Raylan
by Elmore Leonard
- Percentage of approved critics who have given this book a positive review.
Critic Rating
61%
Critic Reviews: 33
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- User rating from iDreamBooks & iTunes
Reader Rating
78%
Reader Ratings: 470
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Synopsis
New York Times Bestselling Author Tthe revered New York Times bestselling author, recognized as "America's greatest crime writer" (Newsweek), brings back Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, hero of the hit FX series Justified When Federal Marshall Raylan Givens squares off against a known offender he'll warn the man, "If I have to pull my gun I'll shoot to kill." Except this time he finds the offender naked in a bathtub, doped up and missing his... more
About Elmore Leonard
Published: January 17, 2012 by William Morrow
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense. Fiction. 272 pages
- All Critics: 33
- Positive: 22
- Negative: 11
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The New York Times | 2 Feb 2012
A morally astute sharpshooter with nice Southern manners, a sense of humor and a clean cowboy hat — you don’t find men like him every day.
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San Francisco Chronicle | 22 Jan 2012
Raylan is as close as it gets to creating the complete illusion of unmediated entertainment on the page.
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Tampa Bay Times | 29 Jan 2012
It's more episodic than most of his novels, but those subplots still intersect when you least expect it, and the dialogue is as deliciously dry as the first martini of the night.
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William Shunn | 2 Mar 2012
I found the book to be an unfocused, disappointing mess.
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Kirkus Reviews | 1 Jan 2012
A master’s valedictory canter around a familiar track—an unimpressive job of carpentry that’s still treasurable for Leonard’s patented dialogue and some truly loopy situations handled with deadpan brio.
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Chron.com | 18 Feb 2012
Raylan is a good time though it’s not top-of-the-shelf Leonard.
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NJ.com | 15 Jan 2012
“Raylan” is a smart, swift read, just what millions expect from Elmore Leonard.
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Entertainment Weekly | 27 Jan 2012
Raylan, a punchy mix of crime and Kentucky coal-mine sociology, is a helluva lot more than a TV tie-in, though: It's one of Leonard's best thrillers in years.
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Oregon Live | 21 Jan 2012
It's a little sloppy and episodic, more like a TV show than a movie...
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | 9 May 2012
These are the qualities that Leonard fans have come to love, and his latest novel will not disappoint.
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Slate | 17 Jan 2012
But Raylan, surprisingly, reads like an alternate-universe version of Justified, Season 2, with tantalizing possibilities for Season 3.
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The Story's Story | 6 Mar 2012
The major problem in Raylan is an implausibility the novel itself mocks.
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Newsday | 26 Jan 2012
Leonard's deliberately baggy way with plotting, which blithely kept you on edge in his previous books, is more of a liability in "Raylan."
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A Temporary Distraction | 21 Feb 2012
‘Raylan’ often feels more like Leonard had a few vague ideas for episodes of the show and half-heatedly stretched them out into a full-length book.
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Tyson Adams | 4 Mar 2012
Far from being a criticism, the similarities between Raylan and Justified actually makes this book a cool compendium companion to the series.
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The Washington Times | 20 Mar 2012
His plot twists are real twisty, and he eliminates some prime suspects before the book reaches its midpoint, only to come up with equally plausible, equally nasty new ones.
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Review (Barnes & Noble) | 20 Jan 2012
The compressed form of the stories is perfect for a writer who long ago learned to pare away every extraneous word.
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Cleveland.com | 29 Jan 2012
His characters leap from the page with a few short keystrokes, like a form of bloodstained haiku.
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True Media Solutions | 21 Feb 2012
Leonard tries to bring the three stories together by having some characters briefly written into each of the three stories, but the attempt is obvious and does little to weld the three stories together at the seams.
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When Falls the Coliseum | 8 Mar 2012
Givens is a great character, but there are plenty of other interesting and oddball residents of Harlan County.
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Crime and Publishing | 15 Feb 2012
Raylan is a fast-paced, absorbing read, from one of the doyens of the genre.
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The Star | 12 Feb 2012
Leonard tells the stories with no wasted motion, never coming close to violating number 10 in his famous writing rules... the one about leaving out the parts readers tend to skip.
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The Australian | 28 Apr 2012
At the end you can only smile at how audaciously he has kept it all on the trot.
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Reviewing the Evidence | 1 Apr 2012
While some may favour Leonard's other protagonists over Raylan, the tight plotting and above all the wordplay is as good as ever.
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The Guardian | 27 Jan 2012
Like pretty well every Leonard novel, it is a delight.
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The Globe and Mail | 10 Feb 2012
...it’s pure Elmore Leonard. And that’s why we continue to worship him.
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The New York Times | 2 Feb 2012
He’s a stylist of forward motion, placing narrative acceleration above inconveniences like pronouns and helping verbs...newcomers may find the transition from complete sentences daunting...
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The Wall Street Journal | 21 Jan 2012
Standing tall among the riffraff is charismatic Raylan Givens, in his navy-blue suit and sharp cowboy hat...
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