Djibouti

February 7, 2011
In Leonard's new novel, Oscar-winning documentarian Dara Barr and her 73-year-old assistant, Xavier LeBo, travel to the Horn of Africa to film Somali pirates. They get exciting footage, but Leonard, almost perversely, provides much of the action as exposition, with the filmmakers safe and sound in hotels or on yachts, discussing their adventures over champagne. This is not good news for thriller lovers, since thrills are in short supply. But it's tremendous fun for those who can't get enough of the author's snappy patter. For Tim Cain, it's a chance to demonstrate his ability to deal with pages of witty dialogue, and he shines, demonstrating quick vocal shifts, wide-ranging accents, and well-thought-out pacing. The result is a smoothly efficient, entertaining drawing room comedy in which not even terrorism is taken too seriously. A Morrow hardcover.

Elmore Leonard's newest novel turns around a timely subject--piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Narrator Tim Cain leads listeners on an adventure populated by a documentary film crew, Somali pirates, a rich Texan and his girlfriend who are sailing around the world, and an African-American man turned Al Qaeda terrorist. Cain's rich and gravelly voice perfectly reflects the hardscrabble worlds of Somalia and Djibouti, which Leonard so masterfully describes. Cain doesn't always fully differentiate between characters, making it occasionally difficult to determine who is speaking during certain scenes, particularly when the two women are conversing. Overall, however, Cain's narration supports Leonard's witty, dramatic text, making for a rip-roaring listen. J.L.K. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

March 1, 2011

In a major departure from his crime novels set in Detroit, Miami, and Los Angeles, octogenarian Grand Master Leonard (www.elmoreleonard.com) here tackles East Africa. Documentary filmmaker Dara Barr travels to Djibouti to make a film about modern-day pirates operating out of Somalia. Cognizant of the dangers involved, she nonetheless stumbles into a deadly plot. As always with Leonard, there are colorful characters--e.g., an elderly New Orleans seaman, a Texas billionaire, and an American al Qaeda terrorist--though Barr herself remains rather vague. More adept at style and mood than plot, Leonard takes too long to get things going. The slack pace, however, is energized by the narration of Tim Cain (I, Alex Cross), who employs a plethora of authentic-sounding multicultural accents. Recommended for Leonard aficionados and those looking for unusual treatments of terrorism. [Leonard "really cooks with gas here," read the review of the New York Times best-selling Morrow hc, LJ Xpress Reviews, 9/16/10.--Ed.]--Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr. Lib.

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