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Out of Sight

3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 · rating details · 3,964 ratings · 131 reviews

Jack Foley was busting out of Florida's Glades Prison when he ran head-on into Karen Sisco with a shotgun. Suddenly the world-class gentleman felon was sharing a cramped car trunk with a disarmed federal marshal--whose Chanel suit cost more than the take from Foley's last bank job--and the chemistry was working overtime. Here's a lady Jack could fall for in a big way, if s...more

Paperback, 368 pages

Published July 30th 2002 by HarperTorch (first published January 1st 1996)

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Oct 17, 2012 Jim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller

There wasn't much doubt as to how this would end, but it was a fun, short trip told by a master. As usual, Leonard set up an interesting scenario & played it to the hilt, skirting the edge of disbelief in the odd way people can interact. I loved the heroine. She, like the hero, was quite the tough cookie, but both had a gooey center & that made the story.

I would have rated this book higher if there had been some doubt as to the ending or there had been any other redeeming qualities othe...more

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Apr 10, 2011 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Bank robber Jack Foley didn't plan to take U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco hostage when he escaped from prison, it just sort of happened. It's one of those in the wrong place at the wrong time scenarios. And as so often happens when two people spend any quality time together in the cramped trunk of a car, especially if one has just spent part of the evening crawling through a tunnel carved out of the odiferous Everglades muck and the other is hiding a Sig Sauer between her thighs, love and attraction q...more Bank robber Jack Foley didn't plan to take U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco hostage when he escaped from prison, it just sort of happened. It's one of those in the wrong place at the wrong time scenarios. And as so often happens when two people spend any quality time together in the cramped trunk of a car, especially if one has just spent part of the evening crawling through a tunnel carved out of the odiferous Everglades muck and the other is hiding a Sig Sauer between her thighs, love and attraction quickly blossoms. And they say romance is dead.

What follows is typical Elmore Leonard, which is to say amazing: snappy dialogue, complex characters, and a fast moving narrative. Leonard books aren't traditional crime/mystery novels. Sure, there's usually a crime and unsavory characters abound, but that's not the point of his books. Leonard's novels are character studies. He examines the lives of the not-so-bad-guys while simultaneously acknowledging that there is plenty of badass evil in the world. Take Jack for example. Leonard doesn't sugarcoat the fact that Jack is a criminal. He robs banks, he's good at what he does, and it's the only life he's ever known. He's no Robin Hood; his only interest is self-preservation and making easy money. He knows it's too late to go straight and try to live a normal life. However, does this automatically negate the fact that, in terms of personality, Jack is just a damn likable guy? No. And that's what draws Karen to him, despite her instincts. These two aren't idiots: they know there's no happy ending for them. There's a moment that they can choose to take advantage of or not. And does any of this negate the fact that Jack has gotten himself mixed up with some truly bad people? Nope.

This is one of those cases of "wish I had read the book before I saw the movie." I really hate it when this happens because I can't help but picture the actors as the characters, which robs me of the opportunity to "see" them for myself (which was particularly jarring in the case of Karen Sisco who, in the book, is slim, willowy, and blonde--in other words, the physical opposite of Jennifer Lopez, though Lopez was good in the role).

And in a continuation of Why I Hate the Kindle: I was sitting in Bass Pro Shop (not my favorite place in the world, but heaven on earth to my husband) in St. Louis and reading this book. A very nice lady sat down on the bench next to me and asked if I had seen the FX show Justified, which led to a very serious and intellectual literary conversation (okay, so maybe it was just about how hot Timothy Olyphant is in that role and what Leonard books the series is based on). My point being: would she have approached me if I had been sitting with my non-descript Kindle? Maybe, but maybe not.
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Apr 17, 2013 Dan added it

Shelves: 2012

another fun elmore leonard novel, my second this year. it doesn't quite have the depth of the first one i read (killshot), but it's still an awful lot of fun.

as is the case with the films he wrote back in the day (and as is expertly emulated in tv's justified), leonard writes with a clear affection for his characters. consider chino, the jail-breaking cuban with a minor vendetta against the main character. in a lesser writer's hands, he'd be a broadly sinister adversary - in leonard's, he gets a...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Ursula rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I'm not quite sure where to start, since there are a couple of angles to attack this from. I have read one previous Leonard book, I believe: Rum Punch, which was adapted into the movie Jackie Brown. That one was kind of fun but as I recall, didn't hang together that well in the end for me.

