Elmore Leonard's “THE SWITCH”
A book review by Dennis D McDonald
The story: a suburban Detroit couple, confirmed members of the Country Club set, have fallen out of love. The husband decides to divorce his trophy wife. A loose gang of ne'er-do-well misfits, unaware of the pending divorce, decide to kidnap and ransom the trophy wife .
The kidnap takes place but nothing goes according to plan. Along the way we get a series of weird sometimes violent vignettes, snappy dialogue, and some eventually revelatory insights into the mindset of the trophy wife as she finally realizes (in a not entirely convincing change of personality) what the hell is really going on.
While I enjoyed the book, the first half felt like an over-long set up till we finally get to the entertaining action and dialogue we usually associate with Elmore Leonard. Nevertheless, once the story is firing on all cylinders the ride is well worth the read.
Review text copyright 2021 by Dennis D McDonald