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)

Good story, Great narration

Elmore Leonard always writes interesting stories but it is the narration by Arliss Howard that makes this book. It is perfect!

it's hard to beat Leonard for colorful characters

I thought the story and performance dead on. Mr. Howard captures the Oklahoma accent and feel of the period. Well done.

Painfully dull narrator

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

no

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator read the book in a flat monotone that left me looking for any excuse to stop listening and do something else. And, once I stopped I looked for any excuse not to get back to it. That's not typical of the way I listen to a good book. His style reminded me of Kevin Costner's emotionless and boring style of delivery. I think the story likely is a good one but it's hurt by the way it was read. I think I'd like the book more if I read the actual printed book.

excellent! 1930s story from a master

terrific characters in flawless pacing make this one of the best 30s gangster stories I've ever read. The only thing I would say is the interlude music is totally wrong, brassy 1950s style Big band. clearly the editor of this didn't know anything about music or history

Great imagery and story telling.

The Hot Kid really captures the life and mood of the early part of the last century. I was born in 1938 and recall a lot of little things mentioned in this novel. It brought me back in time. Leonard is a great story teller.

Great Story, Midline Performance

Where does The Hot Kid rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The Hot Kid is one of the more entertaining books I've pulled recently.

Did Arliss Howard do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Arliss Howard does a fine reading but his character performances are pretty limited when compared to other performances. He lacks the depth in voicings lacking the diversity of character I would hope for.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The Hot Kid's got what everyone wants!

Any additional comments?

I got a kick out of Elmore Jame's "The Hot Kid" and loved the fact that it kept me guessing right to the end.

Nostalgia for The Crooks of the 1930s

The Hot Kid, by: Elmore Leonard, Narrated by: Arliss Howard. Elmore Leonard is never bad, and this one is interesting. A fictional story set during The Great Depression and follows the career of Carl (Carlos) Webster, a lawman, and his place in the police kingdom that brings him into the life and times of such noted criminals like Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger, and Baby Face Nelson, and a host of reporters and snitches, prostitutes and bartenders.

The story takes place in Oklahoma and gets it premise from the occurrence of our hero Carlos Webster finding his father’s cattle being rustled and he puts down the robber with no remorse. The federal marshal investigating the case is so impressed by Carlos's coolness -- he offers Carlos a job. By the time he's 21, Deputy U. S. Marshal Carl Webster is the hottest young lawman in the West, and from there we have an interesting and well-structured story reminiscing back into the days of machine gun robbers, and other guys and dolls. A good read for nostalgias' sake.

Popcorn for the Ears

The story had some leaps in the plot that you just had to go along with. Its the first Elmore Leonard story I've encountered that wasn't set in contemporary Florida or Detroit. His focus on the details of dust-bowl Oklahoma sound real, with references to historic characters mixed with those in the story.

The protagonist was one dimensional. The narrator did a good job with different voices for the characters. His voice for the dim-witted antagonist sounded to me like a George W impersonation.

I'd recommend for a long drive -- where you won't focus on some of the leaps in the plot.

A Great Listen

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I've read the other reviews and a couple seem to be complaining about the reader's voice being 'boring'. I found the reader's style anything but boring! The characters are well developed and the story is skillfully crafted. What appear to be small details become important as the book moves along. Besides being a good story, it's an excellent period piece as well. This is the first book I've read by this author, but it won't be the last!

Entertaining

Well written, good characterization and setting, well plotted story. The rather flat narration took awhile to get used to, but it matched the laconic nature of the story's protagonist, Carl Webster, the "Hot Kid" of the title.