Book Review -- Maximum Bob (by Elmore Leonard) archived

Maximum Bob (by Elmore Leonard, Delacorte, 1991)


I'd forgotten how good Elmore Leonard was. And how funny. Maximum Bob is a delight. I won't even try to summarize the plot, it's way too convoluted. But as with other Leonard books that I've read, the trick is to read them fast. Then all the twists and turns cohere -- you can hold it in your head and it all makes sense. This one takes place in Palm Beach County, South Florida, an area I actually know because my parents had lived there for 25 years. Boynton, Delray, W. Palm Beach. It was exhilarating to read about crack whores and degenerate rednecks bent on mayhem cruising down South Ocean Blvd or Hypoluxo or Military Trail, roads I used to drive with my late dad to pick up a roast chicken or catch a movie. There are lots of precisely rendered South Florida low lifes in this book, white trash with prison records, gun tot'n folks who don't know how to behave around women. They all talk "southern" and drink too much. There's a lecherous, corrupt circuit court judge named Maximum Bob Gibbs, or just "Big" to his wife. There's his wife, Leanne, a former mermaid at Weeki Wachee who channels a 13 year old black slave girl. There's Dr. Tommy, a crack fiend dermatologist who's under house arrest in an oceanside mansion. There's Kathy Diaz Baker, a probation officer for the Dept. of Corrections who's a touchstone for healthy, sexy sanity. And there's Elvin Crawford, a colorful ex-con who's out on parole for murder.


Elvin bears some resemblance to Judge Holden in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridien (updated, but not improved, by Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men). I wouldn't say he's in the same league as a literary figure, but like Judge Holden he's remorseless, loveless, a sadistic killer. Both are large men. And like Holden, Elvin's cool, has some style about him, with his straw "Ox Bow" cowboy hat and his $350 boots. Both are uniquely American sociopaths.


The violence in Maximum Bob gathers like dark clouds throughout the book but doesn't occur until near the end, and then it rains dead bodies. There's an inevitability about the violence. As readers, we know it's coming, the mix of old scores and stunted personalities fueled by dope and circumstance demand it. And we know that Elvin will be the agent. But, still, we're shocked by the suddenness of the carnage and by the innocents who fall in its path.


Leonard shows again how he's able to write in several registers. Maximum Bob is a straight up crime story. But it's also a totally plausible love story between Kathy Baker and a young detective named Gary Hammond. Leonard persuasively shows us how their romance is bound up with the shop talk and professional details of their trade.


Maximum Bob might work as a movie, though the story line is kind of dense and there are too many minor characters. Leonard generally translates well to the screen. I loved Get Shorty and Jackie Brown (loosely based on Rum Punch). Jennifer Lopez could play Karen Baker, recycling her role as U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco in Out of Sight. Incredibly, a TV show based on it ran for 7 weeks on ABC in 1998. It starred Beau Bridges as Maximum Bob Gibbs. If anyone knows where I can find video clips, whisper me.


I loved it. But I always love Dutch. He really is the best. There is sometimes a bit much "romanticization" of lowlife scum but it's a small price to pay for such high and low and everything in between entertainment.

They're ALL good but I really liked Tishomingo Blues about a stunt diver coming up against psycho redneck and gangster civil war reeenactors--deranged...!

Try Carl Hiassen for a reasonable pretender to the throne.

Read well, all.

David

Another thoroughly enjoyable writer of the "Florida Crime" genre is Tim Dorsey. I lived in Florida for 20 years and can assure you that although these books are in the "fiction" section of the shelves, you'd be surprised at how much of them is inspired by police reports.

Leonard bought a second home in North Palm Beach back in the 90's. He spends a lot of time down there, visiting courtrooms, talking to judges, probation officers, cops and detectives. Guy definitely does his homework.

I'll check out Hiassen and Dorsey -- thanks.


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