When Federal Marshall Raylan Givens squares off against a known offender, he'll warn the man, "If I have to pull my gun I'll shoot to kill." Except this time he finds the offender naked in a bathtub, doped up and missing his kidneys.
Raylan knows there's big money in body parts, but by the time he finds out who's making the cuts, he's lying naked in a bathtub himself, Layla, the cool transplant nurse, about to go for his kidneys.
It turns out all the bad guys Raylan is after are girls this time: the nurse who collects kidneys and sells them for ten grand apiece; Carol Conlan, the mine company executive who comes to Harlan County to sell mountaintop removal, shoots a miner who wastes her time, then meets the miner's widow in a scene you won't forget.
The third girl's only offense is missing a court date. Jackie Nevada plays high-stakes poker for a living and is last seen in the shower with Raylan.
Dark and droll, Raylan is pure Elmore Leonard-a page-turner filled with natural-sounding dialogue and sly suspense, the hallmarks of this modern master.
