Killshot by Elmore Leonard
By VioletVelvet1982
With most of Dutch’s non-western stuff, I’m always impressed with how he builds these really different characters and drops them into the messiest situations, then you watch it all unfold. But every time, once I hit the middle I’m like… okay where is this headed? What’s the plan for the criminals to finally move? How’s the main person supposed to get out of it? Wayne and Carmen really felt believable to me. They bicker like a couple that’s been together forever, and Carmen’s clearly not happy and Wayne just kind of keeps doing his simple routine. Carmen gets really mad that Wayne won’t understand her, even to the point where she has to pull a shotgun on Armand. It all felt like a real marriage, not some smooth movie version. Armand and Richie were great too. They don’t feel like cartoon villains or James Bond super-plots. It’s more like these contained little bubbles happening over a few days or weeks in Detroit or South Florida. Still, they’re dangerous though—sometimes even kind of messy or incompetent—and they just keep getting worse the closer they get to that point where it’s basically you vs them. Also, I really liked Carmen killing Armand. Overall I’d rate it 7.5/10.