

I’m not one of those people who has to see a ‘point’ in every story; I’ll be the first to admit some plots have no point and are merely there for the fun of it. But that’s the thing, if you’re not going to take the reader anywhere meaningful, you should at least be making it fun and ridiculous while you’re at it, and that’s exactly what this book didn’t do. It was really just kind of boring and flat and anti-climactic, and even that is sometimes fine in novels if you care about the characters, but in this case I did not.

I fear I sound pretty arrogantly critical or like I am bashing Elmore Leonard. I’m not. The man has made his mark and there must be some reason his fans keep buying his books. As I said at the beginning, maybe I just picked up kind of a dud. Heck, one of my favorite movies is based upon his work: Get Shorty. So, all that to say, I haven’t given up on Leonard yet. A man with this big a following warrants another look. But Road Dogs just fell short. It is a supposedly exciting book that never seems to figure out what sort of genre it is supposed to be. Hardcore Leonard-heads should obviously read this one, but like me, if you’re new to his work, don’t start with this one. (less)

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Aug 17, 2012 Walt Giersbach rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Robert Pinsky, reviewing for The New York Times in May 2009, said Elmore Leonard’s Road Dogs “is about the varying degrees of truth and baloney in human relationships. Sometimes the truth or the baloney is lethal. Droll and exciting, enriched by the self-aware, what-the-hell-why-not insouciance of a master now in his mid-80s, Road Dogs presents interesting questions: Can a grown person change? Specifically, can a man abandon expertise that wins him respect but makes a mess of his life? Can anybo...more Robert Pinsky, reviewing for The New York Times in May 2009, said Elmore Leonard’s Road Dogs “is about the varying degrees of truth and baloney in human relationships. Sometimes the truth or the baloney is lethal. Droll and exciting, enriched by the self-aware, what-the-hell-why-not insouciance of a master now in his mid-80s, Road Dogs presents interesting questions: Can a grown person change? Specifically, can a man abandon expertise that wins him respect but makes a mess of his life? Can anybody trust anybody? Is love ever true? Is friendship ever real? Or, leaving aside love and friendship, does loyalty exist? We road dogs—trotting along companionably on our way to sniff and woof and boogie-woogie and perhaps knock over an occasional trash barrel together—are we reliable?”

I’ve maintained a list of every book I’ve read since 1973, starting when I realized I was reading an embarrassing amount of pop fiction at the expense of more worthy literary efforts. Not that Robert Ludlum is bad, but it’s genre writing.

Finishing my seventh Elmore Leonard opus I realized it was time to get back to Drew Gilpin Faust’s This Republic of Suffering or David Liss’s Conspiracy of Paper. Then I had my epiphany: Elmore Leonard is an extremely good writer.

You know Leonard from the films Get Shorty, Stick, Mr. Majestyk, Jackie Brown and 27 others. You just haven’t read him.

The Christian Science Monitor’s James Kaufman (who teaches at the U. of Iowa) wrote in 1983, “It’s taken awhile for people to catch onto Leonard, though Stick finally brought him the scrutiny of the critical establishment…. But like more overnight successes, Leonard had been writing…since 1953.” Newgate Callendar, writing in The New York Times Book Review in 1973, stated, “When [Leonard’s] 52 Pickup appeared in 1974, it had some critics talking in terms of Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald…. But it is really wrong to talk of this writer in terms of Chandler and Macdonald. He has little in common with those two. They are ‘clean’ writers; there is no profanity to speak of in Chandler, and Macdonald has never been an exponent of the verismo school of speech. Leonard is.”

Leonard’s characters are for the most part, good, decent people, but ones who might challenge you to arm wrestle. The writing is spare and lacking in simile or metaphor. His protagonists have interior thoughts and existential questions. What remains when the reader puts down a Leonard work are characters drawn in clean, sharp lines. He is Hemingway, unexpurgated and sitting in a bar or police squad room.

Then you may find Road Dogs and Leonard’s 40 other novels are addictive.
(less)

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Feb 18, 2012 David Williams rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Elmore Leonard is known for his characters. When talking about his writing style he always explains that he focuses on an interesting character and then tells a story about them. In Road Dogs Leonard brings three of his characters from earlier novels together for a fun and interesting story. Jack Foley is the Gentleman Bank Robber from Out of Sight, Cundo Rey was a character from LaBrava, and Dawn Navarro was last seen in Riding the Rap.

