The Big Bounce

By: Elmore Leonard

Narrated by: Campbell Scott

Jack Ryan always wanted to play pro ball. But he couldn't hit a curveball, so he turned his attention to less legal pursuits. A tough guy who likes walking the razor's edge, he's just met his match, and more, in Nancy. She's a rich man's plaything, seriously into thrills and risk, and together she and Jack are pure heat ready to explode. But when simple housebreaking and burglary give way to the deadly pursuit of a really big score, the stakes suddenly skyrocket. Because violence and double-cross are the name of this game, it's going to take every ounce of cunning Jack and Nancy possess to survive...each other.©2004 Elmore Leonard (P)2004 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Elmore Leonard is our greatest crime novelist...the best in the business." (The Washington Post)
"The greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever!" (The New York Times Book Review)

Average Leonard; average narrator.

This is a surprisingly uninteresting book from Elmore Leonard. Jack Ryan, who is an interesting character in several other books, is very blah here. He is led around by the small head by a clearly psychopathic woman named Nancy. The book is set in an uninteresting town in Michigan. Also in the plot is another uninteresting character named Mr. Majestyk, who also appears in other stories. The ending of the book is a pleasant surprise in its brevity, but otherwise the book is...uninteresting. Campbell Scott is a rather cold and bloodless narrator. The son of George C. Scott, he has oddly inherited none of his father's fire in the belly. He can read, but his range is very limited, and he adds no sense of drama or urgency to the plot. Leonard was so prolific, and generally so memorable, that it is a letdown to hear something this weak. There is a bonus short story read by Taye Diggs at the end of the download. Maybe the publishers knew that a bonus would be a good thing. Taye Diggs does have a great voice, but the story is from "When the women came out to dance," a weak collection of Leonard's short stories. All said, I would give this one a pass, as there is so much wonderful Leonard out there, and some of it is read by Frank Muller!

Good book but includes a short story at the end

The Big Bounce is a very good piece of crime fiction, a very lighthearted piece of crime fiction. I was thrown off by the last half of the audiobook being a short story. So the book is about 90 minutes shorter than what the length of the audiobook says it is. That being said, this is an enjoyable book about a small time criminal being duped by a seductive and cunning woman. I haven’t read anything else by Elmore Leonard but if the rest of his stuff is at these level, I’ll read more

always a good story from Elmore

I first got hip to Elmore from Get Shorty, then I saw this as a movie and I started looking into other books. He is by far one of my most favored writers. His way of story telling makes it seem so real. I just cannot get enough of his books!

Performance is an injustice to Elmore Leonard

Worst performance of any audio book I've ever listened to. The supplemental short story included afterwards was far superior to the novel itself. I am simply referring to the performance, Elmore Leonard is one of the all time greats and this performance didn't do him justice.

The editor should have sent it back.

I love Elmore Leonard. I hate this book! It almost ended in the middle of a sentence. No plots settled. No lessons learned.
It's as if Mr. Leonard decided he was tired of writing this novel and just quit!

When was this book written?

Although the audio book is copyright 2004, the dialog, the characters, and the situations all scream "The 60s!".

Elmore Leonard IS a good writer... but this is not an example of his best work.

I found the reader's voice a distraction as well; weird accents abounded, and the female character's "voice" (breathy and high-pitched) was not believable.