Raylan (Raylan Givens, #3)

Feb 09, 2012 Dan Schwent rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-and-mystery, 2012, elmore-leonard, leonard

US Marshal Raylan Givens investigates a kidney stealing ring, acts as a bodyguard to a beautiful coal mining executive, and tracks down a missing college girl named Jackie Nevada who is a poker player and possibly a bank robber.

Bad Pun Alert: I've only seen the first season of the show starring Timothy Olyphant but I felt reading this book was Justified since I was already aware of Raylan from having read Pronto years ago.

Raylan purports to be a novel but it feels more like three linked novellas...more US Marshal Raylan Givens investigates a kidney stealing ring, acts as a bodyguard to a beautiful coal mining executive, and tracks down a missing college girl named Jackie Nevada who is a poker player and possibly a bank robber.

Bad Pun Alert: I've only seen the first season of the show starring Timothy Olyphant but I felt reading this book was Justified since I was already aware of Raylan from having read Pronto years ago.

Raylan purports to be a novel but it feels more like three linked novellas. The three cases aren't directly connected but do reference each other and feature some of the same characters. As near as I can tell, only a few characters from Justified are prominently featured: Boyd Crowder, Dewey Crowe, and Art. Ava and Winona have cameo appearances but don't do a whole lot.

Of the three cases, I'd say the first was my favorite. Kidneys being stolen seemed kind of hokey until I got into the story and Raylan did his thing. Layla was a pretty interesting foil to our lawman. The second case, Raylan acting as a bodyguard to Carol Conlan, was pretty good but did more to flesh out Harlan than it did anything else. Boyd Crowder was good in it, of course. The third case was almost as good as the first and it did manage to tie together a couple plot threads from the other two. Funny how everyone but Delroy Lewis knew how that was going to turn out.

From what I've read, Elmore Leonard gave an ARC of Raylan to the writers of Justified and told them to mine it for parts. If they use the parts I think they will, the next couple seasons of Justified are going to be pretty spectacular.

So, how do I justify giving this a four? It felt a little stiff in places compared to the earlier Elmore Leonards I've recently read, Swag and 52 Pickup. It's also a little short at less than 270 pages. I also caught a couple editing mistakes, like maybe this was rushed out to coincide with the third season of Justified. All in all, I've got no big complaints. Raylan should appeal to fans of Justified and Elmore Leonard alike.

Post-Justified Season 2 Edit: While nursing a hangover, I managed to watch the bulk of Justified Season 2. The Carol Conlan case clearly was the source for a lot of the Black Pike storyline in season two. Lots of lines of dialogue and some characters were borrowed from the other stories.(less)

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Apr 27, 2012 Kemper rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, crime-mystery, 5-0, tv

I see them long hard times to come…

Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens became infamous for giving a gangster 24 hours to get out of Miami and then shooting him when he failed to leave before the deadline. As punishment for his Wyatt Earp act, Raylan has been reassigned to a small office in Kentucky not far from where he grew up. Raylan isn’t thrilled to be back home where he frequently finds himself entangled with people from his past while trying to do his job.

There’s a lot of TV shows adapted from...more I see them long hard times to come…

Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens became infamous for giving a gangster 24 hours to get out of Miami and then shooting him when he failed to leave before the deadline. As punishment for his Wyatt Earp act, Raylan has been reassigned to a small office in Kentucky not far from where he grew up. Raylan isn’t thrilled to be back home where he frequently finds himself entangled with people from his past while trying to do his job.

There’s a lot of TV shows adapted from books these days, but I think FX’s Justified based on the character created by Elmore Leonard is unique. Leonard hadn’t done a helluva lot of writing with Raylan. He was part of a larger cast in two books and featured in one short story. The producers of the show took Leonard’s core idea of a former coal miner turned marshal with a fondness for his cowboy hat and a knack for baiting bad guys into drawing on him so he can legally shoot them, and they’ve developed that character into a complex guy with anger issues who has been pulled back into a past he desperately tried to escape.

The results of that first season so impressed Leonard that he decided to write this book and to set it in the world that the tv show had built on from his original work. Then Leonard shared his ideas with the writers of the show and invited them to ‘strip it for parts’. This is essentially what they had done with the other writing about Raylan. While the short story Fire in the Hole was adapted into the pilot episode, they used individual scenes from the books and worked them into their own original stories.

The joint development of the book and the show makes for a weird but fun dynamic here. In the book, Raylan pursues organ thieves, protects a tough female coal mining executive, gets mixed up with a pack of female bank robbers and deals with a couple of rednecks named Dickie and Coover. If you’ve seen the second and third season of the show, that will all sound familiar, and there are scenes that are recreated faithfully, but there are also pretty big differences. Dan noted that’s it’s almost like an alternate universe, and that’s exactly what it seems like. It’s very much like the show, but things play out in a different fashion.

