Leonard proves that cowboys can still be cool.
Elmore Leonard was, and still is in my opinion, unrivalled for two things: his expert mastery of dialogue, and his creation of incredibly real and flawed characters. His 1972 novel, Forty Lashes Less One, accomplishes both of these with apparent ease.
Sure, this is not a new book, but Leonard writes with a certain cinematic flair that I feel is utterly timeless. Not once whilst reading this short but riveting tale did this ever feel “dated”, despite it being in a genre that today could perhaps be considered tired. Harold Jackson (“black as night” former soldier) and Raymond San Carlos (Chiricahua Apache) strike up an unlikely friendship in a Yuma prison as the new and devout warden brings it upon himself to transform them both from murderers to civilised folk. Strangely, he believes the two to be natural runners and, rather than give them hard labour like the rest of the convicts, makes them chase an old Ford around the desert all day every day. One day, he promises, they’ll go twenty miles without a sip of water. A strange premise, yes, but I fell in love with it immediately. The content, which if tackled with a less experienced hand than Leonard’s could be blatantly racist and silly, is crafted beautifully, making the tale both believable and humorous.
Lashes does, however, suffer with a problem that I have with many of Leonard’s books (but I perhaps put this down to my own poor memory than the late great writer’s style) in that it takes a while for me to disentangle the characters. By this I mean that his characters enter the story at such a pace that I often found myself confused as to which character was which. This is a trivial point to make over what is, generally, a brilliant read.
Verdict.
Forty Lashes Less One is a classic western yarn filled with memorable characters, quippy dialogue and a bizarrely satisfying plot that’ll keep you hooked until the last page. Leonard writes in such a captivating and cinematic way that I often felt I was there, part of a group of rogues aiding in a prison escape, or an inmate watching as the local gangster, Frank Shelby, causes trouble again. I was living and breathing the story, unable to put the paperback down until I had followed our protagonists to the end of their story. Truly enthralling and utterly addictive reading.
8/10
I am constantly looking for ways to improve my own writing, so if I have missed something off this post (or indeed if there is something wrong with any of my posts) please let me know. Thanks for reading!
The Writer's Block 