Rum Punch

A perfect holiday read (skiing in Austria). Leonard has a well-established reputation as a crime novelist, and Rum Punch is arguably his best-known novel, its status enhanced by Quentin Tarantino's transformation of it into the film “Jackie Brown”. Having seen the film a number of times, the plot of the novel was clearly familiar to me, but this does not diminish from its enjoyability. In many ways it is an impressive testament to Leonard that Tarantino barely altered the novel for his film version. I found myself gripped to the end, wondering whether Brown (or Burke in the novel) and Max Cherry would pull off their heist; or Ordell Robbie got his comeuppance. Also impressive was Leonard's use of street argot. Not a challenging read, but for sure an enjoyable one. 7.5/10.

By Elmore Leonard