Reviews for Pagan babies [sound recording]
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Not long ago we described the characters in Leonard's novels as gutsy individualists who think quick and act quicker. They're still plenty quick in the master's latest blending of tragedy and comedy. It begins on a decidedly tragic note, as Father Terry Dunn exacts a profoundly unpriestly form of justice against several Hutu murderers who slaughtered 47 Tutsis in Dunn's Rwanda church. After a hasty departure from Africa, Dunn surfaces in his hometown of Detroit, where he forms an unholy alliance with Debbie Dewey, just released from prison for aggravated assault and embarking on a career as a stand-up comic. Is Father Dunn really a priest? Will the money he and Debbie raise for Rwandan orphans ever reach Africa? There are strains of many previous Leonard novels here, especially Rum Punch (1992), in which a quirky bond forms between two unlikely partners who banter like an edgier version of Tracy and Hepburn. This time Leonard sharpens the edge: Dunn and Debbie might be in love, but they might also be conning one another. Or is the con bigger than both of them? The comic element in Leonard's thrillers has often been celebrated, but he's no slouch at romance, either. In fact, no genre is safe within his reach; Leonard transposes the conventions of popular fiction as adroitly as he rattles off his signature dialogue-to-die-for. Just imagine an unknown writer trying to pitch this novel to an agent: "It's a sort-of Tracy-Hepburn romantic comedy without the conventional happy ending, and it's set against the genocide in Rwanda." Fortunately, Leonard can think as quickly as his characters. --Bill Ott
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
The opening paragraph depicts a corner of hell on earth: a church in Rwanda after the recent (real-life) genocide, "a tomb where forty-seven bodies turned to leather.... " That's a grim start for a Leonard book, and the rest of this 36th novel from the old master doesn't shy from its dark promise. The world depicted here is a treacherous place, infested with diseased souls. While some of the spiritually afflicted are villains, however, some are merely scoundrels. It's to the latter that Leonard lends hopeDmost notably to two appealing felons: "Father" Terry Dunn, who ministers to the Rwanda church's surviving flock although he is on the lam and only posing as a priest, and Debbie Dewey, just released after serving three years for driving over her (now ex) husband with a Ford Escort. When Terry guns down four men responsible for the massacre in the church and flees to hometown Detroit, he meets Debbie and the two fall in lust pronto. It takes only minutes for Terry to inform Debbie, who's trying to make it as a stand-up comic telling prison jokes, that he's a sham priest, and only days for him to clue her in on his new scheme: to bilk the soft-hearted for dollars supposedly for Rwandan orphans but really for Terry's pockets. Great idea, Debbie thinks, and why not get the money from her now rich and mob-connected ex, and maybe even from mob boss Tony Amilia himself? The narrative ricochets through the ensuing caper and its gallery of players as lifelike as they are unlikely. As readers watch an erstwhile hoodlum pal of Terry's, one Johnny Pajonny, link up with a dim-witted hitman known as "Mutt," they'll know that they're standing at ground-zero Leonard, surrounded by some of the sweetest prose between covers this year and caught up in a crime thriller that takes admirable chancesDaesthetically and morally. Film rights sold to Universal and Danny DeVito's production company, Jersey Films. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
One of the great pleasures of Leonard's novels is his knack for putting morally ambivalent but sympathetic characters in unexpected situations. Who could be more morally ambivalent than a Detroit cigarette smuggler who goes on the lam by spending five years as a missionary priest among the victims of Rwanda's horrific genocide? And what could be more unexpected than a priest using orphan relief as a pretext for shaking down a gangster? Pagan Babies resembles the author's controversial book Touch, about a former missionary who experiences the stigmata, but religion is less central to this new story. As with most of Leonard's works, its plot revolves around a delightful collection of characters, no two of whom can fully trust each other, thereby guaranteeing many surprises. Ron McLarty is an ideal reader for this sort of book; his voice conveys both irony and toughness, while displaying the same sense of exasperation at moral ambiguity that the listener must feel. Highly recommended