I picked this one up because I've seen the movie version. It's honestly, one of my favorite movies. People tend to sort of wrinkle up their noses at Jennifer Lopez being in it, but that shouldn't stop anyone....more

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Feb 19, 2013 Zack Oliver rated it 3 of 5 stars

It was hard for me to separate the film scenes from the book--until about half way through--and upon watching the movie right after I enjoyed the tone of the book a bit more.

What I really enjoyed was foley's and Karen's thoughts as they intertwine their romantic destinies and eventually hook up. The contrasting narrative focuses sweetened their relationship more so than In most books I've read (I've read too many classic books highly regarded in the literary canon. English is a stuffy major). W...more

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Dec 09, 2011 Mike Jensen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A criminal puts a stunning-as-a-model Federal Marshalin the trunk of a car, and muses about someone who looks like that being so close. That is the highpoint of this book. It is an inner moment that exactly captures the way that men think. The rest of improbable gobbley-gook, and the crook and the Marshall fall in lust and then in love, and both need to work out what they will do about that and the problem of the cook’s compatriots. I did not find the story or the characters believable. There is...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Jane Stewart rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-fiction-with-a-little-romance, 4-plus-star-other

4 ½ stars. I smiled a lot during this book. I’ve never read anything like it.

STORY BRIEF:
Jack has robbed hundreds of banks. He’s smooth, charming, and likeable when talking to the tellers he’s robbing. Karen is a Deputy U.S. Marshall. She arrived at the prison to deliver something and is getting out of her car when she sees Jack crawl out of a tunnel. He has just escaped and his getaway driver Buddy is parked next to Karen. They take Karen with them so she can’t help authorities catch them. Jack...more 4 ½ stars. I smiled a lot during this book. I’ve never read anything like it.

STORY BRIEF:
Jack has robbed hundreds of banks. He’s smooth, charming, and likeable when talking to the tellers he’s robbing. Karen is a Deputy U.S. Marshall. She arrived at the prison to deliver something and is getting out of her car when she sees Jack crawl out of a tunnel. He has just escaped and his getaway driver Buddy is parked next to Karen. They take Karen with them so she can’t help authorities catch them. Jack gets into the trunk with Karen while Buddy drives. They have a nice conversation for about a half an hour in the trunk. Certain events happen, Karen gets free, and Jack misses her. He wants to spend time with her. He keeps thinking about what it would be like if they had met in a bar, what they would have said, what would have happened, etc. Karen gets herself assigned to the task force trying to catch Jack.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
I was smiling many times during this book. I kept shaking my head with Jack’s thinking and actions. He wanted to date her! He actually had contact with Karen more than once while she was trying to catch him. I’ve never read anything like this before. It was great because it was different, and unexpected things happened. I really liked both of these characters, Jack and Karen.

Because I was smiling so much, I wanted to give this 5 stars. But I didn’t because 5 stars for me needs a wonderful feeling at the end of the book. But that kind of ending could not be. He is a career criminal. At one point he said talk about an honest job to a criminal and he’ll jump out the window. She has integrity, and her job is important to her. They cannot have a happy ending together. But they care about each other. Given the set-up this was probably the best ending the author could do. It was reasonable. But it was a little bit of a letdown.

The book was a little slow in the middle concerning Glenn in Detroit, but I could see the need for developing that part. This book is shorter than most novels.

I agree with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch which says it well. “Elmore Leonard’s ear for dialogue and imagination for plot and character make life’s likable losers endlessly entertaining.”

The movie based on this book was made in 1998 staring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. One reviewer said the movie had a different ending from the book.

A sequel to “Out of Sight” was published in 2009 called “Road Dogs.” It includes Jack plus characters from two other books. According to several other reviews the “Road Dogs” plot is weak. I have not read it.

NARRATOR:
The narrator George Guidall was excellent.

