As is almost always the case in a book by Elmore Leonard, the characters in Split Images take precedence over the plot.
Robbie Daniels made millions i...moreAs is almost always the case in a book by Elmore Leonard, the characters in Split Images take precedence over the plot.
Robbie Daniels made millions in the Detroit industrial company that he inherited from his father. But Robbie has little interest in being a captain of industry. He much prefers the role of Palm Beach playboy. He especially likes golf, women and guns. He also likes killing people.
Robbie fantasizes about the idea of killing truly despicable bad guys who are beyond the reach of the law. He recruits Walter Kouza, a former Detroit policeman, to assist him in his mission. Walter has relocated to Florida, but he's bored with his wife and his life and he sees the opportunity of going to work for Robbie as his last chance at a better life, even if Robbie does have homicidal intentions.
Angela Nolan is an attractive journalist who's interviewing Robbie for an article on how rich people live while Detroit homicide detective Bryan Hurd is vacationing in Florida, hoping without much luck, to get away from homicide for a couple of weeks.
The four characters find their lives intersecting in a story that moves back and forth between Florida and Michigan. Each has his or her own objectives and inevitably this will produce complications. As always, it's fun to watch a master story teller at work as Leonard throws these characters together into the boiling pot and then stands back to see what might come bubbling up to the surface.(less)
In the mid-1960s, George Moran was a young Marine caught up between competing factions in the Dominican Revolution. A young girl tried to kill him and...moreIn the mid-1960s, George Moran was a young Marine caught up between competing factions in the Dominican Revolution. A young girl tried to kill him and then saved his life. Years later, George owns a marginally successful motel in Florida. He determines to make a sentimental journey back to Santo Domingo to visit the scene of his most memorable youthful experiences.
He also determines to try to find the woman who saved his life. In a twist of fate, though, he discovers instead a woman named Mary de Boya who was a casual acquaintance a few years earlier when George was married and moving in the upper circles of Miami society.
George and Mary begin a torrid affair which is made much more dangerous than the usual, run-of-the-mill torrid affair because Mary's older husband is a multi-millionaire who was once a high-ranking military officer in the Dominican Republic. He has a reputation as a man who tortured and killed countless members of the opposition in the DR before he escaped one step ahead of the lynch mob. Obviously, this is not a guy you want to screw around with.
Inevitably, there are a lot of twists and turns, but as is always the case in an Elmore Leonard novel, the real delight of the book is in the characters he creates and in the dialog that he gives them. This is a fairly early EL book, and even though it's not perhaps one of his best, it's still pretty damned good and one that will appeal to any reader who enjoys his work.(less)
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