While the book’s pretty entertaining and this will sound like blasphemy when talking about a crime writing legend like Elmore Leonard, I have to say that I actually prefer what the TV version is doing at this point. The novel doesn’t have some of the more memorable characters the show has created like Mags Bennett, Elston Limehouse or Robert Quarles, and the book could have used some of their menace . While Raylan is still doing his thing, he just doesn’t seem to have the same kind of depth that Timothy Olyphant and the writers are bringing to the character at this point.

Plus, one of the strongest characters on the show is Boyd Crowder, a former friend and sometime enemy of Raylan’s. I think Leonard may have written this before seeing how Boyd was fleshed out on the show because he comes across more as a petty schemer than the smooth talking criminal leader with a plan that he’s become in the TV version.

Still, it’s a fun and fast read for fans of Leonard, and it’s a good dose of Raylan to help hold us over until the fourth season of Justified begins.(less)

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Kemper Mohammed wrote: "Kemper i think its unfair to judge Raylan as character on this book. This book is a pale copy of the character of the older books. Ra...more
updated Nov 20, 2012 08:55am

Mohammed Kemper wrote: "Mohammed wrote: "Kemper i think its unfair to judge Raylan as character on this book. This book is a pale copy of the character of the...more
updated Nov 20, 2012 11:39am

Feb 23, 2012 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Poor planning left me almost without a book to read for the weekend for the second time in a month. Luckily, Timothy Olyphant, I mean, Raylan was sitting on the FT table at work on Saturday, so the day was officially saved. Normally I don't want to have a specific picture of someone in my head while I read a book (I refuse to watch the movie version of The World According to Garp for this reason), but in this case, let me tell you that it was not a problem at all. I'm going to write a review of...more

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May 20, 2012 Angela rated it 2 of 5 stars

If you've seen "Justified" this review contains minimal spoilers. If you have not, there are substantially more of them. Either way, here there be spoilers:

Whether you first discovered Raylan Givens through FX's Justified or have known him since Leonard first published "Fire in the Hole," you are no doubt hoping for an all-new adventure from the man who first introduced the world to the US Marshal from Harlan, Kentucky. If you are watcher of "Justified," you will be sorely disappointed.

Raylan i...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Jamie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-dirty-south

I’ve been in such a malaise with reading these days. I’m grumpy with just about everything I’ve picked up. Every little grievance is obnoxious; I’m counting eyerolls and holding grudges. For each book I’ve read this month, I’ve chucked at least three more across the room.

So it’s to some extent hilarious that this is the book making me the exact opposite of grumpy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not odd in that... well, shall we say my love for Justified is not undocumented or insubstantial. But this...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Paul Baker rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: sucks

I am really not one to quit reading books before I finish them. I understand this can be a bad thing especially if the book sucks. That being said, I quit this book on page 36. I was just looking for an easy read that might have some good silly, yet clever humor in it, and I thought I remembered reading something before from this dude that I really liked. I never even saw the tv series before staring the book. Maybe that was part of the problem. One can only speculate. Everything just seemed so...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Kevin Fanning rated it 1 of 5 stars

This is such a strange and awkward cultural artifact that I hardly know what to do with it.

The book is called Raylan, set in the typeface from Justified the TV show, and there’s our man Timothy Olyphant on the cover. We are led to think this is a novel that takes place in the universe of Justified the TV show. Or at least I was? But it’s not, and it doesn’t. There are two different universes, and it’s hard to see how one fits with the other.

There are characters here who are familiar (Boyd and...more This is such a strange and awkward cultural artifact that I hardly know what to do with it.

The book is called Raylan, set in the typeface from Justified the TV show, and there’s our man Timothy Olyphant on the cover. We are led to think this is a novel that takes place in the universe of Justified the TV show. Or at least I was? But it’s not, and it doesn’t. There are two different universes, and it’s hard to see how one fits with the other.

There are characters here who are familiar (Boyd and Ava, Art and Wynona) and semi-familiar (Dickie and Coover...Crowe?) but it’s not them. This is not the Boyd Crowder we know so well from the show--this Boyd is an idiot man child who wears his guilt on his sleeve and doesn’t see the angles coming from farther off than the rest of us. And this is not Raylan Givens--he’s not as clever, not as compassionate, and worst of all he drinks martinis?