DATA:
Unabridged audiobook reading time: 6 hrs and 49 mins. Swearing language: strong, but rarely used. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: one, told not shown. Setting: current day Florida and Detroit, Michigan. Book copyright: 1996. Genre: crime fiction with a little romance. Ending: Sad yet sort of happy in a reasonable way.(less)

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Apr 11, 2011 Sufferingbruin rated it 4 of 5 stars

The basis for Elmore Leonard's 'Out of Sight' is utterly ridiculous. Career bank robber Jack Foley escapes prison and on the way out, he runs into federal marshal Karen Sisco. He forces her into the trunk of the getaway car. He joins her in the trunk of the getaway car. The two engage in a tense but intimate conversation. A special bond develops and after the inevitable separation that very night, the two can't stop thinking of one another. Well. I'm sorry, Mr. Leonard, but this reader just didn...more

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Aug 13, 2010 Tim Pendry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, north-american, twentieth-century, five-star

It is already amazing to think that this thriller is nearly fifteen years old. There's not much to say about it other than it is expertly plotted, finely written and crisp. Leonard has a remarkable ability to evoke place and real human interaction.

The question with this sort of book is why we should be interested in dim-witted sociopaths with attention deficit disorder - 'misfits trying not to sound like losers' as the book puts it near the end.

The answer is, of course, that we shouldn't partic...more It is already amazing to think that this thriller is nearly fifteen years old. There's not much to say about it other than it is expertly plotted, finely written and crisp. Leonard has a remarkable ability to evoke place and real human interaction.

The question with this sort of book is why we should be interested in dim-witted sociopaths with attention deficit disorder - 'misfits trying not to sound like losers' as the book puts it near the end.

The answer is, of course, that we shouldn't particularly - the persons are always less interesting than the plot. Leonard only makes them interesting by attempting to have the not-so-bad dimwits with some marginal sense of honour live the American myth, referencing their lives back to a simple Hollywood ethic.

On this score, 'Out of Sight' nearly did not get its five stars because of the completely romantic and absurd relationship between the hero, Jack Foley, an aging bank robber who does not want to do the time for his crimes, and a somewhat stereotyped daddy's girl female Federal Marshal. The central scene in this relationship is just the fantasy of a late middle aged male and little more than that, even if it evokes that fantasy with consummate skill.

But I relented on the basis that the ridiculousness of it only requires the same suspension of disbelief that any 'classic' Hollywood romantic crime movie might require.

The referencing of the legend of Dillinger and to 'Bonnie & Clyde' and other genre films shows a certain sad knowingness about the role of the outlaw myth in American individualism that points up all the better to the reader the harsh reality of blundering third rate minds trying to grab what they can within a chaotic system.

A lot of male readers will part-identify with Jack Foley (and is that not a quintessential masculine outlaw name!?) as those who compromised with that system for the sake of security. The outcome is a nice little morality tale for the Middle American male - you made the right choice in the end even if you never got to feel as alive as Jack must have done when he was younger.

Whatever the use made of thrillers like these by Hollywood, their cultural role is a fundamentally conservative one, albeit with a nod to the radical freedom that is just around the corner and for which most men pine so long as there are no costs or consequences.

It took time to appreciate Elmore Leonard's genius in this book as the plot was being set up but by the end there was no doubt of it.(less)

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Jul 20, 2012 Algernon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

This is a boy meets girl story. Isn't it romantic? It must have been love at first sight.
Wait a moment: this is Elmore Leonard. It couldn't be love at first sight. Because they can't see each other, trapped inside the trunk of the getaway car. Plus, fate is against their romance right from the word GO, with Alex Foley a career bank robber who just escaped from prison and Karen Sisco a keen Texas Ranger waiting for a chance to shoot him with her service gun. I couldn't stop chuckling, following t...more

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May 17, 2012 Dana Delamar rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book. It's the first Elmore Leonard I've read. Super-tight prose, witty dialogue, colorful characters. Leonard pares everything to the bone, and every word counts.

