<![CDATA[Mr. Paradise]]>

false <![CDATA[Mr. Paradise]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172126432m/141615.jpg 141615 15 It's a dubious proposition from the outset, destined to lead to trouble: Chloe Robinette, a high-end former Detroit call girl, asks her lingerie model roommate, Kelly Barr, to help her entertain a wealthy octogenarian trial lawyer named Anthony Paradiso. By "entertain," she means donning a cheerleader's skimpy skirt, but going topless, and doing rah-rah routines beside a TV set while Paradiso--"Mr. Paradise"--watches videotaped football games. A bit kinky for Kelly's taste, but she finally goes along--only to be caught in the middle of a contract hit on Paradiso and Chloe. Rather than tell what little she knows of these crimes, Kelly buys into a scheme, concocted by Paradiso's right-hand man, Montez Taylor, that could lead to a huge payoff from the lawyer's estate. But only if the 27-year-old Kelly can convincingly assume Chloe's identity ... Elmore Leonard, who's made his career writing about not-too-bright bad guys, fills Mr. Paradise with several memorable specimens of that breed. In addition to Montez, who'd resented his politically incorrect boss for cutting him out of his will, there's also a bottom-feeding defense attorney, Avern Cohn, who runs a murder-for-hire operation on the side, and his well-armed employees of the month, "tough monkeys" Carl Fontana and Arthur Krupa. Less credibly and entertainingly crafted is Frank Delsa, the widowed homicide detective whose hunt for Paradiso's killers is complicated by his attraction to the curvilinear Kelly. This romantic subplot is overly predictable and deflates early expectations that the cunning young model is playing some deeper game here, working an angle that neither Delsa nor Montez anticipates. After penning a string of character-propelled novels set in Florida (including Glitz, Out of Sight, and the particularly winning La Brava), it's good to see Leonard exploiting the Detroit backdrop again, as he did so expertly in a few of his earlier successes (City Primeval and Killshot, for instance). Yet while Mr. Paradise is rich with comic dialogue and cop-shop color, it never goes beyond the expectations of a Leonard work. This author is too good not to take more chances. --J. Kingston Pierce 2838818 2004 Mr. Paradise total:446|5:0|4:8|3:6|2:3|1:0| 446 1472 559 35 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:24:45 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:24:45 -0800 2009 Like his previous noir novels, Mr. Paradise, dedicated to the Detroit Police Homicide Section, is "unputdownable" (Washington Post). A few loose ends, too much hipness--so what? We know whodunit early on, so Leonard devotes his energy to his quirky cast of lowlifes, replicating diverse Ame...

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The story started out well enough, but seemed to divert as it moved ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jun 10 09:24:55 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 09:29:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Mar 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 01 11:17:10 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 09 12:16:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Sep 04 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 27 19:33:30 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 10:38:57 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Thu Feb 21 08:55:09 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 21 08:59:32 -0800 2008 3 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Mar 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 15:20:29 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 15:21:53 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Mar 05 13:55:06 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 05 13:55:43 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Thu Aug 16 11:52:09 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 16 11:54:44 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Apr 17 08:36:25 -0700 2007 Fri May 11 18:36:03 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Jul 09 10:24:43 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 10:25:18 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 25 13:53:35 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 25 13:54:12 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Sep 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 22 17:47:05 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 26 19:56:10 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Jan 03 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 21 20:54:08 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 03 14:35:52 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sat Jun 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 26 04:11:21 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 03 08:19:46 -0700 2008
I disagree. Mr. Paradise is probably one of his best. The characters and plot are pretty refreshing and unique. The characters Carl and Art are well-written and amusing.

You ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jun 11 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 11 19:43:34 -0700 2008 Thu Jan 22 11:06:53 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 08 19:14:39 -0700 2007 Sun Oct 21 16:12:00 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Nov 05 13:12:11 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 05 13:29:42 -0800 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=141615