The book contains loose variations on several key scenes from S2 of the show, but the book came out after S3. I immediately found myself at sea, reading this. What is it meant to be? What is canon, when the book seems to be working at cross-purposes with the TV show? Jamie, bless her, informed me that these were scenes Elmore originally wrote for Graham before S2 began, as grist for his mill. So OK, there’s our context, good.

But so setting aside that the book doesn’t quite fit with the show, since the writers took this and turned it into something different, how does this book fare on its own merits?

:(

This really is just a group of scenes, loosely linked together by some of the most random circumstances and coincidences I’ve ever seen. People come together and float apart, with little sense or reason or drive behind any of it. It feels like what it is, a sketch, a first draft. Some interesting ideas waiting for a red pencil and a plan.

Jackie Nevada hitches a ride and the rich guy from the first story happens to be the first car along? And he’s suddently throwing millions of dollars at her? And then Raylan randomly shows up at the guy’s house? And then he and Boyd watch her play poker? And why does Carole want Wynona at the town meeting? And a gun thug is suddenly cross-dressing because why?

The main benefit of this book is that it made me appreciate the show writers even more. It is a considerable achievement that Graham & his staff were able to pull bits and pieces out of this to create what they did.

When I think about other books that live alongside their TV counterparts I always think of the Richard Castle books as the right way to do it. They are good yarns, they sort of take place in the same universe as the show and use pieces of the show in their plots, but not in a way that diminshes or takes away from either side. And the Justified universe (as definied by the TV show) is so wide open and full of possibilities. It’s hard not to think of what this book could have been. Of course you can’t review the book you wanted, you have to review the book you read. And that’s what’s so infuriating. How little sense any of this book makes. If I didn’t care so strongly about the characters from the show I maybe wouldn’t care as much? But even if the show didn’t exist, it wouldn’t make this book stronger.

I was going to give this 2 stars, even despite the problematic race stuff (SORRY I am not comfortable with an old white dude writing about another old white dude who keeps a black woman as his personal maid slash prostitute (and she seems to like it? NOPE.), but then I came to the most terrifyingly random and awkward and Bechdel Test-failing conversation about sex two women in a book have ever had and just, nope, sorry, no. Nope. All the nopes.(less)

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Jan 19, 2013 Larry Rogers rated it 3 of 5 stars

This novel is really three extended short stories (I almost said episodes) about Raylan Givens, deputy US Marshal from Harlan County, Kentucky. It benefits from my having watched the terrific TV series because the dialogue goes from being pretty good to being outstanding when you build in the voices of Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins, and Nick Searcy. In lesser hands, it would be serviceable, but not memorable.

The first part of the book deals with kidney theft. It is the best of the three parts...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Mohammed rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, elmore-leonard, library-books, hardboiled-detective

This book i could have rated easily 4 stars if it was original story with Raylan Givens like Riding the Gap. Not the Leonard best writing but quality dialogue,colorful characters are there as usual. I rate it 2 stars because its weird copy of the TV show. Taking too much from the tv show style wise. Leonard has changed too much to fit in with the tv show.

The TV show writing feels much more like Riding the Gap, Pronto which had Raylan who was cool, great bad guys,funny dialogues. This Raylan is j...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Virginia Campbell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, humor, suspense

I have a "Justified" obsession. From the very first glimpse of the original TV promos for the FX TV series, "Justified", I was a goner. When I finally got to actually watch the show--have mercy!!! Timothy Olyphant fits the character of Raylan Givens the way that Raylan’s Stetson fits his head! Perfectly! I must say that Timothy looks mighty fine in that hat, and he wears the hat, it doesn’t wear him. “Justified” is just about perfect in every way–an outstanding cast and astounding writing and ov...more I have a "Justified" obsession. From the very first glimpse of the original TV promos for the FX TV series, "Justified", I was a goner. When I finally got to actually watch the show--have mercy!!! Timothy Olyphant fits the character of Raylan Givens the way that Raylan’s Stetson fits his head! Perfectly! I must say that Timothy looks mighty fine in that hat, and he wears the hat, it doesn’t wear him. “Justified” is just about perfect in every way–an outstanding cast and astounding writing and overall production values. Dark, gritty, and impossible to look away from! Raylan is a dedicated lawman, a deadly crack shot, and his own worst enemy. Having said all that, I must also say that before I finished the first page of "Raylan", by Elmore Leonard, I realized that I was going to have to separate my enjoyment of the series from the very different experience of reading the book. Elmore Leonard is a highly esteemed crime writer who blends quirky characters and bizarre humor with tightly-written suspense story lines. The character of Raylan Givens was first introduced in "Fire in the Hole", which was followed by "Pronto" and "Riding the Rap". Those three books have been on my wish list for some time, and I jumped (jumped really high and hurt myself) at the chance to read and review "Raylan". The book's title lead me to believe that the focus would be more in-depth on the character of Raylan. While there where glimpses of the wry wit, savvy lawman instincts, and self-troublemaking elements that are very much a part of the character, there just isn't enough Raylan in "Raylan". However, there is a uniquely told twisted tale with enough turns to make you feel like you are riding on the back roads of a Kentucky hollow. Watch out for those "pot"-holes! Also, don't mess with Granny! For me one of the most praise-worthy aspects of Elmore Leonard's writing is that anyone can be bodaciously bad. Age and gender don't matter--anyone can be "bad to the bone". Whoo hoo! What a hoot! No wonder I'm obsessed. Thank you, Mr. Leonard!