I'd seen the movie years ago and loved it (it's one of the best films Soderbergh or Clooney has made), and I always wondered how closely it followed the book. The answer: pretty darn close, based on what I remember. Soderbergh certainly captured the feel of the book; I'd have to compare the two, but my guess is that a l...more

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Apr 19, 2008 Andrew rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was the first I had read of Elmore Leonard, and I liked it. Crime novels usually end up bogged down with cheesy dialogue and people being making witty comments and clever repartee. He writes a lot like people talk, and the plot was smooth and believable. Didn't change my life or anything, but it was thoroughly enjoyable.

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May 31, 2009 Joe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ok, so I really enjoy Elmore Leonard. I love the characters, the way they're almost too over the op, but not far enough that he doesn't make them real enough to think you know somebody like that, y'know.
I read this a while ago, and every once in a while, I'll see the movie listed, but I can't make myself watch it. So far, except for not too many movies that you want to see, have been made from his books. "Get Shorty" was a decent movie, but it didn't have too much to do with the book. And, don...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Meredith rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mysteries

This story has to be a send up -- it was certainly very funny. I've only read one other Elmore Leonard book, but once again his crooks are hilariously stupid and do things that make absolutely no sense. Still, in Out of Sight he gets you to care about the main characters and also shows us some very good detection. There is violence, but it seems to go with the personalities of some of the criminals. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this book is the distinction the author makes between diff...more

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Nov 14, 2010 Ed Holden rated it 2 of 5 stars

I hadn't read anything by Elmore Leonard before, but of course I'd heard of him and seen film adaptations of some of his novels. I was mostly disappointed. Yes, his dialogue is as punchy as everyone says it is ... but what is that dialogue about? Often in the first half of the book Jack Foley, an escaped convict, and Karen Sisco, a US Marshall Foley met during his escape, talk endlessly about preceding events with their respective confidants - Foley with his partners in crime and Sisco with her...more

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Dec 30, 2012 wally rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: leonard, time-passages

#19 from leonard for me...kindle version...although my kindle version has a different "cover"...a lady in silhouette holding what appears to be a rifle...a "high-powered" rifle, may it do ya fine...short dress, the other arm cocked on her hip...a "high-powered" hip...

...why is it that the so-called "pro-choice" crowd gets a bit testy whenever the choice is something other than the murder of the unborn child? demon-possession? yeah...that's what i think, too.
(and where exactly are the so-called l...more

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Sep 06, 2010 Jack rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm not a regular reader of Elmore Leonard; in fact, this may be only my 2nd or 3rd in 30 years. I admire his plotting, his sense of character, his pacing - it's just that they all seem so generic Elmore Leonard. Witty, savage, a bit of a spoof on the genre itself - and kind of forgettable. I had to go back to the book to recall its title, since there's scarcely anything memorable about "out of Sight."

that being said, the smart, sexy detective Karen Sisco was a terrific figure, and romantic foo...more

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Jul 30, 2009 John Porter rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm a book guy, so it came as kind of shock to me that the movie was better than the literary original. The crime part of the book was good; the hardboiled dialogue worked just fine. But I just couldn't buy into the Karen/Jack relationship here. Wow...another shock as it occurs to me...Jennifer Lopez really did a good job with this character. I understand that the clothes removal scene from the movie is rare and wonderful, but it only works because of how well the characters have been establishe...more

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Jun 24, 2011 Steven Slavick rated it 5 of 5 stars

This comes in at a very close second best when it comes to my favorite Elmore Leonard novels. Once again, the author creates some hilarious/dim-witted characters who are both clever and oblivious at the same time. How does Leonard do it? Jack Foley is a bank robber who falls for a female law enforcement official. In this instance, I actually liked the movie starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez more than the book. They had such amazing chemistry, I can't believe that they didn't start an af...more

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May 26, 2012 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Elmore Leonard can always be counted on for a taut, no-nonsense thriller. U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco and escaped bank robber Jack Foley find themselves as interested in each other as they are in their respective careers. The story begins in Florida and plays out its conclusion in Detroit.

The novel was made into the 1998 film starring Jennifer Lopez as Karen Sisco and George Clooney. The success of the film spawned a television series titled Karen Sisco starring Carla Gugino, recently cancelled.

