The Hot Kid

By: Elmore Leonard

Narrated by: Arliss Howard

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Carl Webster, the hot kid of the marshals service, is polite, respects his elders, and can shoot a man driving away in an Essex at 400 yards. Carl works out of the Tulsa, Oklahoma, federal courthouse during the 1930s, the period of America's most notorious bank robbers: Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson...those guys.

Carl wants to be America's most famous lawman. He shot his first felon when he was 15-years-old. With a Winchester.

Louly Brown loves Carl but wants the world to think she is Pretty Boy Floyd's girlfriend.

Tony Antonelli of True Detective magazine wants to write like Richard Harding Davis and wishes cute little Elodie wasn't a whore. She and Heidi and the girls work at Teddy's in Kansas City, where anything goes and the girls wear, what else, teddies.

Jack Belmont wants to rob banks, become public enemy number one, and show his dad, an oil millionaire, he can make it on his own.

With tommy guns, hot cars, speakeasies, cops and robbers, and a former lawman who believes in vigilante justice, all played out against the flapper period of gun molls and Prohibition, The Hot Kid is Elmore Leonard, a true master, at his best.

©2005 Elmore Leonard (P)2005 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Critic reviews

• 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Mystery

"The writing is pitch-perfect throughout....It's all pure Leonard, and that means it's pure terrific." (Publishers Weekly)
"As always, Leonard's prose seems effortless, his dialogue is perfect, and his humor is as dry as a moonshine martini....A terrific pleasure." (Booklist)

A Tale of 1930's Gangsters

A beautifully woven story with characters that mesh together. Howard's southern drawl adds to the feel of 1930's Oklahoma dust, crime,and poverty (while contrasting with the big bucks oil tycoons).

All for fame

this is a really fun book. the good guy, carl webster, is a u.s. marshall who wants to stop lawbreakers, but he mostly just wants to be famous. he keeps a crime reporter nearby, so the world won't miss a minute of his heroics and cocky quips.

jack webster is the son of an oil tycoon, who robs banks because he enjoys it, even though his dad would willingly support him. he loves being notorious, and once he starts killing people, he gets a real thrill from it.

what's interesting is that carl's motivations aren't much different than the bank robbers he's chasing. he seems to worship them in a way, always trying to outdo them and even dating their girlfriends. carl isn't even interested in any woman who isn't a "gun moll." jack tells carl he's going to kill him the next time he sees him, so carl helps jack stay out of prison to finally prove he's the better man.

Before Raylan, There Was Carl

Any lovers of the show Justified should definitely give this book a go. As far as great story telling goes, Elmore Leonard is fantastic. His characters develop at just the right pace with enough embellishment and backstory to make you feel like you've known them their entire lives.

The best part of this book was watching the lives mix into each other with their own unique stories and how they make their own together. A fantastic novel.

The Best

I think Elmore Leonard is a master of characterization and voice. He has an amazing ear, especially for male characters, and shows restraint in plot development. He never drags his characters through obligatory misery, cliff hanging or crisis resurrection miracles. I love this author.

A great book, an even better listen

This is one of my favorite Elmore Leonard books. The characters are so well developed they feel real by the end of the book. The story flowed well and really held my interest.

My highest praise goes to the narrator. As a native Oklahoman, I tire of fake southern accents which are more ridicule than reality. Arliss Howard gets the accent spot-on. The only way to fully experience this book is by listening to it as read by Arliss Howard.

Very good

I like Elmore Leonard's books a lot. This one is very good, but not one of his best.

Maybe my favorite Elmore Leonard so far

This book has great characters, all a bit or a lot bent, and that gives a lot of opportunities for great dialogue. Also many side stories, and references to nonfictional outlaws and lawmen of the time. If anything the book is over-stuffed, but it’s like getting unexpected bonuses; I’m not complaining. I feel like I know what oil booms and prohibition
Tulsa were really like. Amazing how he captures these places and times.
The narrator was so good. I wish he could do all of Leonard’s Westerns, moonshiners, even Florida stories - maybe just not Detroit.

The Pecan Peacemaker!

Never figured a man from Michigan could do such a perfect rendition of an Okie accent.

Great story by Elmore. It is hard to put down.

Arliss Howard tells it in a way that makes you feel like you are there. Elmore Leonard is a master writer that somehow has great insight into how country people really lived and felt in the 1930's. It is an excellent listen.

Hard to follow

I was really disappointed in this book. I just finished listening to Pagan Babies and was ready for something similar. My main problem was following the story. So much of it is dialog driven, and the reader did not differentiate his voice between the characters - they all sounded the same, and it was impossible to tell who was saying what.