Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fine little story from a wordsmith of note, 6 Dec 2005
A rich man guns down a poor one who has invaded his home. He claims self-defence. The homicide detective called to investigate the slaying concludes that there is nothing problematic, that the shooting is righteous. He also concludes that he should leave the police and accept the rich man's offer of a job. It's better pay, a glamorous lifestyle, but the rich man has a darker purpose, a need to find meaning in his life through the thrill of the chase. The chase, in this case, will be the execution of someone in the public eye.An intriguing, sophisticated exploration of motive, ennui, and the ways people justify and sanctify their actions and intentions. Leonard includes in this sharply observed little novel an enquiry into the rational behind murder - no serial killers or psychopaths on the loose, but a monotonous toll of death as people are slaughtered by their friends and family over petty arguments, slights, disagreements, or misunderstandings. For the homicide detective, most murder is routine, mundane, ridiculous even. Beautifully written - Elmore Leonard is a very stylish writer … street wise, hip, but a wordsmith capable of eloquent characterisation and the crafting of a compelling narrative. Leonard is a fine story teller, and this is a fine little story.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A real "Pulp Fiction" thriller., 12 May 2001
By A Customer
Split Images is a great novel and one of the few Elmore Leonard books that you just know is sitting in some Hollywood producers desk marked "unfilmable". Bad guys get away with it and the good guys end up face down on the floor with neat little chalk outlines.Set in the early eighties shortly after the Reagan assignation attempt a reclusive millionaire obsessed with sitting in his private office watching a video of it again and again, wants to find out what it's like to kill someone and hires an ex-cop kicked off the force for corruption to help him plan it and to get away with it. Clever, ironic and in parts even tragic this is a fine novel written by one of the genre's greats. Perhaps a little slow at the beginning it gradually builds up pace but is nevertheless an entertaining read. It's also very anti-violence pointing out that the gun used to shoot Reagan (at the time the world's most powerful man) was actually a hundred dollar "Saturday night special" favoured by muggers and gang members throughout the ghettos of the USA.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fine little story from a wordsmith of note, 6 Dec 2005
A rich man guns down a poor one who has invaded his home. He claims self-defence. The homicide detective called to investigate the slaying concludes that there is nothing problematic, that the shooting is righteous. He also concludes that he should leave the police and accept the rich man's offer of a job. It's better pay, a glamorous lifestyle, but the rich man has a darker purpose, a need to find meaning in his life through the thrill of the chase. The chase, in this case, will be the execution of someone in the public eye.An intriguing, sophisticated exploration of motive, ennui, and the ways people justify and sanctify their actions and intentions. Leonard includes in this sharply observed little novel an enquiry into the rational behind murder - no serial killers or psychopaths on the loose, but a monotonous toll of death as people are slaughtered by their friends and family over petty arguments, slights, disagreements, or misunderstandings. For the homicide detective, most murder is routine, mundane, ridiculous even. Beautifully written - Elmore Leonard is a very stylish writer … street wise, hip, but a wordsmith capable of eloquent characterisation and the crafting of a compelling narrative. Leonard is a fine story teller, and this is a fine little story.
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