Out of Sight

By Elmore Leonard
Delacorte Press, $22.95

ISBN 0385308485

Also available on audio from
BDD Audio, $16.99

Audio ISBN 0553477188

Review by Tom Corcoran

In Elmore Leonard's new novel, Out of Sight, Karen Sisco, a 29-year-old federal Marshall who has followed her father's career path into law enforcement, comes face to face with a career criminal. Well, not exactly face to face. Taken hostage and locked in a car trunk with Jack Foley, a 47-year-old federal prison escapee, wedged into what certain manuals call the "spoon position," Karen is surprised to find Foley an atypical convict. Bumping along the highway toward his freedom, he not only keeps his hands to himself, but engages his close-quarters adversary in nostalgic banter regarding old cops-and-robbers movies and classic one-liners. The near-perfect gentleman also professes to be nonviolent. Sisco is indignant, intent on revenge and, perhaps, charmed.

Karen uses street smarts and courage to escape Jack Foley's abettors; Foley eludes capture and vanishes into South Florida anonymity. But as he and an accomplice plan their next scam, the rip-off of an ex-con securities wizard in the Detroit area, Foley finds his attention diverted by memories of the conversation in the Chevrolet's trunk. In a moment of weakness he even risks his freedom to make contact with Sisco. To tell more would be unfair to the author and to you.

One does not "wade" through an Elmore Leonard suspense novel. There is no single perfect word to describe reading his books, but a useful simile would be the hot knife through butter. There's nothing fancy about Leonard's dialogue, except that it works so well. His success is founded in his creation of a believable movie in the mind. One is never aware of vocabulary or clever phrases. There are no signs of the author stealing the show from his story and its inhabitants. Leonard places his readers into scenes, alongside his characters. He forces us to form opinions and take sides. He encourages us to see each character's point of view and background, and to sympathize with plights, to forgive mistakes. In Out of Sight he catches us cheering for the bad guy.

All this means that Elmore Leonard has perfected his craft.

Writer and photographer Tom Corcoran lives in Lakeland, Florida.

©1996, ProMotion, inc.

www@bookpage.com

Buy or borrow this book!

Support your local independent bookseller

Find it in a WorldCat library

Compare prices at major online bookstores