By: Elmore Leonard Publisher: Harper Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Label: Harper Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 336 Publication Date: May 01, 2008 Release Date: April 29, 2008
Sweet Honey Deal's not sure what compelled her to marry Walter Schoen, possibly the most boring man on Earth. So she quickly rectified the situation by leaving the dour German-born butcher to start a new life. A good thing, too, now that America's at war with Adolf Hitler and Walter's loyalty to his adopted country was always questionable. Even better, now U.S. Marshal Carl Webster wants to come up to Honey's room for an official "chat" . . . and for something more intimate, if Honey has anything to say about it.
The feds' legendary "Hot Kid," Carl's hunting two German POWs who escaped from an Oklahoma internment camp. Maybe Honey's estranged hubby knows something. Maybe Honey knows something. Maybe Carl can stay faithful to his wife. Or maybe they're all about to get tangled up—along with a sultry Ukrainian spy and her transvestite manservant—in a nutty assassination plot that can't possibly succeed . . .
Escaped POWs, spies, and black marketeers This is a somewhat strange novel set mostly during the closing days of World War II, and mostly in Detroit. The plot seems to ramble a bit. There are entrepreneurs dealing in black market beef and stolen goods, a couple of escaped POWs looking for a better life outside the prison camp, Germans or other foreign nationals supposedly engaged in espionage, a Federal marshall, the FBI, and Honey. They all get mixed in together, and nothing turns out quite as you might expect. Everyone seems to have their own ideas about what they want.
The novel has some violence, language, and sexual content. It incluses a few jokes as Honey tries to test someone's sense of humor.
Try the audiobook Other commentators have mentioned that this is a slow-moving book and, to be fair, it is less action-packed than others that Elmore Leonard has written but it is well worth buying nonetheless. It is a comic novel, more like "Get Shorty" than "Cat Chaser", and is probably best approached through the audiobook format. There the narrator Arliss Howard brings all these character to life with a master-class in regional accents: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Germany, Ukraine, Kentucky, etc. The seven disks in the set made a long trip through the Midwest seem days shorter.
As always, great characters One thing I love about Elmore Leonard books is they are driven not just by plot -- as I find many crime/mysteries are -- but by great characters. Honey is a lot of fun.
An Appalling Effort" Incmprehensible plot. Ridiculous characters. Frivolous, inaccurate history. An absolutely appalling effort. I really hope the author goes back to contemproary Detroit. "Mr. Paradise" was one of many delightful Detroit thrillers with memorable, engaging characters and interesting plots.
Dead Weight I have read over a dozen Elmore Leonard books so I would say that I'm a fan. This book is disjointed and dull. The characters are forgetable and the plot is very slow. The theme of the book is confusing as it continues a character from "The Hot Kid", into a realm that makes no sense. Fictionalizing Nazis is a losing proposition. They're not interesting or funny. Better to read a historian's account and get the real deal. The other aspect of this story that is odd is that one of the characters is named Otto Penzler. Otto Penzler (born July 8, 1942) is a well-known publisher and editor of mystery fiction in the United States and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, where he lives. Why did Leonard name a Nazi war criminal after a living person? Coincidence? Not.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
