Valdez Is Coming
by Elmore Leonard
List Price:
Our Price: $2.48
You Save: $3.51 (59%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Elmore LeonardEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2002-02-01
ISBN: 0380822237
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: HarperTorch
Book Reviews of Valdez Is Coming
Book Review: Leonard Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been on a Leonard spree, just finished Ride the Rap and Out of Sight. I have been wanting to watch Lancaster in Valdez is Coming, but thought I would read the book, since I haven't yet. As usual, it was a page turner.
Even though this came out originally in 1970, it's still a bit ahead of it's time. The lead character -- Robert Valdez is a low key peace officer and former Apache hunter. Leonard is brave enough to have the Mexican warrior-hero getting over on the everyone who wants to just push him off and ignore him. But he doesn't ignore so easy.
Valdez just wants justice for a man's widow but can't seem to find anyone willing to do the right thing on their own. So Valdez has to "convince" them in his own way.
The real value in this story is that Valdez' mores and individuality begin to rub off on the other characters. He earns the respect of the beautiful woman and his enemies who, in the end, find themselves siding more with Valdez than their boss, learn that there is more to respect in a man than his money -- and that there are some things worth fighting for.
In the end, even Valdez has trouble remembering what it was all about. He started off doing something selfless and that turned into finding some things about himself and possibly even a future he never envisioned. But all this did not deter him from enforcing his own code. And finally, it is the code that wins out, even in the face of money and guns.
The ending is more about honor than vengance and is a bit of a surprise. It is a different message than you might find in most pulp westerns. But you have to read the book, I'm not going to spill 'em for you.
Total pleasure. I hate Leonard's books because nothing gets done until you finish it.
Summary of Valdez Is Coming
They laughed at Roberto Valdez and then ignored him. But when a dark-skinned man was holed up in a shack with a gun, they sent the part-time town constable to deal with the problem -- and made sure he had no choice but to gun the fugitive down. Trouble was, Valdez killed an innocent man. And when he asked for justice -- and some money for the dead man's woman -- they beat Valdez and tied him to a cross. They were still laughing when Valdez came back. And then they began to die...
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Joe's library (fiction)
Eye of the Needleby Ken Follett
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2005-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.15
Price in other shops:
Watership Down: A Novelby Richard Adams
Scribner; Published: 2005-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.75
Price in other shops:
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (Bilingual Edition)W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2001-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.84
Price in other shops:
The 13th Warrior (Previously Published as Eaters of the Dead )by Michael Crichton
Ballantine Books; Published: 1988-09-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.47
Price in other shops:
The Old Man and The Seaby Ernest Hemingway
Scribner; Published: 1995-05-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
By the Lakeby John McGahern
Vintage; Published: 2003-04-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.80
Price in other shops:
Everything Is Illuminated: A Novelby Jonathan Safran Foer
Harper Perennial; Published: 2003-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
The Great Gatsbyby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Scribner; Published: 1999-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.85
Price in other shops:
The Spy Who Came In from the Coldby John le Carre
Scribner; Published: 2001-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.79
Price in other shops:
A Burnt-Out Case (Twentieth Century Classics)by Graham Greene
Penguin Classics; Published: 1992-04-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.02
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Unknown Man #89by Elmore Leonard
HarperTorch; Published: 2002-06-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops:
Split Imagesby Elmore Leonard
HarperTorch; Published: 2002-10-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.58
Price in other shops:
The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard CDby Elmore Leonard
HarperAudio; Published: 2004-12-01; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $11.94
Price in other shops:
Gunsightsby Elmore Leonard
HarperTorch; Published: 2002-09-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.56
Price in other shops:
Escape from Five Shadowsby Elmore Leonard
HarperTorch; Published: 2002-04; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.80
Price in other shops:
The Bounty Huntersby Elmore Leonard
HarperTorch; Published: 2002-04-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.99
Price in other shops:
Last Stand at Saber Riverby Elmore Leonard
HarperTorch; Published: 2002-12-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.51
Price in other shops:
The Law at Randadoby Elmore Leonard
HarperTorch; Published: 2002-07-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.94
Price in other shops:
Forty Lashes Less Oneby Elmore Leonard
HarperTorch; Published: 2002-11-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.98
Price in other shops:
Hombreby Elmore Leonard
HarperTorch; Published: 2002-03-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.10
Price in other shops: