Big Bounce: A Novel

This was my first Elmore Leonard novel. I like Leonard's style and the way he writes dialogue. But the plot in this book felt kind of boring. I wouldn't call it a love story or a story about a heist. To me it's just a gathering of colorful and complex characters with no actual plot. Jack is a career crook and Nancy is a total cooc. There's not enough you get from Mr. Majestyk and the minor characters are interested to, but for the story just didn't really go anywhere. I guess this book is fun to have in your collection if you're a fan, but probably not the one the start with.

Unusual, maybe atypical for Leonard.

Felt like a time warp (p. 200 in large print)Mr. Majestyk is watching movie "The Tall T" which is Elmore's own "The Captives" from 1955.

How many authors would make a surreal scene with a character from 14 years previous.

This would be the story to read to transition from his westerns to his more modern Jack Ryan crime stories.

If you can find an adverb in this novel, you're prolly hallucinating. Truman Capote said never include adverbs in your book because if you have the right verb no adverbs are necessary. He also said it's the impatient writer who uses adverbs cause he/she doesn't take the time to select the right verb. Well, us fans know Elmore Leonard is one of the best crime writers, and he must be very patient, cause he doesn't slip in even one adverb here or there. Of course, his plots move right along with no padding. Succinct, slick, short and sweet. Always a treat to read an Elmore novel. And SO many movies have been made from his books.

Elmore Leonard is great.

Writer is great!

Having recently read a group of Elmore Leonard novels I can say that this is the weakest offering so far. There are no expectations of wild car chases or shootouts in his novels, but the twists and turns of some of his novels are delicious reading. The Big Bounce is more of a mashed potato sandwich. By the fourth chapter, I wondered where this was going. It went nowhere. I read the IMBD movie plot synopsis and I can tell that the script included a major renovation from the book. This is one book/movie to avoid. Sorry Elmore...

Elmore Leonard is justly praised as one of the great stylists in crime fiction. His westerns kick ass too. Sadly, this effort from fairly early in his career is meandering and disjointed. He hadn't mastered his formula yet, and Jack Ryan is not a fully realized protagonist. Read literally any other Leonard before this one...

It's no secret why Elmore Leonard is such a popular author--he writes some good, memorable books. What I've come to expect from him are (seemingly) unusual characters with serious flaws. Depending on how serious those flaws are, he runs the risk of making characters--even his protagonists--unlikeable.

In a nutshell, that's where he went wrong with this book. The story centers on two characters who border on the grotesque...morally speaking. I personally despise thieves, but that's what Jack Ryan is. His co-star Nancy isn't exactly a thief, but she's even more grotesque--a thrill-seeking brat who delights in ruining other people's lives for any or no reason.

Let me say a little about Nancy: she's a physically attractive girl. She knows how to use her attractiveness, too. She's a serial seductress who has ruined several marriages just to see if she could. She enjoys invading the privacy of others. She likes breaking expensive stuff that doesn't belong to her. She runs people off the road for the hell of it. She takes pot-shots at passing boats with a target pistol for no other reason than it might be fun. "It might be fun" is her justification for all of her sick behavior. With premeditation, she plans to murder someone for the same reason. And for the length of this narrative, her occupation is live-in whore. Or "rich man's plaything" if you prefer the author's more polite description.

Back to Jack: he's a burglar. I've mentioned how I feel about thieves. You know what I hate even worse than a thief? Somebody who screws over a person who has helped them out. The only likeable character in this book, for me, was Mr. Majestyk, who bent over backwards to give Jack a break. Does this loser appreciate it? Hell no. He lies and disrespects his patron throughout, and at one point contemplates stealing from him, too. At least Leonard didn't have him go that far. I might have stopped reading, then.

I've collected my share of favorite antiheroes--maybe that's why I like some of Elmore Leonard's other work. But it's hard enough reading about villains who screw people over with no remorse. Don't expect me to sympathize with "heroes" who do the same.