KILLSHOT

If Elmore Leonard is a high-performance car, Ron McLarty is the skilled driver who can handle it. He understands the determined independence of Leonard's classic heroes, as well as their earnestness, humor, and essential decency. He also seems to delight in the singularity of Leonard's villains. They may be bad, but they're human, not monsters, and as such, they're thoroughly recognizable. Here, real estate agent Carmen Colson and her ironworker husband, Wayne, unwittingly get caught in the middle of an extortion scheme and end up the targets of a couple of low-end killers. In McLarty's reading, each of these characters, and several others, is fully realized, fully alive. M.O.
(c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 04]