Raylan audiobook

I read this 5 years ago in paper, but found it in audio at the library. Oh yeah! Raylan's the man. A lot of scenes were used in "Justified", although there are some differences in the story line. Leonard's terse prose perfectly captures the characters & situations. There are certainly some situations. Raylan manages to get in half a dozen & handles them with a country-wise aplomb. He knows when to push, when to back off, & how to make the law work for people according to his own code. Love it!

Elmore Leonard In HarlanElmore Leonard's (1925 -- 1913) long career as a writer of westerns and crime fiction ended with his 2012 novel, "Raylan". Part of a series, the novel is set in the coal country of Harlan, Kentucky, and features as its main character U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens. Raylan is a throwback to old western sheriffs; he wears a broad-brimmed Stetson, is a man of few words, and is not at all hesitant about dispensing justice through the barrel of a gun. The book has a contemporary setting and consists of three interrelated tales, in each of which Raylan is pitted against and comes close to romantic involvement with a woman. The first tale involves a criminal gang in the gruesome business of selling body parts, particularly kidneys, by removing them from their victims. Raylan's chief antagonist is a nurse Layla, who is worked in the operating room with surgeons for years and who knows how to remove kidneys from the body.The second story, which makes the most of the sense of place in Harlan, involves the exploitation of the community by a coal company engaged in strip mining. Raylan becomes involved with a vice-president of the company, a femme fatale with a law degree, Carol Conlan. The story centers on the murder of a coal miner after his life and property have been ruined by the company.The third story explores Raylan's relationship with a 23 year old college student, Jackie Nevada, who is a prodigy at poker but who has got herself mixed up with robbery and contempt of court. Her ample skills at poker are fully on display in this story as is the relationship which develops with Raylan.Although some of the crimes and people in this book are evil in the extreme, the overall tone is one of lightness. The book moves along with Leonard's masterful dialogue and quick repartee among the characters. In the midst of violence, Leonard offers laugh-aloud humor. It is an accomplishment to combine humor with all pervasive violence. Raylan and his cohorts who shoot often and who shoot to kill emerge as sympathetic figures for all their violence. I was interested in the Harlan setting of this book because I visited Harlan and the coal country of eastern Kentucky years ago. The part of the book dealing with the coal company and the executive are place-specific to Harlan, the remainder of the book less so.The writing style of this book lifts it beyond the level of a mere thriller. The book is a highly enjoyable diversion from more pretentious works. "Raylan" is part of a series of Leonard books about his character and also formed the basis of a long-running television series called "Justified" which I haven't seen. Thus, I read the book on its own without relating it to the television show. I noticed allusions in the book to earlier Leonard novels, particularly his western "Valdez is Coming"."Raylan", a novel of Leonard's old age, is a fitting capstone to his literary career.Robin Friedman

Raylan Givens, US Marshal, looks up a weed dealer in a hotel room only to find him sat in a tub with ice and his kidneys missing. From there a twisting trail of murder, blackmail, land dispute, and cards unfolds taking in everyone from an elderly drug baron operating out of a food stamps store to a disgruntled nurse who decides to strike out on her own, to a band of bank robbing gals, and a poker playing girl called Jackie Nevada with her ace in the hole. Elmore Leonard's back and he's packing heat.I loved this book. I thought he was going to spin out the organ trafficking storyline for the full 260 pages but he finished it at page 100, without introducing any new characters, making me wonder where he was going to take the story next. From there he goes into a murder story concerning a coal mining exec and an old man who happened to live nearby whose house was flattened by the coal company. Then from there Leonard introduces a new story of a trio of bank robbing girls and then another story of a poker playing 23 year old student on the lam.Elmore Leonard does some amazing storytelling weaving these fascinating individuals into a single storyline. It's masterful and incredible to see these disparate elements prove to be part of a larger whole. More amazing still is the way he creates characters. Each one had its own voice and seemed completely real. Leonard writes femme fatales like no other, making them sexy and deadly and smart and witty too, from the organ harvesting nurse to the ice queen coal mining exec to the smart and resourceful poker player to the drugged out bank robbing gals.The dialogue is the star, something Leonard is famous for and what everybody says about his books, but it's so true. Honestly, I was blown away by some of the scenes, particularly when the poker girl and the horse breeder rich guy have that exchange about playing cards - the dialogue is fast, musical, hits the ear perfectly, and is unlike dialogue in any other novel. Are you a first time reader of Elmore Leonard? Pick up this book and see why people praise his characters' speech like no other.Putting aside the technical majestic on display throughout the book, Leonard knows why people read and particularly why people read his books - to have fun. To relax, unwind, and be entertained. And for no other reason than entertainment, this book excels. Murders, kidnappings, shootouts, high stakes poker games, this book has it all and no-one reading this novel will come away feeling short-changed of entertainment value. Even the characters seem to be having a good time, Raylan moving from crime scene to shootout to bars and finally to bed with a good looking girl, I got the feeling his eyes were wide, his heart was beating, and a smile lay beneath his face the entire time.This is my favourite novel of 2012 so far. It's got everything from fine storytelling, superb writing, one of a kind dialogue from the man who sets the gold standard for dialogue, an array of excellent characters and some utterly brilliant setups, this is a novel that readers will rocket through with a big grin on their faces. You're looking for a good read? Stop reading this and pick up "Raylan" - he'll sort you out.