Review Copy Gratis Amazon Vine(less)

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Mar 05, 2013 Ursula rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, mystery

I am a huge fan of the TV show Justified, and I've never before read any of Elmore Leonard's stories involving Raylan Givens. So I knew it would be a little difficult to avoid picturing the actors from the show as I listened to this. As it turns out, some of the plot points are the same as things that happen in the show, although there are very different outcomes in the book.

Elmore Leonard is justly famous for his handling of dialogue and his colorful characters. The characters came through pret...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Jen Rothmeyer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Raylan Givens is a U.S. Marshall with a gun and an attitude, and he isn’t afraid to use either. Born in coal-country Kentucky, he spent some time in Florida with the Marshals until he shot a man to his boss’s displeasure. Shuttled back to his roots, Raylan gripes about serving the region he’s assigned, yet still gets the job done. Raylan reacts to several different crimes over the length of this novel, interacting with a kidney-stealing transplant nurse, a dope-running hick master mind, a coal c...more Raylan Givens is a U.S. Marshall with a gun and an attitude, and he isn’t afraid to use either. Born in coal-country Kentucky, he spent some time in Florida with the Marshals until he shot a man to his boss’s displeasure. Shuttled back to his roots, Raylan gripes about serving the region he’s assigned, yet still gets the job done. Raylan reacts to several different crimes over the length of this novel, interacting with a kidney-stealing transplant nurse, a dope-running hick master mind, a coal company woman, some female bank robbers, and a girl master poker player.

While the premise of the novel seemed very engaging, it actually fell a little short. This is primarily because the novel reads more like a collection of short stories strung together with truncated transitions. Instead of one main story arc, there are at least three and they don’t really weave together in the end. It’s also incredibly dialogue-heavy and reminiscent of a novelized screen play instead of a rich and fully fleshed out world. This led to a lack of connection with the main character, Raylan.

The novel also has a cast of far out characters (seriously – a transplant nurse who steals kidneys and leaves her victims in bathtubs full of ice). Givens has many witty interactions with them which helps speed up the pace of the book, but it did take extra time to navigate the heavily Kentucky-accented dialogue throughout the book. Added to that, the relationships that Givens has with the other characters just weren’t believable.

The novel is, however, entertaining in a very light read-it-and-leave-it fashion and well-written overall. I’m sure someone who has seen the TV series Justified, which the novel’s main character is in, would be more interested in Raylan.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received Raylan free through the TLC Book Tours review program. I was not required to write a positive review and did not receive any other compensation. The opinions I have expressed are my own and no one else’s. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”(less)

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Nov 15, 2012 David Agranoff rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime, dark-humor

This is the second novel I have read featuring Raylan Givens, but the first written after the launch of the FX TV series Justified based on the character. Leonard seems to have adopted the setting and characters as they appear in the TV show for this novel. Characters such as Ava, Boyd Crowder and the like all appear. I could be wrong I think most of those are creations of the show. I liked Pronto the last one I read but I had more fun with this novel which is somewhat divided into three story l...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

I think this is the first time that reading a book has made me want to watch a tv show.

I’ve read books and wanted to see them made into movies, but I don’t normally watch a lot of television. Still, I might have to make an exception for Justified, the show based around Raylan Givens. Givens appears in Riding the Rap, Pronto and Raylan.

Raylan Givens is a former coal miner, now a U.S. Marshal. You get the distinct impression that Givens is not quickly climbing the career ladder at the Marshal serv...more I think this is the first time that reading a book has made me want to watch a tv show.

I’ve read books and wanted to see them made into movies, but I don’t normally watch a lot of television. Still, I might have to make an exception for Justified, the show based around Raylan Givens. Givens appears in Riding the Rap, Pronto and Raylan.

