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Djibouti: A Novel Paperback – Large Print, October 12, 2010

by Elmore Leonard (Author)

4.0 411 ratings

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“Elmore Leonard is in a class of one….The greatest crime writer who ever lived.”
—Dennis Lehane

“Elmore Leonard is our greatest crime novelist…the best in the business.”
—Washington Post

44 novels and still going strong! The incomparable Elmore Leonard—“The reigning King Daddy of crime writers” (Seattle Times)—is back with Djibouti, a gripping, twisting, playful, and always surprising tale of modern-day piracy. Djibouti sparkles with the trademark Leonard style, wit, and crackling dialogue that have made novels like Get Shorty, Out of Sight, and The Hot Kid crime fiction classics. This time Elmore’s taking us to the Horn of Africa for an unforgettable confrontation with con men, crooked diplomats, documentary filmmakers, and pirates…and it’s going to be a wild ride!

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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Elmore Leonard, New York Times bestselling author and "the hippest, funniest national treasure in sight" (Washington Post), brings his trademark wit and inimitable style to this twisting, gripping—and sometimes playful—tale of modern-day piracy

Dara Barr, documentary filmmaker, is at the top of her game. She's covered the rape of Bosnian women, neo-Nazi white supremacists, and post-Katrina New Orleans, and has won awards for all three. Now, looking for a bigger challenge, Dara and her right-hand-man, Xavier LeBo, a six-foot-six, seventy-two-year-old African American seafarer, head to Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, to film modern-day pirates hijacking merchant ships.

They learn soon enough that almost no one in the Middle East is who he seems to be. The most successful pirate, driving his Mercedes around Djibouti, appears to be a good guy, but his pal, a cultured Saudi diplomat, has dubious connections. Billy Wynn, a Texas billionaire, plays mysterious roles as the mood strikes him. He's promised his girlfriend, Helene, a nifty fashion model, that he'll marry her if she doesn't become seasick or bored while circling the world on his yacht. And there's Jama Raisuli, a black al Qaeda terrorist from Miami, who's vowed to blow up something big.

What Dara and Xavier have to decide, besides the best way to stay alive: Should they shoot the action as a documentary or turn it into a Hollywood feature film?

About the Author

Elmore Leonard wrote more than forty books during his long career, including the bestsellers Raylan, Tishomingo Blues, Be Cool, Get Shorty, and Rum Punch, as well as the acclaimed collection When the Women Come Out to Dance, which was a New York Times Notable Book. Many of his books have been made into movies, including Get Shorty and Out of Sight. The short story "Fire in the Hole," and three books, including Raylan, were the basis for the FX hit show Justified. Leonard received the Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN USA and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He died in 2013.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Large Print; Large type / Large print edition (October 12, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062008315
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062008312
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.96 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #9,507,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #66,364 in Murder Thrillers
- #177,056 in Suspense Thrillers
- #298,661 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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4.0 411 ratings

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Elmore Leonard

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Elmore Leonard wrote forty-five novels and nearly as many western and crime short stories across his highly successful career that spanned more than six decades. Some of his bestsellers include Road Dogs, Up in Honey’s Room, The Hot Kid, Mr. Paradise, Tishomingo Blues, and the critically acclaimed collection of short stories Fire in the Hole. Many of his books have been made into movies, including Get Shorty, Out of Sight, and Rum Punch, which became Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown. Justified, the hit series from FX, is based on Leonard’s character Raylan Givens, who appears in Riding the Rap, Pronto, Raylan and the short story “Fire in the Hole”. He was a recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN USA, and the Grand Master Award of the Mystery Writers of America. He was known to many as the ‘Dickens of Detroit’ and was a long-time resident of the Detroit area.

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Brad Jensen

no one else

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2023

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Could write this book. Elmore Leonard at his best.

Characters that live and move and breathe.

A great read once again.

Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2010

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There are a number of reasons not to like this novel, all of them valid. It's disjointed and hard to follow. The central characters seem uninvolved in the events around them. There's really no one with whom the reader can identify. The dialogue seldom crackles.

People who approach this novel with certain expectations based on their past brushes with Elmore Leonard's fiction will be disappointed. As the reviews here demonstrate, they have been.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed it. If a graphic novel is storytelling with pictures instead of words, then think of Djibouti as a graphic novel told with words instead of pictures: then you get the ambiance.

Dara Barr the documentarian goes to exotic East Africa to shoot Somali pirates. She reviews her footage with her one-man crew Xavier LeBou, her Nawlins neighbor who's been around the world many times, the hard way. The stuff in the can lacks zip. The real story isn't the guys with guns in the skiffs boarding boats in the Gulf of Aden, but the money men on the other end and in between the ransom drops, and that's not exciting stuff for the screen. But things take on a different cast when Dara learns the subjects of her story have rousted a couple of al Qaeda operatives from a seized natural gas tanker and are turning them in for bounty. The tanker's ransom paid -- and bombs placed on board? -- the floating container of liquid propane is headed off to port in Lake Charles, LA, where, perhaps, bin Laden plans to detonate a firebomb more massive in destructive scope than Hiroshima. Now that would be a story worth filming -- if the ship ever makes its way past Djibouti.

There are colorful characters, including one of the temporarily captured al Qaedas, a black American who started as a gang banger before becoming a Muslim in prison and heading off to join a jihad that matched a vocation to his skills; a Texas billionaire sailing around the world with his fashion model girlfriend, drinking champagne and piecing together intelligence; pirate bosses who want only to get one more big score before retiring in comfort to Europe. They are all mixed together, and if the story doesn't move with the speed and direction of a locomotive (which admittedly it doesn't) it certainly does float along on a decidedly dangerous current.