realistic dialogue?Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Raylan: A Novel (Raylan Givens Book 3) (Kindle Edition)Mr. Leonard's books are gritty and seem realistic based on my life and law enforcement experience. However, I have often wondered if the vernacular used by Leonard is truly realistic. A review by OH Packerfan addresses this issue and points out how much alike all the characters talk despite their different backgrounds. No matter how much I enjoy Leonard's writing, I have to agree with OH Packerfan.

This novel is three loosely connected vignettes, all tasked to U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens over the course of several days. First he is assigned to investigate a kidney theft, then to bodyguard a mining company's public relations woman, and finally to hunt down a female poker-playing college student suspected to be part of a gang of female bank robbers.There is a lot of interweaving between the characters in the differing vignettes. While most is seamless, as a tight-knit community of hillfolk would suggest, some seems forced for plot advancements. I found it better not to analyze too much and to just enjoy the ride -- as well as the masterful dialogue, which really makes the book.Many of the characters, including Art, Dickie, Coover, Boyd, Ava, Winona, Dewey, and Carol, are recognizable from the television show Justified, which is based on Elmore Leonard's short story Fire in the Hole. This will please fans of the show, but know these characters' fates are not necessarily the same as in the show, and I found the most interesting characters in Raylan to be the fresh, new characters anyway. Raylan feels like Justified, and it is intentional -- not only is Justified star Timothy Olyphant on the cover of the novel, but Leonard sent the show's producers an advanced copy for them to "hang it up and strip it for parts" for the show.

This was like 3 separate short stories but all loosely tied together, and of course, all of them featuring my man, Raylan. Other than Raylan, the real bad-asses in this story were the women. Involved in everything from blackmarket organ transplanting to gun-thug coal mine bossing to bank robbing to fugitive poker playing. All tied up nicely with Elmores famous gift for dialogue. A take no names Marshal and some hot, gun totin' ladies (hell, even the maid is someone I wouldn't want to cross). What else could you ask for?

An interesting hybrid of the literary version of Raylan Givens and the television version from FX's Justified.Elmore Leonard borrows elements from the second season of the hit series and weaves them here. Raylan is the first time that Givens has taken center stage in a Leonard novel and hopefully won't be the last. The novel has three distinct sections though each of them do have a bit of connective tissue beyond Raylan's involvement. In the first third, Raylan investigates a human organ trafficking ring, in the second Raylan is assigned to protect a female executive with the mining company and in the third, Raylan looks into a college poker player who may have taken to robbing banks in order to pay-off a huge loss. As a companion to Justified, this one takes place in an odd parallel universe that is similar in many ways but uniquely different in others. Leonard expertly weaves all the stories together and quickly shifts from witty dialogue and clever writing to suspenseful sections that will have you on the edge of your seat ready to turn the next page. If you're a fan of either version US Marshall Raylan Givens, this is a must read. If you haven't met him yet, this is a good entry point. And then you have to go out and rent the first two seasons of Justified on DVD. Trust me, it's worth every second.

It was a fun read. "Justified" is a favorite series of ours & this book has 3 episodes from the show, although they were apparently much changed for TV. Enough of the basics were there, but often characters & outcomes were completely different. It made for great reading since Raylan is still Raylan & that's what makes this.Since I live in Kentucky, the show is local. That makes it even better. They really do capture many of the people in the area well.

Like many people I came to know Raylan Givens on the TV show Justified. During the first season I ran down Pronto , Riding the Rap , and even When the Women Come Out to Dance . The Raylan I met there wasn't precisely the Raylan I got to know in Justified (though I did see familiar plottin

Loved 'Justified', and this was a great Raylan Givens fix. Definitely a book hunk. Must read more of these. Spent a few years in Kentucky, and this hit the people well. Coal miners losing their jobs, and the way the companies treat them is realistic.Elmore Leonard was a wonderful writer! Even Stephen King said he was, "the great American writer." This book was apparently not actually in line with the other two books, but the television show. 'Raylan' was Leonard's last book.

The book is written around the tV series and so isn’t quite the same as the original Raylan stories but still very enjoyable. Mr Leonard’s definitive style shines out.