Raylan Givens is a former coal miner, now a U.S. Marshal. You get the distinct impression that Givens is not quickly climbing the career ladder at the Marshal service — he seems a bit too out-spoken and he has a tendency to go off in his own direction, rather than following directions he’s been given. He gets good results, especially since he’s assigned to his old stomping grounds:

“The troopers got a kick out of this marshal, at one time a coal miner from Harlan County but sounded like a lawman, his attitude about his job. This morning, they watched him enter a fugitive felon’s motel room without drawing his gun.”

This book covers a lot of ground. There are marijuana fields, illegal organ sales (and we are not talking about Wurlitzers), high stakes poker games, bank robbery and murder. The smaller stories flow naturally, one into the other, so the book seemed to slide right over what seemed like stopping points. I wasn’t sure where it was all going to end up, and Raylan followed some twisted paths to get there, but it was an interesting trip.

In the early chapters, I found the language a little choppy and difficult to follow — it seemed like the sentences broke off in mid thought and picked up in strange places. It took a little while to get used to it.

“The DEA fella comes down here in his dress shoes and pays for product before he’s given any. Anxious, in a hurry to get her done. Like cuttin’ a fart he believes is gas and messes himself. I’m to take your word my tads cheated this man?”

I am definitely planning to check out the earlier Raylan Givens novels, and if I can find the first season of Justified streaming somewhere, I want to give that a shot, too. Givens is a great character, but there are plenty of other interesting and oddball residents of Harlan County. They should make for a lot of good reading.(less)

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Sep 13, 2012 John rated it 2 of 5 stars

I need to stop reading Leonard. It is not that I think he is a bad writer, just not my thing. I had hoped that I might enjoy this book more since I love Justified and the Raylan of the TV show. But reading this story was like reading about Bizzaro Justified. There were so many subtle differences between the world of the TV show and the world of the book. And the characters may or may not have the same names or act the same way. It took a little getting used to.

Leonard is great at sketching uniq...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Sandie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fan's of FX TV channel's hit show, Justified, will be excited to read Elmore Leonard's new book, Raylan. Justified is based on a short story by Leonard where the characters in the show were introduced. Raylan Givens is a U.S. Marshall who grew up in Harlan County, Kentucky. He worked in the coal mines as most men did, but got out as soon as he could and ended up in law enforcement. After a showdown in Florida where he shot and killed a fugitive, he is transferred back to Kentucky.

Raylan is back...more

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Jun 17, 2012 Sincere W. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Raylan: A Novel reads more like a collection of short stories than a novel. The book revolves around the main character - Raylan Givens - instead of a central plot.

As far as Givens as a protagonist, this isn't his first rodeo; he's the heart of something like two or three other novels. But this book is my introduction to him, and I felt disadvantaged having not met him in previous stories. Reason being, I was never able to feel close to Raylan in this one. He is brave enough, witty enough, tough...more

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May 23, 2012 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book showcases some of the things Leonard does better than anybody else. The dialogue is quirky, funny, and portrays the characters vividly while it moves the story along. The characters are equally quirky and colorful, and Leonard paints them clearly and efficiently. We like some of them and loathe others and feel we understand them all well.

Those are the book's strengths, and they make for an enjoyable read.

On the other hand, calling the book a novel is careless at best and misleading at...more This book showcases some of the things Leonard does better than anybody else. The dialogue is quirky, funny, and portrays the characters vividly while it moves the story along. The characters are equally quirky and colorful, and Leonard paints them clearly and efficiently. We like some of them and loathe others and feel we understand them all well.

Those are the book's strengths, and they make for an enjoyable read.

On the other hand, calling the book a novel is careless at best and misleading at worst. U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens ties three loosely connected plots together, but since those stories run consecutively instead of concurrently, no way is this book a novel. It's two novellas and a long short story with the same protagonist, Givens, and three crimes he investigates in Kentucky. One supporting character from the first story appears again in the third, but has no influence.

The first story has Givens tracking a renegade nurse who is now cutting out people's kidneys and selling them back to the unwilling donors--or whoever outbids them. It has great weird situations and dialogue, some of which is laugh-out-loud funny as vintage Leonard. But the story resolves about 100 pages in. The second story, which involves a coal mining company that is despoiling the landscape and doing away with the people who protest, is in the same geographic area, but doesn't necessarily connect with the first story, although some of the people and situations are just as far out there and have Leonard's requisite dark humor. The second story actually resolves as a minor plot point in the third, but you can read all three stories separately and miss nothing.

