Synopses & Reviews
The sequel to Chili Palmer's hit movie
Get Leo tanked and now Chili's itching for a comeback. So when a power lunch with record-label executive and former associate Tommy Athens ends in a mob hit, he soon finds himself in an unlikely alliance with organized-crime detective Darryl Holmes and the likely next target of Russian gangsters. But where others see danger, Chili Palmer sees story possibilities.
Enter Linda Moon, a singer with aspirations that go further than her current gig in a Spice Girls cover band. Chili takes over as Linda's manager, entering the world of rock stars, pop divas, and hip-hop gangstas. As he wings his way to success in the music business with his trademark cool, Chili manipulates his adversaries and advances his friends, all the while basing the plot of his new film on the action that results. Be Cool is rife with drama, jealousy, and betrayal, and all Chili needs to do is survive to make a new box-office hit.
Review
"Aside from the wit, the fun and the colorful figures that populate Elmore Leonard's novels, the real magic of his work is in the language....This is Elmore Leonard at his best, the sweeping synaptic prose effortlessly echoing the argot of the gutter." Kinky Friedman, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Fans of Get Shorty will cheer Chili Palmer's return in a book as bankable as, and no less filmable than, its predecessor....[Be Cool includes] lots of politically incorrect speech that won't get into the movie or the fast-cut action, so you'd better get it in the book." Los Angeles Times Book Review
Review
"[I]nstead of trying to 'grow artistically'...[Leonard] went ahead and wrote the same perfect book all over again. And made it even better the second time around....It's all very deftly done, and remarkably just as fresh as it was [in Get Shorty]." Gary Krist, Salon.com
Review
"[R]azor-sharp....Leonard's plotting is as propulsive as ever and his desert-dry wit continues to flare at high heat. Nearly every sentence of this novel reads as if it's dipped in gold. This is a knockout work from a master crime writer: be cool, and relish it." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Mr. Leonard is famous for writing brilliantly about Detroit and Miami, but Hollywood...brings out his comic best. This eminently satisfying sequel to Get Shorty may well become a film, but don't wait for the movie. Be cool now." Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal
Review
"This is a funnier novel than Get Shorty...with a liberal supply of Leonard's always engaging characters and music-to-the-ears dialogue....Be Cool will immediately pole-vault toward the top of most best-seller lists. This one deserves its success." Booklist
Review
"Leonard tosses off a dozen new spins on Get Shorty's gorgeous premise...to produce a good-natured thriller as relaxing as it is exhilarating." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Droll and deftly written....Elmore Leonard does for the music business what he did for the movies in Get Shorty." Newsweek
Synopsis
The New York Times bestselling author Elmore Leonard is back, and he's brought Get Shorty's Chili Palmer along for the ride. Be Cool is an unforgettable, hilarious, and dead-on insider's look at Hollywood as only Leonard could write it.
Synopsis
Get Shortys Chili Palmer is back in
Be Cool, a classic novel of suspense from
New York Times bestselling author Elmore Leonard. But this time its no more Mr. Nice Guy.
After a smash hit and a flop, B-movie-producer Chili Palmer is looking for another score. Lunching with a record company executive, Chili's exploring a hot new idea—until the exec, a former "associate" from Chili's Brooklyn days, gets whacked.
Segue from real life to reel life. Chili's found his plot. It's a slam-bang opener: the rubout of a record company mogul. Cut to an ambitious wannabe singer named Linda Moon. She has attitude and a band. She's perfect. Zoom in to reality. Linda's manager thinks Chili's poaching and he's out to get even, with the help of his switch-hitting Samoan bodyguard.
But somebody else beat them to the punch, as Chili discovers when he gets home and finds a corpse at his desk. Somebody made a mistake...
About the Author
Elmore Leonard has written more than three dozen books during his highly successful writing career, including the national bestsellers Mr. Paradise, Pagan Babies, and Get Shorty. Many of his novels have been made into movies, including Get Shorty, Out of Sight, The Big Bounce, and Rum Punch (as Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown). He has been named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America and lives in Bloomfield Village, Michigan, with his wife.