for popular fiction collections. Kent Rasmussen, Thousand Oaks, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Unlikely cons are a Leonard specialty, but his first 35 novels never offered a more unlikely pair than this year's jilted girlfriend and the African missionary she hooks up with. For Father Terry Dunn, who took off from Detroit one step ahead of an arrest warrant for smuggling cigarettes from Kentucky, life in Rwanda is pretty simple. In between his occasional Masses, he lies around in a T-shirt sipping Johnny Walker Red, listening to reggae, and hearing weekly confessions. When a local Hutu admits to genocide but refuses to give himself up to the police, Father Terry gives him the world's stiffest penance before returning to Detroit even more rapidly than he'd left. In the absence of his brother Francis, a personal-injury lawyer, he has ample opportunity to get friendly and more than friendly with Debbie Dewey, a former investigator of Fran's who's just spent three years in a Florida jail for running over her fraudulent ex, Randy Agley, with a Ford Escort (though she calls it a Buick Riviera because that sounds better in her standup routine). Randy, who held up his next lady for even bigger bucks than he fleeced from Debbie, is now a prosperous restaurateur, and Debbie thinks Father Terry, who's actually a father in name only, is the perfect person to slip and fall in Randy's new place in front of lots of witnesses and offer to settle out of court in return for a hefty check for all those Rwandan babies, with maybe a slice for Debbie. Since Leonard is the Werner Heisenberg of the crime novel, things don't exactly work out that way, thanks to a Detroit mob kingpin, Terry's smuggling accomplice, Fran's unexpectedly sharp wife, and one of the dumbest hit men you'll ever meet. A riotous several hours with guys whose idea of a suitable endearment to their latest bedmate is a heartfelt "Honey, you could be a pro." Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Publishers Weekly
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Buscemi offers a standard, dry reading of Leonard's sly new tale, which is appropriate (though his attempt at producing African accents is unconvincing) for the opening scene: Rwanda after its rabid interethnic violence. Unordained priest "Father" Terry Dunn ministers to the local congregants (47 of whom were slashed to death) and shacks up with his housekeeper until he decides to take matters of justice into his own hands. Having arrived in Africa on the lam from a criminal charge in the U.S., Terry returns home to Detroit under similar circumstances. But Buscemi's tone never becomes as lithe as Leonard's tale does in Detroit; his best effort at atmosphere is the smart-alecky tone he gives to Terry's confederate Debbie Dewey, an aspiring stand-up comic just released from prison for having tried to run over the ex-boyfriend who scammed her out of thousands of dollars. Debbie intends to scam him back and joins up with Terry, who has his own shady operation. Debbie's ex fronts for the mob and is in cahoots with a witless hit man called Mutt, who in turn allies himself with an ex-smuggling partner of Terry's. Everyone tries to protect his or her own interest in the rapidly circulating money. One can't help feeling that the abridgement has cut out some vital material before Terry's final return to Rwanda. All in all, though, this is a hugely entertaining story by LeonardÄalbeit one conveyed only moderately well by Buscemi. Simultaneous release with the Dell hardcover (Forecasts, July 3). (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Coming on the heels of his second Chili Palmer novel (Be Cool), Leonard's latest effort seems to have some pretty straight-laced characters. However, a well-developed story and Leonard's trademark dry wit compensate for the lack of a force like Chili. Father Terry Dunn, an American priest working in Rwanda, is forced to return to the United States after exacting penance from a group of local Hutu murderers. Upon returning to Detroit, ostensibly to raise money for African orphans, he becomes involved with Debbie, a recently released ex-convict hoping to strike it rich as a stand-up comedian. A plan for both Terry and Debbie to attain the riches they desire soon gives way to a mix of deceit and false loyalties. Once again, Leonard proves his mastery at creating likable if very flawed characters, and nobody presents the running of the con game better than he does. His fans will enjoy his latest, making it essential for all public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/00.]DCraig L. Shufelt, Gladwin Cty. Lib., MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