The other problem is not Elmore Leonard's fault, but his name is on the book so he's going to take the rap for his publisher's greed. This "novel" is 262 pages long, and the cover price from William Morrow is $26.95. Outrageous. It's another illustration of how and why the "Big 6" publishers are remdering themselves irrelvant in the rapidly changing publishing industry and why more readers and authors are turning to electronic format.(less)

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May 12, 2012 BIPL Reads rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: necia

Raylan by Elmore Leonard is a fast-paced, hard hitting story about U.S. Marsha Rayland Givens. Although Leonard has published two previous books about Rayland (Pronto and Riding the Rap) this book stands alone and readers unfamiliar with him will find this a compelling introduction to his character.

Raylan Givens is tough. He’s from coal country in Kentucky and knows just how to deal with the seedy characters he comes across every day, whether they’re back-woods tyrants or board room executives....more

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May 11, 2012 Evan Peterson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Reading this book was a little strange: it made me wonder, most frequently in the first half, if the book was inspired by plots on the show or if the show was inspired by the book. Even though the book was published in January of this year, he may have plot consulted... I don't know.

What I do know is that the season two characters of the Bennet brothers and their grocery store land owning family are a part of the book, as is the season two plot about the big mining company trying to get Black To...more

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May 10, 2012 Glee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Reading this was a bit of an odd experience. If you are a fan of "Justified" (and if you aren't, what is wrong with you?), reading this book is a lot of deja vu. Only not quite. There are three (or so) loosely linked stories here, two of which are pretty much contained in a couple of Justified episodes. So it was like reading a couple of early drafts of screenplays for those episodes and maybe a rejected one. Or maybe more like a mashup of a few episodes from different seasons.

What was disquieti...more Reading this was a bit of an odd experience. If you are a fan of "Justified" (and if you aren't, what is wrong with you?), reading this book is a lot of deja vu. Only not quite. There are three (or so) loosely linked stories here, two of which are pretty much contained in a couple of Justified episodes. So it was like reading a couple of early drafts of screenplays for those episodes and maybe a rejected one. Or maybe more like a mashup of a few episodes from different seasons.

What was disquieting was that several of the more colorful characters were included, but details were different. For instance, the story arc in season 2 of Justified was built around a wonderful character named Mags Bennett, a matriarch of one of the hollers and queen of potgrowing enterprises for most of eastern Kentucky. She has several dim-witted sons - Dickie and Coover among them - who float through several episodes. In the book, instead of Dickie and Coover Bennett, we have Dickie and Coover Crowe, dim-witted sons of Pervis Crowe, patriarch of one of the hollers and king of potgrowing enterprises for most of eastern Kentucky. Have no idea where Mags went, but she was one of my favorite characters, and Dickie in particular was one of her creatures...not just her son, but so much more/less.

But Boyd Crowder is here, and Art, Raylan's boss is here, and kidneys are removed from living victims and those victims are left behind in bathtubs (just like in the first episode of season 3). Evil coal mining executive - in the form of blond sexpot Carol Conlon makes entrances and exits (just like in season 2).

So it was a bit eerie - so close, but odd details changed for no reason that made sense to me.

And there is the whole thing about how ethical it is to put a "new" book out there that is already out there in a mashed up TV version...but it is Elmore Leonard, and he deserves whatever he can milk out of this wonderful character, as partial payment for all the other wonderful stuff he has already given the world.

So if you watch Justified, you can skip this if you need "new" stuff. If you just want to wallow around in the wonderful dialogue, go for it. Can't go wrong.(less)

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Apr 13, 2012 Luke rated it 3 of 5 stars

Entertaining, spare crime novel, the first I think I've ever read by Leonard. I think I would have given it 4 stars had I never seen the television show, which is much more interesting and developed (I can't believe I'm saying that, but I think it's true). This book read like overlapping short stories whipped up into a novel-like thing. Great writing--of course, right? Elmore Leonard has the coolest narrative voice, and an amazing knack for sketching character in dialogue and spare description.

B...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Terry rated it 3 of 5 stars

Huge disappointment! As a fan of the TV series I couldn't wait to read this book. I always say "The book is better than the movie". The book always provides color, depth of character and deeper character insight that the big or small screen fails to achieve. This one missed.
This is my first Elmore Leonard book. The writing style is choppy and the story flow is less than seamless. The characters are underdeveloped and lackluster comparied to the series. Particularly dissapointing is the main cha...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Lewis Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars

