This and Out of Sight are the best of his I have read. He moves masterfully from Florida hoods to Hollywood bull and back. Leonard's writing in this novel is as good as I've seen it, like he was in a groove and nothing he did could go wrong. There are passages that are like silk or a fine wine. This may have been him at the peak of his powers because it is hard to imagine anyone writing a story like this any better. Obviously his days in Hollywood making/writing other films gave him the background for this book. If you read his other books you'll find numerous references to movies he loves in dialog between his characters. This is where he pulls it all together. The story sort of dies at the end but it's ok. Better than the movie. The dialog doesn't get any better, except maybe in Out of Sight. Tough to say which is better.