In Road Dogs we see Foley in the aftermath of Out of Sight....more

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Feb 06, 2012 Jim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, fiction

The NME-christened "poet laureate of wild assholes with revolvers", Elmore Leonard, fires up another hugely enjoyable crime caper that sees most of the major players planning to double or triple cross one another within about two paragraphs of them being introduced. This novel "stars" Jack Foley, who George Clooney played in the movie version of "Out of Sight", involved in plot that snakes around itself and is much tighter than the average bowline knot. Barely a word is wasted as the story unfol...more

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Jul 04, 2011 June Ahern rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Road Dogs" is my second Elmore Leonard book I've listened to on CD and I really enjoyed it, couldn't wait to get more. The criminal characters each have a certain something that made me want to get into their heads and the story line moved along keeping my interest. Each chapter eagerly leads the reader forward - bada bing bada boom - let's go to the next one and learn what will Jack Foley, the notorious bank robber cook up next? Or Cundo Rey the Cuban Hollywood drug lord. Little Jimmy, Cundo's...more

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Dec 09, 2010 J.j. Wylie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

(For a more detailed review of this book, go to )

Road Dogs brings back characters from several previous novels, most notably the character of Jack Foley, the charming bank robber from Out of Sight. He was played by George Clooney in the movie, and it's easy to visualize Clooney reprising the role. In Road Dogs, Foley is as cool, and as conflicted, as ever. He also gets more than his share of attention from the ladies.

The other two returning characters are Cundo Rey, the hot-blooded crook from La...more (For a more detailed review of this book, go to )

Road Dogs brings back characters from several previous novels, most notably the character of Jack Foley, the charming bank robber from Out of Sight. He was played by George Clooney in the movie, and it's easy to visualize Clooney reprising the role. In Road Dogs, Foley is as cool, and as conflicted, as ever. He also gets more than his share of attention from the ladies.

The other two returning characters are Cundo Rey, the hot-blooded crook from La Brava, and Dawn Navarro, the sexy psychic con-artist from Riding the Rap. Forget what anyone says about the problems of synchronizing the chronologies of novels that were written in different decades. Leonard makes it work like the proverbial well-oiled machine, explaining just enough to keep the wheels turning.

Road Dogs plays out as a kind of triangular standoff between Jack, Cundo, and Dawn, with a generous helping of vivid minor characters to fill out the story. When the book starts, Cundo and Jack are in prison together, acting as mutual protectors -- the "Road Dogs" of the title. Then Cundo does Jack a favor that gets Jack released from prison, and Cundo sends Jack to Dawn.

Why does Cundo do all this? Therein lies the crux. It could be out of generosity. Or it could be for some ulterior motive. Jack isn't sure, and neither is Dawn. But that doesn't stop the two of them from engaging in some maneuverings of their own. These include setting up a famous widowed actress for a romantic ghostbusting and sussing out Cundo's business partner to tally the extent of his real-world assets.

When Cundo himself gets released from prison, he joins Jack and Dawn in Venice, California, and the fireworks start. Will Jack and Cundo's "Road Dog" relationship in prison translate to true friendship in the outside world? Will Jack return to the ways that made him infamous and got him incarcerated? Will Dawn get the better of these two men for her own purposes? Are they really at odds, or are they just so jaded they are incapable of real trust?

As the author lets these issues play out, he entertains us with some of the best dialog in the business. Much gets made of the fact that Leonard eschews description and exposition, but it's there. He just wraps it in so much dialog that it gets absorbed effortlessly, letting the reader focus on the action. Leonard is a master of narrative economy.

I heartily recommend this book.(less)

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Jun 28, 2009 Al rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I knew Elmore Leonard books. Elmore Leonard books were friends of mine. Road Dogs, you're no Elmore Leonard book.
Elmore Leonard is proud of starting his books with no real idea of where they're going to come out, and his varied and entertaining array of successes is proof that that method has worked for him. But even the greats have off days, and this is one of them. This is a book without a point, one that wanders aimlessly and winds up nowhere. We've met Jack Foley before, and he's entertain...more

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Jun 03, 2009 Christy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Elmore Leonard brings back three characters from previous books for an encore performance in his latest comedic foray into the criminal world. Bank robber Jack Foley (Out of Sight), and Cundo Rey (LaBrava), meet in prison and quickly become friends, referring to themselves as Road Dogs. Rey’s lawyer has arranged for his early release from prison and Rey offers her services to Foley, who’s in for thirty years. She manages to get Foley’s prison term reduced to thirty months and Foley is released t...more

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May 24, 2009 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-crime-detection

Leonard, Elmore. ROAD DOGS. (2009). ****. In spite of all the blurbs, Leonard is not a “thriller” writer. He is the master of the caper novel, and you have to realize that all of his characters in all of his stories cannot be trusted to mean or do what they say. They are all out for themselves. In this caper, we meet Jack Foley, a charming bank robber, one who has robbed over 170 banks during his career. We also meet his cell-mate, Cundo Rey, an extremely wealthy Cuban criminal. They have been t...more

