RAYLAN by Elmore Leonard

US Marshal Raylan Givens is the central character, and he’s been sent back to Harlan, Kentucky – his penance for shooting dead a felon in Miami. Even the marshals service knew he was too good to get rid of completely, but too bad to let loose in a big city.  He doesn’t shoot people unless he has to, but if he does shoot, you are dead. The other characters comprise a ‘delightful’ mix of organ thieves (kidneys, not instruments) , a bizarre family of dope-growers, and hard-nosed mining company executives. Another thing that makes this novel different is that the primary characters are female, and are portrayed as sharp, smart, and ruthless.

The book features Leonard’s trademark loose prose that lets go of the ‘proper’ rules of grammar, and it reminds me a bit of free-flowing jazz – it breaks the rules, but it still sounds brilliant. Raylan features Leonard’s dark, dry humour, the kind that makes you laugh, not in a side-splitting Seinfeld way, but in a sly, dark, covert way.
For more information on this fantastic writer, go to the Elmore Leonard official website