Be Cool

In this sequel to Leonard's hugely popular GET SHORTY, Chili Palmer becomes a moviemaker with one hit and one flop to his credit. BE COOL is the movie of his life--imagined as he lives it. The supporting cast includes the Russian mafia; gangsta rappers; rip-off elements of the record industry; Chili's new friend, Darryl, who is a detective working organized crime; and other fascinating riffraff too numerous to mention. Campbell Scott seems made to read Elmore Leonard, or perhaps Leonard writes to be read by Scott. Either way, Scott's Chili is a perfectly irreverent full-speed-ahead kind of guy. The rappers are take-nothing-from-no-one dudes. The Russians are archetypal Hollywood Slavs. And Darryl sounds about as square as anyone in a Leonard novel ever gets. Scott also does women's voices well, and his regional accents convince. R.E.K. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Starred review from February 1, 1999
In Get Shorty (1990), Leonard skewered the film industry in a rollicking crime read that became not only a bestselling book but also a megahit movie. This razor-sharp sequel veers from the venality, egomania and basic bad taste of the movies with the similar attributes of the pop-music business. After one hit (Get Leo) and one flop (Get Lost), Chili Palmer, former loan shark and now movie producer, thinks the record industry is fertile ground for his next flick. He hasn't lost touch with his old Brooklyn friends, though, and while lunching with one he witnesses his pal's mob-style murder. As he's not a serious suspect, Chili becomes friendly with the investigating LAPD detective. He has also become interested in Texas-bred singer Linda Moon and her effort to break into the biz, which puts him on the wrong side of her inept but murderous manager, Raji. When a Russian gangster is found shot dead in Chili's house, matters complicate further as Chili wades through a rogues' gallery including more Russians, a mob hit man, seriously criminal gangsta rappers, Raji's giant gay Samoan bodyguard and assorted other denizens of La La Land. Chili remains a compulsively appealing character throughout, retaining his immaculate cool in lethal situations as those around him wallow in pretension and hypocrisy. Leonard's plotting is as propulsive as ever and his desert-dry wit continues to flare at high heat. Nearly every sentence of this novel reads as if it's dipped in gold. This is a knockout work from a master crime writer: be cool, and relish it. Major ad/promo; simultaneous BDD audio; author tour.

March 7, 2005
Despite the title and the cover shot of John Travolta and Uma Thurman, who star in the MGM film based on Leonard's follow-up to Get Shorty
, this production is curiously lacking in "cool." A few bars of funky music kick off the story, which follows shylock–turned–movie producer Chili Palmer as he outmaneuvers mobsters, crooked music business execs and some menacing rappers to make a CD—and possibly another movie. Narrator Scott, who starred in the film Dying Young
, attempts a low-key, laid-back performance, but the result sounds sedate rather than coolly casual. He gives Chili an inflectionless tone that's hardly reminiscent of the character's Italian roots, and all of his female voices sound virtually the same. Though Scott lends a few secondary characters more definition—a spot-on Brooklyn accent for Chili's friend, Tommy, and a self-consciously tough tone for a murderous music manager—this production largely succeeds in rendering Leonard's lively text listless. Based on the Delacorte hardcover (Forecasts, Nov. 16, 1998).