I had just finished rereading When the Women Come Out to Dance, a collection of Elmore Leonard's short stories, when my reserved copy of Raylan became available at the library.
So it was a real pleasure to realise that I had inadvertently read the 'back story' (Fire in the Hole) immediately before reading this novel. Raylan has of course appeared before in Elmore's books Pronto and Riding the Rap, and Raylan's encore this time is due to his appearance on television in the series Justified.
That li...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've only read a few of Elmore Leonard works, but I have enjoyed what I've read and this was no exception. Great, and most often somewhat off-beat, crime novels - good fun reads. In this book, Raylan Givens, a US marshal, is working out of his old home stomping grounds of Harlan County, Kentucky where he has been sent as sort of a slap on the wrist punishment (while simultaneously getting a discreet pat on the back) for killing a mob hitman. The story follows his encounters with a number of tang...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Yvonne rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of the best, if not the best, Elmore Leonard book I've read and that's saying something. Leonard is still the best at crisp, funny dialogue and crazy ass characters in intriguing plots.
Raylan is a Federal Marshall that worked in the coal mines at one time. He is a cool, confident man that woman lose themselves over and men respect. He's honest, holds his ground, and is a great shot.
There are a lot of crimes for him to solve in this book, a lot of bodies to step over and a mining corporation...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Mamers rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, adult-fiction, mystery

Let me clear… I really enjoyed this book. I finished it in one sitting, which is a very rare occurrence. The reason I give this book only 3 stars is because without Justified as a reference, I would have absolutely no idea how to “read” this book. The voice is unclear and the writing is choppy unless you know to read in a snarky and sarcastic southern accent. This goes for every character, not just Raylan Givens. I found myself reading dialogue between two characters in the same paragraph or r...more Let me clear… I really enjoyed this book. I finished it in one sitting, which is a very rare occurrence. The reason I give this book only 3 stars is because without Justified as a reference, I would have absolutely no idea how to “read” this book. The voice is unclear and the writing is choppy unless you know to read in a snarky and sarcastic southern accent. This goes for every character, not just Raylan Givens. I found myself reading dialogue between two characters in the same paragraph or reading through dialogue feeling like I completely missed something and had to go back through the last page to figure it out. Usually I found I had misread a run-on sentence, putting my own commas in the wrong spot to break things up a bit. I’m sure I’ll have people cry, “FOWL! This is Elmore Leonard! His writing is immaculate!” (or as the blurbs on the cover cry, “The best suspense writer in America,” “a master of narrative,” and “the dean of crime writers.”

Yeah, yeah.

After discussing my problems with my husband, who is currently listening to the audio version of this book, I have come to the conclusion that Leonard writes his books to be read aloud. My husband has told me the audio is perfect. It is funny, it is snippy, it has voice inflections, yada, yada.

Fine. I guess I’ll just listen to the other Raylan books.

On another note, I found reading this to be eerily similar to reading the Sookie Stackhouse books. I love True Blood and I love the books and not all is the same in either one, be it characters, plot, or magical abilities. What I found so oddly different about Raylan is that there were some direct quotes from both Justified seasons two and three in this book. Season two was on FX from Feb to May 2011 and season three just started in Jan 2012, the same time as this book was released. These direct quotes were sometimes spoken by the same character, sometimes not; sometimes in the same situation, sometimes not. It was ok, though. I made it through unscathed.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m just not smart enough for Elmore Leonard. I don’t care. He created a kick ass character and those boots and that hat have been filled on screen by one of my favorite actors. I will read more if only to have more time with Timothy Olyphant in my head.

Thank you, Elmore. Thank you, Timothy. And shhhhhhh… Don’t tell my husband.
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Feb 20, 2012 Sam Quixote rated it 5 of 5 stars

Raylan Givens, US Marshal, looks up a weed dealer in a hotel room only to find him sat in a tub with ice and his kidneys missing. From there a twisting trail of murder, blackmail, land dispute, and cards unfolds taking in everyone from an elderly drug baron operating out of a food stamps store to a disgruntled nurse who decides to strike out on her own, to a band of bank robbing gals, and a poker playing girl called Jackie Nevada with her ace in the hole. Elmore Leonard's back and he's packing h...more Raylan Givens, US Marshal, looks up a weed dealer in a hotel room only to find him sat in a tub with ice and his kidneys missing. From there a twisting trail of murder, blackmail, land dispute, and cards unfolds taking in everyone from an elderly drug baron operating out of a food stamps store to a disgruntled nurse who decides to strike out on her own, to a band of bank robbing gals, and a poker playing girl called Jackie Nevada with her ace in the hole. Elmore Leonard's back and he's packing heat.

I loved this book. I thought he was going to spin out the organ trafficking storyline for the full 260 pages but he finished it at page 100, without introducing any new characters, making me wonder where he was going to take the story next. From there he goes into a murder story concerning a coal mining exec and an old man who happened to live nearby whose house was flattened by the coal company. Then from there Leonard introduces a new story of a trio of bank robbing girls and then another story of a poker playing 23 year old student on the lam.

