A review by jakewritesbooks
LaBrava by Elmore Leonard

4.0

Elmore Leonard is not afraid to have powerful female characters (Karen Sisco and Jackie Burke immediately come to mind). While not having read all of Leonard's work, I believe that Burke from "Rum Punch" is the only female who is the main character in his work. I bring this up because while I enjoyed "LaBrava," I think what would have made this good novel great is if the spectacular Jean Shaw was the lead and not LaBrava. For some reason, I really wasn't too taken with LaBrava and his chivalry-for-the-sake-of character. He's at his best in the book when he's lusting for Shaw, his boyhood crush. When he's taking pictures, playing the faux-cop and reminiscing about guarding Harry Truman's wife, he doesn't really stretch much further than stock. Which would be fine if the book wasn't named after him. In my opinion, had Leonard focused more on Shaw and pushed LaBrava in the background, this might have been a more compelling read. It was still good, but that one tweak could have made it great.