More or Less Leonard
Djibouti, Elmore Leonard’s latest, is a good book but nothing particularly arresting or sharp or edgy, words usually associated with Leonard’s crime thrillers. The really odd thing about this crime thriller is that while it is interesting, it is not thrilling. Leonard tells a good story — Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Dara Barr sets off to tell the tales behind Somalian piracy, assisted by her seventy-year old but still virile assistant Xavier LeBo, and meeting up with various Middle Eastern characters, eccentric or greedy or crazy or all three, a few Americans of various ambitions, and finally clashing with a prison-born jihadist using piracy as a cover for mayhem, destruction, and terror — but unfortunately, the most action-packed pieces of his novel are largely told through flashbacks as Dara and Xavier remember what happened while reviewing portions of their shot documentary. Even the scenes were action is occurring right here, right now, are not exciting or scary, or even particularly surprising (although there is an execution early on that I did not see coming). This was a book I could put down (and I did) and Leonard is usually a writer who when taken up, cannot be shelved until the very last page has been turned.
The omniscient narrator of Djibouti waxes and wanes between absolute omniscience (knowing what is going on inside and out of the characters) and partial recall (does she/he or doesn’t she/he want to sleep with/marry/shoot x/y/or z man/woman?) Dara is the most intriguing character of the novel but maybe that is only because she is the one we get the least insight into. Does she care about her subjects or is filming a way for her to distance herself from life itself? Xavier LeBo; the various rich Middle Easterners; Billy Wynn, billionaire from Texas (and CIA?), and his wannabe-wife underwear model:, and Jama Raisuli, terrorist with no suicidal tendencies, are rich with potential but never achieve more than skin deep penetration of who they really are. They all act with precision and decision but why do they act the way they do? Maybe the message is that we are none of us what we seem to be, and our secret selves only surface through our actions. The “why” doesn’t matter, only the “what” , whether the “what” is seduction, murder, or revenge.
There is plenty of activity in Djibouti, tons of good and exotic atmosphere, and plenty of flashy characters. Add in the satisfying conclusion and you’ve got a good read. But from Elmore Leonard I’ve come to expect more — a GREAT read — and nothing less.