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Jun 15, 2012 wally rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: leonard

i've read a few leonard stories...always good. this one begins:

they put foley and the cuban together in the backseat of the van and took them from the palm beach county jail on gun club to glades correctional, the old redbrick prison at the south end of lake okeechobee. neither one said a word during the ride that took most of an hour, both of them handcuffed and shackled.

they were returning jack foley to do his thirty years after busting out for a week, foley's mind on a woman who made intense...more

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Sep 24, 2009 Migdalia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

OK. So, I picked up the latest Elmore Leonard book because he is one of my favorite authors, and I hadn't read his stuff in a while. Yes, it's true: You'd be hard pressed to find a better writer who such a great ear for dialogue. Michael Chabon is the only other one who comes to mind at the moment who has that talent. Regardless, as Dennis Lehane notes, Leonard is in a class of one. All I can write about this book is that he has not lost his touch.

The story picks up after jack Foley, from Out of...more

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Sep 21, 2012 Matthew Vacca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After wanting to read a Leonard novel for the pat 15 years, I finally got around to a newer one, picked up used for 6,000 KRW in Busan. I was a big fan of the movies "Out of Sight" and "Get Shorty" and Elmore Leonard has been consistently name dropped as "one of the best thriller writers of his generation."

This novel was entertaining and quick read, but on the whole rather forgettable. I kept expecting a big surprise payoff at the end and it just wasn't there. There also was a noticeable lack of...more

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Jul 21, 2010 ICPL Staff Picks added it · review of another edition

Shelves: staff-picks-blog, john, mysteries, fiction

Dashiell Hammitt and Raymond Chandler often get cited as creating noir fiction, but neither of them wrote as many as ten books, even counting story collections and posthumous pastiches. Elmore Leonard has written 40, remarkably consistent, state-of-the-art tough guy crime novels. He’s a national treasure. He’ll tell you how it’s done, too.

His latest brings back three characters from earlier novels–Reverend Dawn, a psychic con woman from Riding the Rap; Cundo Rey, short, fast-talking Cuban from L...more

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Jun 16, 2009 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009

Leonard started out a great writer, and 40-some books in to his career he continues to improve, which is difficult to imagine until you read his most recent novel. He's writing literature disguised as crime fiction (or is it the other way around?), with no repetition of theme or lack of inspiration. Even Leonard's minor characters are stronger, stranger, and more interesting than those in novels by many other authors. In this book, for example, we have Zorro the driver, and Mike Nesi the skinhea...more

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Oct 05, 2012 Kevin Ikenberry rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I can't remember where I first had the inspiration to read Elmore Leonard, but I am glad that I did. Leonard has no equal when it comes to writing dialogue and his twisting-turning plots are fun to read. Road Dogs is no exception. Picking up in Jack Foley's life after Out Of Sight (which is my favorite Leonard book and one of my favorite movies), the story twists from Florida to the Hollywood hills as Jack Foley gets released from prison, comes face to face with Karen Cisco one last time, and mu...more

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Oct 06, 2012 Leew49 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-fiction

In ROAD DOGS Elmore Leonard brings back three characters from some of his earlier works to tell a story of crime, deception and double cross. At first glance it could be taken as a "No honor among thieves" tale, but it is in fact an examination of loyalty and disloyalty, trust and trust misplaced, and how even an alliance formed under desperate circumstances can become a form of long-term commitment. Dawn Navarro is a con artist currently posing as a psychic. She is dishonest enough to cheat at...more

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Jun 14, 2009 Tim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: blog, thrillers

This was waay better than my first brush with Elmore Leonard, Pronto. For starters, the main character is charming and funny rather than tedious and unlikable, and the plot is twisty and never lags. The protagonist here would be Jack Foley from Out of Sight, the world's coolest bank-robber. While reading, it's hard not to picture George Clooney reprising his role from the movie version. (Reportedly Leonard wrote this one with a movie deal in mind, but Clooney didn't want to be typecast as a thie...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Larry Hoffer added it · review of another edition

Elmore Leonard is one of those authors, like Stephen King, John Grisham, Joyce Carol Oates or Jeffery Deaver, whose ability to churn out novels on a regular basis is truly amazing. Sometimes I can barely muster the creativity for a blog post, and they're turning out novel after novel.

