Paperback review: Back from the Dead, by Peter Leonard

Florida, 1971: Holocaust survivor Harry Levin shoots war criminal Ernst Hess and leaves him for dead. But Hess somehow survives, and is determined to exact revenge on Levin and his fellow Jewish vigilantes before heading into exile with a collection of priceless Nazi-looted art.

Back from the Dead, technically a sequel to 2012’s Voices of the Dead, proves enormously satisfying in its own right. Peter Leonard, son of the late Elmore, has inherited his father’s talent for lithe, witty prose (“Cordell had met the Colombians through a black dude name High-Step, on account of one leg was shorter than the other and he had to wear a special shoe”) and his knack for twisty, propulsive storytelling.