You might just want to put aside any expectations and come along.

5 people found this helpful

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Dean Feldmeyer

Leonard's Last Novel is a Triumph

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2014

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What can I say? It's Dutch Leonard's last novel and it's quintessential Elmore. Crisp, taught dialogue. Flawed and imperfect characters that you care a great deal about. And a plot that keeps you guessing. Just about every chapter is underwritten with, "I did not see that coming." Try it, you'll like it.

One person found this helpful

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emooleson

I love Elmore Leonard, but···

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2016

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I've read Many of his novels, everything from his early westerns to his final novels. He is one of my favorite writers; his characters are believable and 3D, their character revealed mostly by interesting, quirky dialogue. I love the way his plots are sometimes derailed by unforseen occurrences.

One of my favorite Leonard novels is LaBrava, where his protagonist's interior world is shown alternating between current experience and his memories of the female lead's performances in a movie. Leonard perfected a similar technique in Get Shorty.

It seems to me that Leonard's experiences in the film world got the better of him in DjIbouti. The cinematic editing of the novel went to far and became more distracting than expressive.

One person found this helpful

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Ronald M. Sharrow

A New Twist

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2012

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This is a relatively new twist on the standard Elmore Leonard fare. Strong characters...really bad bad-guys, but not the usual really good good-guys. Fun story about a current world problem. It's only fair to state that Elmore Leonard is probably my all-time favorite writer. I've read every book he's ever written and loved them all. His work has had a measurable influence on my own writing.

One person found this helpful

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Lowell L.

Boring, long-winded and boring

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2022

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I’ve been rereading Elmore Leonard, and really enjoying it. Glitz, City Primeval, Cuba Libre, Out of Sight, Road Dogs (with the miracle resurrection of Cindy Rey), Gunsights, Freaky Deaky..Just incredible stories, that grabbed me instantly, and never let up. This was the second time I’ve tried to enjoy this book....Unfortunately, The Maestro, at the end, was reduced to writing endless conversations between two-dimensional cut-out characters, interspersed with very little drama. He gave me many, many hours of enjoyment, but this is a ridiculously bad book. RIP.

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John F. Montag

unlike any other Leonard novel

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2016

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one of his last, this story takes us to the eponymous city-state in east Africa, the crossroads of criminality, poverty, and ambition. Dara, a documentary filmmaker, wants to tell the story of Somali pirates, but can't seem to get a story straight. Xavier, her 72-year-old cameraman, and muscle, backs her up in encounters with pirate princes, unsavory sheikhs, and all sorts of exotic Africans and middle easterners. and one particularly dangerous American terrorist. the story is not so easy to follow, bouncing between flashbacks of Dara and Xavier reviewing film already in the can, and live-action drama. but it's got plenty of Leonard's hilarious dialogue, and a swift-moving plot.

2 people found this helpful

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SAMUEL M. MILLIGAN

A Seventy-two year Old's Fling

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2013

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The character Xavier was the compelling part of this novel for me. His wit, strength, wisdom, dedication to Dara, and his craving for adventure was captivating.

The story and plot are mentally stimulating. It is faced paced without a dull moment.

If you are in the market for an adventure novel about present day pirates, then this is the book for you.

Samuel

One person found this helpful

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BlueShirt6

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on July 25, 2014

Verified Purchase

Miss having a new Elmore every year. R.I.P.

Jeremy Stewart

Bang up to date

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 30, 2013

Verified Purchase

This really was an excellent book. I had to check the inside cover to see when it was written as it was so up to date. The story was excellent and as always the characters were believable (and in some cases lovable). As always though it is the dialogue which really makes the book.

Margot Hovey

Not your usual Elmore.

Reviewed in Canada on January 2, 2024

Verified Purchase

It seems to be a movie script that hopes superstars will lift it out of the doldrums. Then again if it was film project , signed cast superstars ( and their "people") would be wondering how to bail out of a story that just never takes wind.

Mrs. Shirley O. Nicholas

Rave reviews of Leonard prompted me

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 8, 2013

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Difficult to get to grips with language, plot not too bad, but certainly doesn't warrant rave reviews this author received. Not a patch on Grisham or Wilbur Smith.

Rich

Sadly this one’s a stinker

Reviewed in Canada on September 12, 2023

Verified Purchase

First ever Elmore Leonard DNF for me. I saw the other reviews saying this book was boring and dull but I thought Elmore Leonard plus Somali pirates? No way; gotta be good if not great.

But I struggled to make it halfway through and decided that life is too short to finish.

The problem? No plot, no action, and a horrible framing device: instead of taking readers along into the story with our two main characters, the documentary director and her cameraman/assistant, Leonard flashes forward to after it’s all over and has us ‘watch’ the (non)action unfold on their laptop screen in a hotel room while discussing what happens between themselves. It’s full of the assistant character saying stuff like, ‘and then this happens and that guy must have felt that way’, and ‘I bet you did this and felt this and he probably responded with this and you felt that way’, followed by Dara the main character saying, ‘No I felt this way and said this and he replied with this and I made him feel this,’ etc etc etc ad nauseam.

All the characters love the same obscure 1970’s movies and discuss the philosophy of the pictures together and are all attracted to each other and all think each other are just super cool under pressure.

And still nothing happens. I’m a huge Leonard fan but this one just blew my mind with dullness. Big disappointment.

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