Product Description

Hot cars, gun molls, speakeasies, bank robbers and murder are the game in this powerfully entertaining story from Elmore Leonard, the undisputed master of the crime novel. Set in Oklahoma during the 1930s, THE HOT KID introduces Carl Webster, one of the coolest lawmen ever to draw on a fugitive felon. At 21, Carl Webster's on his way to becoming the most famous Deputy US Marshal in America. He's shot and killed notorious bank robber Emmet Long and is now tracking Jack Belmont, the no-good son of an oil millionaire with dreams of becoming Public Enemy Number One. True Detective writer Tony Antonelli is following the story, and this one's big, full of beautiful women, Tommy guns and a former lawman who believes in vigilante justice. THE HOT KID is one exhilarating story playing out against the flapper period of gun molls and Prohibition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #759574 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
"God really is in the dialogue. It crackles, it snaps, it moves forwards, back and sideways, and carries the narrative. Like all Leonard's best books, though, THE HOT KID belongs to the characters. He manages his magic with such savvy that you come to care about them when they might otherwise have been mere caricatures or cartoons... the dialogue is like a cocktail with Carl and Virgil Webster on the front porch of the California-style bungalow on the pecan plantation in Oklahoma; a good belt of sour mash, a slice of juicy orange and a dash of sugar for sweetness." THE TIMES "Before becoming the world's greatest crime writer, Elmore Leonard made his name as an author of such westerns as Last Stand at Saber River and Hombre. With The Hot Kid, he now combines both genres to create a story in which the flinty violence of his cowboy fiction is enhanced by the ironic verve of his detective books." -- STEPHEN AMIDON SUNDAY TIMES "The Hot Kid is the quintessence of gangster chic... As the Model Ts rattle across the wide-open spaces, you can see the dust trails unfurl behind them, hear the jazz on the soundtrack. " -- MARK SANDERSON EVENING STANDARD "clearly destined for the silver screen... it will appeal to the solid fan base, of which there are millions. And to sum up the plot in one word: kerpow!" DAILY EXPRESS "Leonard. lovingly captures Oklahma right before the dust-bowl years, when it was the oil capital of the world... More suprisingly for such an avowedly unwriterly writer, Leonard also finds room to comment on his own literary methods... while I've read more straightforwardly thrilling Leonard novels, The Hot Kid is among the richest and the most satisfying." -- JAMES WALTON DAILY TELEGRAPH "The background of Prohibition, molls, hot cars and vigilante justice is perfect for Leonard's particularly laconic style of crime writing, fizzing with wit and insight, and not a word wasted." DAILY MAIL "A minor masterpiece" -- MAXIM JAKUBOWSKI THE GUARDIAN "Leonard just keeps on getting better and better." THE SCOTSMAN "right back on form. Tremendous stuff!" INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY "As ever with the writer of Get Shorty and Rum Punch, every scene is littered with no-good chancers from society's darker corners. But here Leonard's humour is subservient to a patchwork of rollicking vignettes of Prohibition-era Oklahoma and a sharp appreciation of the allure of the villain... he writes the most colourful baddies." METRO "Like many of Leonard's recent works, THE HOT KID features an ensemble cast which emerges into the story line fully grown and so vivid it's hard to appreciate the members were ever an idea in a writer's head... likely to endure." SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY "... a kind of hybrid of the author's early westerns and his latter-day crime novesl... The end result is one of his strongest pieces in ages. Not for nothing do they call him the King of Crime... as good as it gets." THE HERALD "uber slick crime writing with dialogue as snappy as a bright young thing's text messages... Elmore Leonard is the alpha male of the crime writers' world - successful, rich, prolific and the best. If you haven't Elmored before, get on with it." IRISH EXAMINER "This is a welcome 40th novel from Elmore Leonard and has the mark of his best work. The language is spare and punchy and has more in common with earlier western tales than with later gangster novels... A great, hot, dusty novel." IRELAND ON SUNDAY "a western which examines the nature of myth making and stardom and does it wonderfully... As always, his attention to spoken rhythm is second to none, his distilled style again the perfect way to tell the story." SUNDAY TRIBUNE "The King of serious literary crime returns with a classy fable of justice and retribution set in 1930s Oklahoma... Studded with knowing reflections on celebrity and the business of crime writing, this latest is all you'd expect from Elmore Leonard plus a bit more." BLOOMBERG.COM "Relentlessly stripped-down dialogue, laconic, fast and funny... Leonard has produced an affectionate, unsentimental history of bad times past. Racy, well-remembered. Irresistible." LITERARY REVIEW "an utter delight from start to violent finish." IRISH INDEPENDENT

Review
"God really is in the dialogue. It crackles, it snaps, it moves forwards, back and sideways, and carries the narrative.. Like all Leonard's best books, though, THE HOT KID belongs to the characters. He manages his magic with such savvy that you come to care about them when they might otherwise have been mere caricatures or cartoons...

