CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK; BOOK OF THE WEEK.

Byline: HENRY SUTTON

TRUST ME by PETER LEONARD (Faber pounds 12.99) ****

He burst onto the scene a year ago with his stunning debut Quiver - a fullyformed thriller crackling with great dialogue, menace, brilliant plot lines, and a nod or two in the direction of great American noir fiction.

It's no surprise that Peter Leonard is no spring chicken - you need to live a little to write a book like Quiver. In fact, he's a middle-aged guy running an ad agency in Michigan who turned to fiction late in life.

Given the energy and finesse of his prose, the composure of his twisted plots and - particularly with this new novel - the humour, it's no surprise either that he's also the son of Elmore Leonard, possibly the greatest and most original crime writer of his generation.

The weird thing about Peter, however, is that he's beginning to sound awfully like his father. Trust Me could very easily have been written by Elmore senior. The plot is classic Elmore with its host of very colourful and companionable baddies all trying to get one over each other.

When armed and loaded smalltime crooks Bobby and Lloyd break into local big wig Lou Starr's home one night, they think they're on to easy pickings. Lou's a pushover, but his fancy girlfriend Karen is made of sterner stuff. Also, she's had enough of Lou anyway and is out to get even with her old lover Samir.

Through an ingenious bit of plotting and doublecrossing, Karen persuades Bobby and Lloyd to come in on a scam to rob crooked loan-shark Samir of the $250,000 in cash he keeps in a safe at home.

However, Samir is also surrounded by a bunch of doublecrossing employees, most of whom have racked up considerable debts of their own with other dodgy dealers.

Set in heavily polarised and beautifully-drawn Detroit, Leonard piles on the atmosphere and the tension. Karen is one hell of an antiheroine, who I hope turns up again.

And don't worry that Peter reads just like his father - that's definitely no bad thing.

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