Elmore Leonard does some amazing storytelling weaving these fascinating individuals into a single storyline. It's masterful and incredible to see these disparate elements prove to be part of a larger whole. More amazing still is the way he creates characters. Each one had its own voice and seemed completely real. Leonard writes femme fatales like no other, making them sexy and deadly and smart and witty too, from the organ harvesting nurse to the ice queen coal mining exec to the smart and resourceful poker player to the drugged out bank robbing gals.

The dialogue is the star, something Leonard is famous for and what everybody says about his books, but it's so true. Honestly, I was blown away by some of the scenes, particularly when the poker girl and the horse breeder rich guy have that exchange about playing cards - the dialogue is fast, musical, hits the ear perfectly, and is unlike dialogue in any other novel. Are you a first time reader of Elmore Leonard? Pick up this book and see why people praise his characters' speech like no other.

Putting aside the technical majestic on display throughout the book, Leonard knows why people read and particularly why people read his books - to have fun. To relax, unwind, and be entertained. And for no other reason than entertainment, this book excels. Murders, kidnappings, shootouts, high stakes poker games, this book has it all and no-one reading this novel will come away feeling short-changed of entertainment value. Even the characters seem to be having a good time, Raylan moving from crime scene to shootout to bars and finally to bed with a good looking girl, I got the feeling his eyes were wide, his heart was beating, and a smile lay beneath his face the entire time.

This is my favourite novel of 2012 so far. It's got everything from fine storytelling, superb writing, one of a kind dialogue from the man who sets the gold standard for dialogue, an array of excellent characters and some utterly brilliant setups, this is a novel that readers will rocket through with a big grin on their faces. You're looking for a good read? Stop reading this and pick up "Raylan" - he'll sort you out. (less)

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Feb 20, 2012 Luanne Ollivier rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fans of Elmore Leonard will be familiar with Raylan Givens, the US Marshall who was featured in Leonard's previous books Pronto and Riding the Rap. At eighty six years old, Elmore Leonard shows no signs of slowing down. He's just released his latest book - Raylan. Raylan is also the star of the hit television series Justified. (I'm hooked on the show and Timothy Olyphant)

Harlan County, Kentucky is hurting from the closure of coal mines. Entreprenurial folk have now made marijanua the county's nu...more Fans of Elmore Leonard will be familiar with Raylan Givens, the US Marshall who was featured in Leonard's previous books Pronto and Riding the Rap. At eighty six years old, Elmore Leonard shows no signs of slowing down. He's just released his latest book - Raylan. Raylan is also the star of the hit television series Justified. (I'm hooked on the show and Timothy Olyphant)

Harlan County, Kentucky is hurting from the closure of coal mines. Entreprenurial folk have now made marijanua the county's number one cash crop. Raylan is familiar with most of the players, having grown up in Harlan County. But two enterprising souls have discovered yet another lucrative sideline - body parts, mostly kidneys. How to stop this dogged US Marshall that's hot on their trail? Well, he does have two perfectly good kidneys...And that's just one of the three storylines Leonard has penned for Raylan. Although they were loosely connected, each felt like a separate novella.

Now, Raylan released after the mid season break of Season Two of Justified. I found some of story lines and characters from television repeated in the book, albeit with a few changes. Or did the television series borrow heavily from the book? So, part of the storyline was not new, but parts of it were. No matter, fans will still be captured.

The audio version of Raylan features Brian D'Arcy James as the reader. As a fan of Justified, I have come to associated certain actors and voices with the characters. I was concerned that I wouldn't identify with new voices. But that concern was unfounded. James employed a great accent for each of the characters, almost matching those I knew. His tones and inflections immediately brought Harlan County to life. Leonard's strength is in his dialogue and James did it justice.

Raylan is a walk tall, talk soft, draw your gun and use it kind of lawman. Fans of Jack Reacher and Joe Pike would enjoy the character of Raylan Givens. A gritty, down and dirty tale filled with Leonard's trademark whip smart dialogue.
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Feb 18, 2012 David Williams rated it 5 of 5 stars

The television series Justified has propelled Elmore Leonard's character Raylan Givens into millions of homes. This is the third Raylan novel and is a lot of fun. The book began when Leonard decided that he needed to be part of the writing process. He wrote several story ideas and then condensed them into a single novel. This explains some of the structure. If it seems that the first story just ends early on and then another picks up, that is why.

The stories that make up the novel were intended...more

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Raylan (Raylan Givens #3)

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