Elmore Leonard, LaBravaRead about another entry on the list.
LaBrava is South Beach in the final days of its seedy, crime-soaked 80s fame. The action moves from the hotel lobby to the beach to the diner and back again. It’s Newark by the Sea, Leonard’s forte. The usual trappings are there, too: chatty hustlers, washed-out law enforcement and aging gangsters, all caught in a maelstrom of fraud and murder, all told in Leonard’s signature style: a series of cool, wickedly clever dialogues and tightly packed scenes. The plot—a former secret service man tries to help an aging starlet out of a blackmail scam—is almost beside the point. The goal here is just to let the depravity and the ocean breeze wash over you.
--Marshal Zeringue
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