Gold Coast: A Novel

Classic Elmore Leonard, a story of low-lifes seeking to live the high life along Florida's Gold Coast. I'd give it 4.5 stars, but that's not an option.

Leonard paints a steamy, seedy Miami with it's gangster past and it's cocaine 1980's cowboys while still creating a timeless noir feel. One of my favorite writers I have been revisiting his books lately and enjoying hem all over again. This book has all the Leonard characters, the grizzled old bookie, the aimless drifter-part time criminal, and the damsel in distress who's no damsel and is too hard a block of ice to ever be in real distress. A fast paced read with a bitter ending that brings every one down a peg or ten. A great read from a writer who elevated the 'pulp' paperback genre with his tight dialogue and quirky characters.

I gave this three stars because there's no way to give a split rating. As usual, Leonard comes up with an imaginative situation, believable characters, and I don't know of anyone who's ever surpassed him for dialogue. He does things with dialogue that Hemingway could only dream of. But in this novel, all the characters are so sleazy that about halfway through, I realized that I didn't like any of them enough to care what happened to them. Leonard once said that Gold Coast is one of the novels he wished he had written differently, and I agree. However, Leonard's dialogue is always worth reading no matter what. I stayed on till the end, and will probably re-read it more than once, but the unsympathetic characters lower the rating to three stars.

not one of his best imo but a fine ride for about half way through until he lost his way ,or interest in the project.The seaworld patter is funny and charming and way up to leonards high standards of dialogue;but some of his characterizations are way off and the ending is not in any way one dutch could have been happy with or probably get himself out of.it is not a bad book by any means and to say it is not one his best is to beg the question;as compares to what? It is from the master after all.

Elmore Leonard was a writing machine. His style and structure may have seemed to become formulaic but his eye for character was always 20/20 and his turn of phrase spot on (and always his own). Yeah, I'm a fan and you should be, too.

Great story. Characters were classic Leonard with great dialogue. Nice plot twists leading to surprising ending

More like 3.5 stars. Not one of Leonard's best. The plot is fine, but the characters aren't as fully fleshed out as his usually are. Biggest problem for me was that the book just kind of stops rather than concluding, almost like there should have been another chapter or epilogue.

Love Elmore Leonard, but by mid-book he begins to repeat himself. This gets boring real quick.

The author seems to be able to churn these out completely without breaking a sweat - easy to read books covering the semi-legal millieus of the 60s and 70s, which manage to work without being pretentious or corny.The current one deals with a newly widowed woman in Florida, who also happened to be a mafia wife. In spite of her husbands demise, he seems to still be pulling strings controlling her life from the grave, something she is less than enthusiastic about.On top of that, her fame, money and the less than offensive looks guarantee a good number of lowlifes suddenly eager to ascend on the gravy train she could potentially provide.The book does not lack the signature Detroit chapters ( Swag  being a more typical example of his work set entirely in Detroit) but does a good job of basing the majority of the action in a fairly believable Florida of 1980.Like in his other works I found the characters very well drawn - not excessively analysed but with enough detail to add some depth and credibility to them.It is a great book to read in one sitting, either on holiday or on a day off, but will also provide easy relaxation during a commute or on a plane.If you want a world of crime from the 60s and 70s US pageturner, it is hard to go wrong with the author, or the book. Swag

What more can I say, Elmore Leonard the king of crime. It's fast paced, good dialogue which really helps bring the characters alive and make them believable. The story, a woman married to a gangster in Florida until his sudden death, and an arrangement between the dead gangster (Frank) and his no.2 man (Ed) that his widow (Karen) will stay faithful to him until her death, this allows her to inherit 4 million dollars, however Karen is non to happy as you can understand and along with new love interest Maguire plans to flee with the 4 million and be freed of the clause. A great book thoroughly enjoyed read in 2 days

a good low key crime thiller by el; not his best, but quite easy to read-some interesting characters. the heroine, Karen ,comes across as a bit of a dumb blonde,though - shallow and clueless- until the end , when she trumps the baddie .my favourite character was Cal .

Really good read in Elmores simple style

It's a book