Product Description

The hero of Cat Chaser, George Moran, isn't looking for trouble but finds it anyway when he winds up in bed with the wife of a drug-dealing mob-connected Dominican cop—vicious, macho and ready to follow George to the ends of the earth, which in this case means Miami.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #774253 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

From Amazon.com
In the world of Elmore Leonard novels, two ex-Marines can sit around a hotel swimming pool in Florida and, as if it were perfectly natural, chat about a friendly fire incident during an "interventionist action" in Santo Domingo. His characters have learned the futility of complaining about a life where deadly violence and moral obligations are all too frequently intertwined. In Cat Chaser George Moran is the hotel manager who got shot at back then; now, he's rekindling his intimate acquaintance with the wife of Andres de Boya, a former Dominican military enforcer who currently invests in real estate with a healthy sideline in drugs.

A dizzying series of plot twists involving various grifters and strongmen (both hired and freelance) leads to the grimly comic suspense action that Elmore Leonard fans have come to know and love. But as always, it's Leonard's impressive ear for dialogue that raises Cat Chaser above the herd of crime novels. An example:

"That's correct," Scully said, "I'm a consultant... I advise people on business matters, act as a go-between, bring people together that want to make deals... things like that. You want to know any more, come by my office, we'll have a coffee sometime. Okay? Right now I'm going to see Mr. Pradi. Where you come in--I'm gonna knock on his door, he don't open it then I might have to kick it in. I mean the business I got with him is that pressing. So you can give me a key and maybe save yourself a door. What do you think?"

From AudioFile
Set on the beaches of Florida and Santo Domingo, Leonard introduces ex-commando George Moran, whose island paradise is threatened. With his usual confidence, Frank Muller takes on Leonard's standard array of con-men, villains and sleaze. Snapping out the dialogue among an array of speakers is Muller's forte. R.F.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Ingram
George Moran, ex-Marine and owner of a small beach resort, opts for a Dominican vacation and ends up in bed with the beautiful wife of the drug-dealing, mob-connected former chief of the island's secret police. Now, trouble is following him home to Miami.

Customer Reviews

Good Read for a Day at the Beach...
This was the first Elmore Leonard novel I've read, though I SAW Out of Sight and Get Shorty. Obviously, I felt like I knew what to expect before I opened the book: numerous plot twists, character's who've seen better days and tight dialogue. I'm not a fan of "detective" fiction, so I can't really compare it to that. I found the setting to be compelling: motel in South Florida, the Dominican Republic. I thought the main character's experience with the Marines in the Dominican Republic was interesting. Frankly, as a 28 year old, I wasn't even aware that Marines were in the Dominican Republic at that time.

Book is a quick read, no matter how you slice it. Despite the "adult" subject matter, it occurs to me that Leonard novels would make a good read for a certain kind of high school student. Leonards books are always cheap to pick up and widely available.

The rythym of the dialogue in "Cat Chaser" is above average.

the usual Elmore Leomard competence...
For fans for Elmore Leonard you already know he writes tight crime novels often strewn with humour and great characters. And despite being largely formulaic in approach (..his lead characters all seem to be the same) he succeeds in entertaining the reader. And the same holds true with 'Cat Chaser'.

With 'Cat Chaser' we have an ex-military guy in south Florida involved doing hanky-panky with the wife of a former monster from a Carribean country (Dominican Republic) before the Americans kicked him out. The outcome is inevitable but along the way we meet strange characters (the usual Miami oddballs, and a few imports from the Dominican Republic) who do some very strange things. While here are also a good number of funny bits Leonard is no match for the Florida comic crime novel master Carl Hiaasen.

Bottom line: a fun if not enthralling Elmore Leonard venture. Fans will rejoice.

Fast read!
With the exception of a princess phone and a couple of black and white TVs,Elmore Leonard's 1982 "Cat Chaser" is as contemporary as today's paper.

It is well crafted, full of the usual Leonard streetwise, quirky characters.

One con artist after another trying to out con the other.

Escapist reading at its best.