Elmore Leonard's Western Roundup #3: Valdez Is Coming and Hombre

by Elmore Leonard

Book Overview

Valdez Is Coming: The shotgun went off aimed at the wrong man, held in the wrong man's hands. A crowd had gathered to drink and laugh and shoot down at the old shack where a supposed killer was hiding... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385333242
• ISBN13: 9780385333245
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: Delta
• Length: 289 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Hard-boiled westerns

I knew Leonard only by reputation and the movie "Get Shorty". I thought I'd pick him up someday. Meanwhile, I started to read westerns, and picked up a few L'Amours. Louis is good. But a friend told me that Leonard wrote westerns before mystery/thrillers. Try him, he said. I did, first with Valdez is Coming, then with Hombre. These two books are the best westerns I've read, and I'm reading the rest of Leonards. Stripped-down dialogue, steady action, and an atmosphere and voice that is totally captivating. The ending of Valdez is Coming is powerful and perfect, and I reread it several times. Hombre has great action and a strong moral message, but delivered sparely and without the sometimes windy sentimentality found in L'Amour. These two novels are very, very good indeed.