the dialogue is like a cocktail with Carl and Virgil Webster on the front porch of the California-style bungalow on the pecan plantation in Oklahoma; a good belt of sour mash, a slice of juicy orange and a dash of sugar for sweetness." (THE TIMES )

"Before becoming the world's greatest crime writer, Elmore Leonard made his name as an author of such westerns as Last Stand at Saber River and Hombre. With The Hot Kid, he now combines both genres to create a story in which the flinty violence of his cowboy fiction is enhanced by the ironic verve of his detective books." (STEPHEN AMIDON SUNDAY TIMES )

"The Hot Kid is the quintessence of gangster chic... As the Model Ts rattle across the wide-open spaces, you can see the dust trails unfurl behind them, hear the jazz on the soundtrack. " (MARK SANDERSON EVENING STANDARD )

"clearly destined for the silver screen... it will appeal to the solid fan base, of which there are millions. And to sum up the plot in one word: kerpow!" (DAILY EXPRESS )

"Leonard.. lovingly captures Oklahma right before the dust-bowl years, when it was the oil capital of the world... More suprisingly for such an avowedly unwriterly writer, Leonard also finds room to comment on his own literary methods... while I've read more straightforwardly thrilling Leonard novels, The Hot Kid is among the richest and the most satisfying." (JAMES WALTON DAILY TELEGRAPH )

"The background of Prohibition, molls, hot cars and vigilante justice is perfect for Leonard's particularly laconic style of crime writing, fizzing with wit and insight, and not a word wasted." (DAILY MAIL )

"A minor masterpiece" (MAXIM JAKUBOWSKI THE GUARDIAN )

"Leonard just keeps on getting better and better." (THE SCOTSMAN )

"right back on form. Tremendous stuff!" (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )

"As ever with the writer of Get Shorty and Rum Punch, every scene is littered with no-good chancers from society's darker corners. But here Leonard's humour is subservient to a patchwork of rollicking vignettes of Prohibition-era Oklahoma and a sharp appreciation of the allure of the villain... he writes the most colourful baddies." (METRO )

"Like many of Leonard's recent works, THE HOT KID features an ensemble cast which emerges into the story line fully grown and so vivid it's hard to appreciate the members were ever an idea in a writer's head... likely to endure." (SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY )

"... a kind of hybrid of the author's early westerns and his latter-day crime novesl... The end result is one of his strongest pieces in ages. Not for nothing do they call him the King of Crime.... as good as it gets." (THE HERALD )

"uber slick crime writing with dialogue as snappy as a bright young thing's text messages... Elmore Leonard is the alpha male of the crime writers' world - successful, rich, prolific and the best. If you haven't Elmored before, get on with it." (IRISH EXAMINER )

"This is a welcome 40th novel from Elmore Leonard and has the mark of his best work. The language is spare and punchy and has more in common with earlier western tales than with later gangster novels... A great, hot, dusty novel." (IRELAND ON SUNDAY )

"a western which examines the nature of myth making and stardom and does it wonderfully... As always, his attention to spoken rhythm is second to none, his distilled style again the perfect way to tell the story." (SUNDAY TRIBUNE )

"The King of serious literary crime returns with a classy fable of justice and retribution set in 1930s Oklahoma... Studded with knowing reflections on celebrity and the business of crime writing, this latest is all you'd expect from Elmore Leonard plus a bit more." (BLOOMBERG.COM )

"Relentlessly stripped-down dialogue, laconic, fast and funny... Leonard has produced an affectionate, unsentimental history of bad times past. Racy, well-remembered. Irresistible." (LITERARY REVIEW )

"an utter delight from start to violent finish." (IRISH INDEPENDENT )

MAXIM JAKUBOWSKI, THE GUARDIAN
"A minor masterpiece"

Customer Reviews

This Book Works
I've been a fan of Elmore for a long time and, while I've read most of his books happily, a few of the more recent ones have been less satisfying. I didn't make it to the end of 'Be Cool' and while Tishomingo Blues was well-written and a lot of fun, it didn't feel inspired. It felt like a re-tread of familiar ground.
Well, THE HOT KID is inspired. It is original, while demonstrating everything about Elmore's writing which makes it the easiest - most fun - literary writing available, and is thoroughly engrossing.

Elmore shifts from current-day crime writing to the 'Bonnie and Clyde' era of his childhood to tell a tale of people wanting to be famous gangsters, people wanting to be the famous lawmen who catch them, and journalists wanting to make a name for themselves by writing exaggerated stories about both using the floweriest language available.

This book is fun, fun, fun and you shouldn't consider spending money on anything else until you own it.

not his greatest
I am a great Leonard fan and have read all his books but found this one a touch predictable and ultimately disappointing.
Perhaps it was because not long ago I read "Public Enemies" by Bryan Burrough which deals faction-style with all the infamous criminals of the early thirties and The Hot Kid read like a condensed fictional verison of that book.
Nevertheless Leonard is without doubt one of the great story tellers of our time and this is still a good read. Go and buy it then read Burroughs' book.

