By: Elmore Leonard Publisher: HarperTorch Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Label: HarperTorch Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 384 Publication Date: October 01, 2002 Release Date: October 01, 2002
Quintessential Elmore Leonard, Split Images stars Palm Beach playboy Robbie Daniels. He's the kind of guy who gets away with everything -- even murder -- until a vacationing Motown cop, Bryan Hurd, starts asking questions. When this millionaire reptile reveals the psychopath beneath his slippery skin, Hurd finds out this is one helluva way for an out-of-town lawman to spend his vacation.
Palm Beach -- Motor City with a tan - Snap! - the millionaire from Detroit who looks like a cheerleader rubs "his flat belly, tan and trim," while he tells the investigating cop Walter how he shot a Haitian who was supposedly coming at him with a machete in his Palm Beach back yard. Right away we are in the picture and we're hooked in order to see this narcissistic sociopath get what's coming to him. The smiling George Hamilton look-alike is dumb about details so he has to enlist Walter as chief dogsbody and cheering squad. Walter is a triggerhappy joy to behold, a Lawrence Welk fan who grew up in the Hamtramck area of Detroit -- his favorite pinup girl is Norma Zimmer, one of the Champagne girls on the Welk show. I wish I didn't remember that.
Bryan, who joins the case later and eventually makes the collar, is also from Detroit. Bryan is laconic (somewhat like Spencer, Robert Parker's sleuth) but isn't burned out or addicted to the job (like Rankin's John Rebus or Connelly's Harry Bosch). When he goes on vacation he sits on the beach and reads National Geographics and drinks Jack Daniels. He's a perfect match for the just-turned-thirty writer Angela who has been scoping out Mr. Sociopath for an article about rich people. All the good guys have a sense of humor and the dialogue is great fun - especially when the cops are tweaking the criminals who don't know they're being laughed at. Leonard is the Hemingway of crime fiction -- his dialogue captures complex motivation in crisp photoshots.
Nasty things happen, even to the wrong people, but Mr. Tan Belly does indeed get his comeuppance. A great read. I lived in South Florida during the eighties and Leonard brings it all back - the heat, the biting bugs in the scrub, the palmetto bugs...ahhhhhhh....
Fun and Games with Elmore Leonard Split Images was fun to read! Elmore Leonard's books are fast, chocked full of interesting characters and punchy dialogue. A Detroit policeman, Bryan Hurd, must prove that a local millionaire, Robbie Daniels, is a serial killer. The book moves from Detroit to Palm Beach, FL, following the charming Robbie as he plans his ultimate thrill kill. The characters are alive and the plot has a few excellent twists. Pick this book up and have a good read.
Fun Quick Read Reading Split Images was a good way to pass the day at my otherwise boring job. It reminded me of watching an old TV mystery of the week. Nice love story, interesting bad guys, and a bit of suspense here and there.
Tragic Police Procedures Detective Bryan Hurd finally finds his true love in Elmore Leonard's SPLIT IMAGES. He's a hard-working homicide detective on a vacation from all the various ways people can kill each other in Detroit City. And, believe or not, he falls in love at first sight with the beautiful and talented writer, Angela Nolan. Problem is, the detective can't escape his Detroit roots even while he's in Florida.
We can almost see a tragedy coming his way as he hunts down the two Detroit killers, one a dashing movie star type, the other a jaded, disillusioned cop from the Polish neighborhood of Hamtramck, smack dab in the middle of rust-belt Detroit. These boys play rough and murder has become their game.
These characters are all strongly back-storied, so we feel we know them well. And when the murders occur, we wouldn't blame Detective Hurd at all for taking his full revenge.
by Larry Rochelle, author of the Kansas City thrillers: BLUE ICE, CRACKED CRYSTALS and DEATH AND DEVOTION.
Excitement At The End Robbie Daniels, a wealthy businessman who has homes in Detroit and Palm Beach. He has an impressive gun collection that he enjoys using to eliminate bad guys. Walter Kouza is an experienced,quick acting detective from Detroit who has moved to Florida. Daniels hires him an a body guard and driver. He also has other services in mind. Bryan Hurd, is another key character. A fair,honest detective from Detroit. Angela Nolan is an attractive free lance journalist who is interviewing Mr. Daniels for an article about the rich and famous. Along the way she is attracted to and quickly falls for Hurd. Unfortunately, she is in the wrong place at the wrong time and is murdered. Hurd, as one might imagine, is the hero who solves the case. I found this book a reasonably good read along the way that picked up intensity at the end.
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