REVIEW
Out Of Sight by Elmore Leonard
Viking £16.00
Elmore Leonard’s latest tale opens with a prison break-out with an interesting twist: one of the escapees, and the hero of the tale, Jack Foley, wasn’t in on the original escape plan, in fact, he refused to get involved. But escape he does, all according to *his* plan. A bit sneaky, to say the least! But his escape plans go wrong, as is their way, and Foley finds himself in the boot of the getaway car with the owner of said car, the beautiful and sexy, deputy federal marshal Karen Sisco, a woman with a Sig Sauer .38 wedged between her thighs! To cap it all, not only does Jack seem to have struck up a rapport with the woman, there in the confined space of the car boot, but Karen herself might even be having the same problem - possibly. As Foley wonders at this bizarre meeting - what would’ve happened if they’d first met in a bar?
It’s this hint of attraction (together with the more usual need not-to-get-caught) that drives the remainder of the story. Can a relationship between these two tough cookies on the opposite sides of the law be taken seriously, even by the couple themselves?
Meanwhile, Jack, a basically OK guy, who happens to rob banks, has escaped into a bad situation which turns worse as he gets caught up with an ex-con dealing drugs and revelling in murder for the sake of it. Word gets out of Foley’s involvement and Sisco is the agent assigned to track him down. The pair wend their way to the final, inevitable confrontation. Will their brief encounter influence the outcome? Read the book and see. Out of Sight is a fast-moving, sharply told tale from one of the masters of the genre. A must for fans and newcomers alike. (EAL)