Gangsters, Gun Molls & Good Guys Under The Dustbowl Sun!
Life in depression-era America was rough, painfully so. And Oklahoma, smack in the middle of the Dust Bowl, was a particularly bad place to be. Poverty, alcoholism, (despite Prohibition), violence, racism, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, were realities of the times. The phrase, "Brother, can you spare a dime," came to epitomize the humiliation and hopelessness of 13 million unemployed Americans. Severe droughts made farming impossible, and thousands of folks were driven off their land by starvation. Many blamed the banks and the wealthy financiers for the country's economic devastation. Crime rates rose drastically with the advent of the Great Depression and Prohibition, and robbing banks became an up-and-coming career path. In 1933, police jurisdictions ended at state lines, the FBI was in its infancy, fast cars and machine guns were easily available - if not for sale, than for stealing. On hand to take full advantage of this get rich fast manner of money making was a motley assortment of criminal masterminds, sociopaths, romantics, and adventurers. Some of the era's most famous Public Enemies - John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, and the Barkers - became iconic figures.

Elmore Leonard's latest novel, "The Hot Kid," is set in 1930's Oklahoma, against a backdrop of moonshine, speakeasies, mine strikes, oil wildcatters, gangsters, gun molls, prostitutes and plenty of bank robberies. The plot focuses on Carl Webster and Jack Belmont, two colorful characters who could make Bonnie and Clyde, in fact, the entire Barrow Gang, seem boring in comparison. The men's backgrounds are similar but their paths could not have diverged more.

Carl Webster, born Carlos, is the grandson of a pureblooded northern Cheyenne woman who married a white man. Their son, Virgil, is Carl's father. His mother, Graciaplena, was Cuban. She is deceased. Virgil, a hero of the Spanish American War, is a pecan farmer, who hit paydirt when oil was discovered on his land. When Carl was just 15, he witnessed an armed robbery and murder in an Okmulgee, Oklahoma drugstore. The kid took it personally because Emmet Long, one of the hold-up men, called him and his father breeds and greasers. He also ate Carl's peach ice cream cone - took it right out of his hand. Later that same year, Carl shot and killed a cattle thief. He warned the man first, "If I have to pull my weapon, I'll shoot to kill." This warning, unintentionally, turns into his tag line. Thus, Carl begins to move toward his inevitable career in law enforcement - what else? He eventually becomes a Federal Marshall, who acquires fame early-on for killing a famous bank robber - the very same gangster who once stole his ice cream cone. Webster is also known for possessing a strong code of honor. A clothes horse too, with an enormous ego, he's one hot kid!

Another Oklahoma boy, and a peer of Carl's, is Jack Belmont. To be blunt, Jack is a bad seed - a real psycho. His dad, Oris, is an oilman who, unlike Carl's father, found oil the old-fashioned way - he worked for it. His discovery of black gold was no accident, but the end result of a long arduous process. And he is a very wealthy man. His only son, however, is a major disappointment, and no amount of hard work can change that. At age ten, Jack tried to drown his sister, but only succeeded in crippling her for life. He also tried his hand at rape, assault, a racially motivated shooting, and other shenanigans, before getting down to real business. He attempted to blackmail his dad, when he could have easily gotten the money by asking. When Oris cracks-down and thinks to make a man of Jack by having him do some "boot camp" labor with some of the "hard cases" working the oil rigs, Jack blows up an oil tank in an explosion that can be seen miles away. Tired of the oil business, he embarks on a bank robbing spree across Oklahoma and Kansas. He does try his hand at kidnapping and forgery first. He thinks he is the hottest kid around! Maybe he means hotheaded!

Webster is soon on Jack's trail. And Jack, longing to reach the pinnacle of his career by becoming Public Enemy Number One, hunts Marshall Webster, whom he has sworn to kill. That would bring in plenty of publicity!

Tony Antonelli, another important personage, is a journalist who writes for True Crime, and documents the exploits of Carl Webster and of Jack Belmont. He doesn't particularly want to be "hot," he just wants to become an award-winning writer. And lovely Louly Brown is definitely hot. She had a "thing" for Pretty Boy Floyd, loves Carl but is drawn to the outlaw life.

Elmore Leonard's quirky characters are some of the most fascinating around. He paints a vivid portrait of Depression-era life in the Dust Bowl, including some of America's most notorious crime figures, turned folk heroes. As always his dialogue is great, as is his dark humor. However, for some reason I was not as drawn into the plot as I had hoped to be. Leonard's narrative is well written, and I am fascinated by the period. I just kept waiting for the main story to begin, and when I discovered I was in the middle of it, I felt kind of let down. I seem to be the only reader, of the hundreds of thousands who bought this book, who feels this way - so chalk it up to my quirkiness. I definitely recommend the novel and am not at all sorry I read it.

This is Elmore Leonard's 40th novel, proving that some talented, creative people are not slowed down by the process of aging.
JANA