Pub...more

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Mar 07, 2011 Aaron rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I realized about thirty pages into this book that I've seen and love the movie version. It's been some time since I've seen it, but it would appear that the adaptation is remarkably spot-on. The only real bone to pick is the casting of Jennifer Lopez as Marshall Karen Sisco. In the book, Sisco is a petite blonde. Lopez is neither of those things.

Neither is Carla Gugino, though. And I believe she played Karen Sisco on television.

I much prefer Carla in a miscast. She's really easy on the eyes.

I am...more

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Mar 24, 2013 Simon Johansen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1990s, america-north, crime-fiction

This novel comes so close to perfection that the few flaws which are there stick out much more than they would have in a lesser book.

At the core of the plot is an unlikely love story between a gentleman thief and the sexy female federal marshall chasing him, but there's several other related conflicts that command as much of the plot's focus. The author does not just switch effortlessly between this small handful of interweaving main storylines, but he also jumps forward and backwards in time v...more

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Aug 15, 2011 George rated it 3 of 5 stars

You have a couple of interesting characters, a bank robber and a US marshal, who enter into a romantic relationship. The meet-cute occurs in the trunk of a car after a prison break. Their paths keep crossing. They talk about old movies and songs. This makes them "normal" and you root for them perhaps think that somehow their lives would be different if they just went down another path. Ultimately, the pay-off just isn't there and hence the 3-star rating.

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Jun 19, 2010 Tamahome rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: pulp crime fiction fans

Around page 200 in 2 days. Concise writing. Yep, it's the George Clooney/Jay-Lo movie.

page 269
That unpleasant scene with Glenn & Maurice is there. But then when Karen & Foley get together, it's so good...

EDIT:
All done. It's different from the movie, which I've watched over and over. You get more backstory on Karen and Foley. Some characters are more likeable (the fbi agent), and some are more unlikeable (Chino the escaped prisoner). The ending is very different.

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Jul 30, 2012 Simon Cooper rated it 4 of 5 stars

i'm not sure how many of Elmore's books I've read, this one is really very good, and towards the top of the pile of the thirty or so that I can identify with on the inside covers of his books. Dialogue detail that appears effortless, developing situations that have no hint of contrivance, compelling relationships. Jack Foley is one of a number of favourites that come around from time to time, he gives me character jealousy.

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Mar 21, 2012 Nick rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I did not like it as much as some of theother Elmore Leonard books I have read, but it was fun. The problem was that I just couldn't buy the romance between the two main characters. And the bad bad guys (there are also good bad guys) were over the top bad, so I couldn't really buy them either. Maybe I just don't get what it takes to be a violent criminal. On the plus side, I loved the ending.

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Jul 19, 2010 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Elmore Leonard is a very popular local personality in our area and hearing him speak recently reminded me how much fun his books can be. They are filled with quirky crooks, lots of local color, and no shortage of scenes to make you smile. OUT OF SIGHT is no exception; it is an engaging, entertaining, easy read. A perfect beach or airport book: alot of fun and alot of action.

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Aug 14, 2011 Ruth Niles rated it 5 of 5 stars

Elmore Leonard at his best. A great story, reminded me of "Get Shorty", wonderful characters and not a boring sentence in the book. Karen is a US Marshall, happens to be right where a jail break is happening, gets put in the trunk of her own car along with one of the escapees and they have a friendly conversation. There are some scary moments, killing and violence but also some light moments. I didn't want the story to end.

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Sep 25, 2010 Leslie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Technically I stopped about 3/4 of the way through because it suddenly started to suck. Word of advice to male authors: don't try to write badass female characters without some SERIOUS guidance from an actual woman, because otherwise she will just come across as yet another cliched, unrealistic, unscrupulous male fantasy. Ugh.

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Apr 26, 2013 Nina Fitzgerald rated it 4 of 5 stars

Why has it taken me so long to discover the books of Elmore Leonard? The dialogue is quick and savvy, the characters are bigger than life, and the action, although a bit gruesome at times because of folks getting shot, is hilarious. I just had to go the library to check out more novels by this terrific writer.

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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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