Leonard's latest brings together characters from three previous books: Jack Foley (George Clooney's character) from Out of Sight, Cundo Rey from La Brava and Dawn Navarro from Riding the Rap. Foley and Rey meet in...more

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May 24, 2009 Tim Niland rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-reads

Suave and debonair bank robber Jack Foley who never pulled a gun during any of his 100+ heists is finally collared and sent up the river where he meets Cundo Rey, Cuban exile, murderer and con artist. Setting Jack up with a hotshot lawyer that gets him released on a technicality, Rey tells Jack to find his common law wife and await his release and next move. Foley and Dawn, Rey's wife, begin a torrid affair and plot to see if they can relieve Rey of his ill gotten money. This was a fun book - Le...more

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Feb 13, 2012 John rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not sayin it's junk. It moves right along. A two evening book. He writes rather sparsely. Thanks Elmore for not wasting my time with over blown hyperbole. If ya wanna watch TV without watchin TV this would do the trick. I'm movin on to Spillane or Hammett. Dont think I'll read much more from this guy. But it wasn't bad, it just wasn't good.

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Nov 29, 2010 Derek Wolfgram rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A nice little bit of escapism, but nowhere near Leonard's best. While to a certain extent noir writing always depends on stereotypes for shortcuts to paint pictures of the protagonists, the descriptions in Road Dogs crossed over into caricature. From the African-American gangsta teen with the sideways baseball hat and the low hanging pants to the sympthetic tough guy criminal hero to the wealthy blonde Hollywood actress, the whole thing felt like a rote caper story where the reader is left wonde...more

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Jun 04, 2010 Woodge rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime

Road Dogs is the 19th novel I've read by Elmore Leonard. That's a record number by one author that I've read. The reason is that Elmore Leonard's stories are just consistently entertaining. You can't tell exactly where the story is headed and the journey there is just so much fun. In this story he revisits the main character of Out of Sight -- haven't read it, but the movie adaptation is a favorite -- Jack Foley, convicted bank robber. The title refers to prison buddies. In this case, Jack's bud...more

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Jul 08, 2009 R.G. Evans rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How could I have almost made it to 46 years old without reading an Elmore Leonard novel? I've seen so many movies based on his novels or screenplays (3:10 to Yuma, Mr. Majestyk, Joe Kidd, Get Shorty), but for some reason I never cracked one of his books before. I happened to be in Traverse City, MI, last month on a night when he and his son, Peter (also a crime novelist), were holding a panel discussion. It was a very entertaining evening, so I bought Road Dogs. Everything critics write about Le...more

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May 03, 2009 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Laura by: Amazon vine aRC

This is the 1st book by Elmore Leonard I've read. I really enjoyed it. The characters are easy to get to know are are interesting. They have a lot of quirks and interact in interesting ways. It is about a man, Jack Foley, who is just getting out of prision, again and has dreams of not going back in. He is a man who is generally liked by both men and women. (Apparently, he is a character from another of Leonard's books, as are several in this story. I need to read more of his work.) He gets invol...more

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Jun 30, 2009 Ken rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wonder if Elmore Leonard, now at 83, looks back on his career and considers the legacy he has built through his writing. He has published over 40 novels, numerous short stories, defined a unique literary style, and provided source material for a variety of films (some not so good, some very very good). His response would most likely be spoken in the smart street banter spoken used by any one of his many colorful characters. It would be a tightly worded quote that stuck in your brain and clear...more

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Jul 30, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sept-oct-2009

"The critics, thrilled with Leonard's latest novel, unanimously praised it as another success in a long line of groundbreaking successes. Leonard's revolutionary, minimalist style -- including his disdain for long descriptions and tedious scene setting -- sends the plot racing along on deliciously deadpan dialogue between vivid, engaging characters, a few of whom readers already know and love. Amid the murder and mayhem, Leonard also poses larger questions about the varying degrees of loyalty an...more

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Jul 03, 2009 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another very good Elmore Leonard story of low life hustlers trying to Hustle one another. As usual the dialog is crackling with the reality of the street.
The book suffers in the first part set up because Leonard decided to use characters from previous books "La Brava" and "Out of Sight" which seemed forced at the beginning. Leonard could have used new characters since these two had no history together. He does weave together themes from those two books with a lothario bank robber and a movie sta...more

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Jul 15, 2009 Bill rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller

This book started well. Of course, it has the baggage (in a good way) of characters from previous novels, including Foley from Out of Sight, and that helps to draw you in. After all, everyone wants to know what happens between George and J-Lo, excuse me, Jack and Karen, but Leonard gets past that in a hurry. At first I thought this book was going to be a return to form for Leonard after his two rather dull forays into historical fiction, but ultimately, this book also falls short. The plot, such...more

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About Elmore Leonard

Elmore John Leonard lived in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Memphis before settling in Detroit in 1935. After serving in the navy, he studied English literature at the University of Detroit where he entered a short story competition. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into m...more

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10157456-road-dogs?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1294519601l/10157456.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10157456-road-dogs?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard[/url]

Road Dogs

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