Escape from Five Shadows

by Elmore Leonard, Richard Poe (Narrator)

Corey Bowen is an innocent man. Wrongly convicted, and imprisoned in the brutal labor camp at Five Shadows run by a sadistic embezzler willing to kill to keep his scheme running, Bowen is determined to break out or die trying. The trackers have already caught him once, dragged him back through the mesquite and rocks, and beat him bloody and near dead after his last attempt. But this time he'll have help—from a lady with murder on her mind and a debt to pay back. They say that breaking out of Five Shadows is impossible—but Bowen is a different breed, and this time he will go to any extreme to escape.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Mystery, Audiobook, Crime

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Elmore John Leonard lived in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Memphis before settling in Detroit in 1935. After serving in the navy, he studied English literature at the University of Detroit where he entered a short story competition. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.

Father of Peter Leonard.

Reviews

[Joe Nicholl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Escape From Five Shadows by Elmore Leonard (1956) was an early book by the prolific author...and boy, does it show. The western story/plot-line hangs from beginning to end but some of the scenes in-between are absolutely cringe-worthy...especially those with the two female characters. Not recommended unless you're an Elmore Leonard completest...barely 2.0 outta 5.0...

[Derrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and quick read from the great Elmore Leonard. Typically I'm not super into the western type stories but I enjoyed this one. The action and suspense especially towards the end was lively and entertaining. Bowen was a cool character and easy to root for. The main villain was an awful person and I definitely loved to hate him. I felt like the ending was satisfying. Elmore Leonard is absolutely one of my favorites. I'll be reading more from him in the not so distant future!

[Louis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent action story rather than a real western, this book's main appeal is to see Dutch Leonard developing his style into the one that marked his later bestsellers. Although the comic elements of those books does not make an appearance, there is a charismatic, strong-willed villain that shows Leonard already enjoying his heavies. A fun thriller. Three and a half stars for a writer who later wrote plenty of five-star books..

[Edmond Gagnon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good old fashioned western with a different story line. Not the usual shootem up.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece of a western, so much stuff is happening but yet Leonard is able to keep it all flowing so smoothly. In ways its a typical prison escape novel in a western setting which of course has been done. Though he is able to bring actual human elements into it where you care about the characters. You learn about the characters through action not chapters of asides and you learn what you need to know to make it work.

Highly recommended even for people who maybe are not into westerns. This book again is about characters and could easily be written in a different non western setting.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly better than Mr. Leonard's first two novels, this one actually attempts to address the human condition. The story revolves around a prisoner who has been convicted although he is innocent. There are two women who want to help him, for completely different reasons, and the prisoner must choose the path he will take. A good read.

[Manray9 · Rating 2 out of 5]

A surprisingly poor western from the illustrious Elmore Leonard. Rather slow, with a twisted plot, weak characters, and no action. Don’t bother.

[Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leonard building. It’s exciting to see his style developing. Still some western cliches, but the psychology and dialogue are getting stronger. A great Old West novel.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 90 (of 250)
A western, you might think? But wait as this is the central crime: A wife hands young Corey Bowen her gun under one condition: that he kill her husband.
HOOK - 3 stars: >>>"Karla Hesitated in the doorway of the adobe, then pushed open the screen door and came out into the sunlight as she heard against the faint, faraway sound of the wagon...<<PACE - 5: One-sit read, guns a'blazing, dynamite a'blowing.
PLOT - 3: Again, a western, you might think. But there is the bad guys/thugs/gangsters (running a convict work prison), P.I.s in the middle trying to make a living, playing both sides (an Indian tribe), and some good guys trying to make it in life with food, a roof, and Corey hoping for the lovely gal. This is 1930s/40s pulp fiction moved to a western set: a young Elmore Leonard has been reading Hammett and the rest.
CHARACTERS - 3: Good guy Corey Bowen has been wrongly convicted of a crime (stealing cattle). He has his eye on the lovely Karla. Karla's father understands Corey is a good guy. The villain is Frank Renda and his gang (of guards at his own prison work camp) and they are a nasty bunch. They have their stool pigeons, their plants. Then there is Salveje, an Indian trying to make his way in his shifting world of good white guys and bad white guys: who will give him the best deal?
ATMOSPHERE 3: Courthouse, jail, prison cells, the wide open west. This is story told nicely.
SUMMARY - 3.4. This is a young writer who has been reading, obviously, pulp fiction, with a healthy dose of "kill the husband, then we're free". A breezy, fun read. A crime novel? I'm beginning to think ALL fiction is "crime" fiction: after all, there is only one crime and that is taking something that isn't yours, and that might be someone else's freedom.

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good, taut western. Leonard excels at writing about laconic men being tough, and his protagonist here, Corey Bowen, is no exception to that rule--nor is his villain, Frank Renda, which adds a lot to the book's success. Despite being quite short--well under 200 pages--this one weaves together several strands involving characters each with his or her own agenda which may or may not correspond to anyone else's. E.g. Bowen's partner in the crime for which they were committed may or may not have been genuinely a crook (though Bowen clearly was not but instead an unwitting accomplice), so may or may not be useful to Bowen in his escape attempt; Ike wants to escape too but hates the prison guards so much he may let that get in the way of doing the sensible thing; the warden's wife wants out and is willing to go to any lengths to get there, but Bowen's reluctant to let her use him for hew own ends. And so on. Lots more meat and character than action-driven stories usually have. Leonard also manages to give us much of what we'd expect from a western--including Apaches (also handled from a reasonably unconventional perspective, though they are admittedly mostly even more laconic than the white guys and are mainly here preternatural trackers who respect the man who can fight well, and not much else)--without succumbing to formula or cliche. (Well, mostly, anyway.) The one weak link is the involvedment of plucky and beautiful Karla, the trading post dealer's daughter, who not only falls for Bowen for no real reason (other than his rugged good looks, presumably) but also manages to get some pretty serious wheels in motion to get his case reviewed. Nevertheless, a top-flight western, highly recommended to fans of the genre--and to anyone else who likes stories of tough men who can take it and dish it out.

[Heath Lowrance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Framed and sentenced to hard labor at the prison at Five Shadows, Corey Bowen isn't about to serve out his time quietly, even though every escape attempt ends in disaster. Until two different women take an interest in freeing him-- one, a woman longing for escape herself, and willing to go to any lengths to achieve it; she offers Bowen a way out if he will kill her spineless alcoholic husband in the process. And two, a lovely young girl who believes in Corey's innocence and may have the legal connections to get him out... if he's patient. But Corey is NOT patient, and when an opportunity to bust out presents itself, he sees no other option but to take it.

The characters in this one are finely-drawn and compelling, although not quite as meticulous as his later work. Despite that, ESCAPE FROM FIVE SHADOWS is a thrilling, tightly-plotted western with lots of action and unexpected twists. The ending is maybe a bit too convenient, with everything lining up nicely for Bowen in the last couple of chapters, but you know, that's just the kind of novel this is. Not on the same level as say, FORTY LASHES LESS ONE or GUNSIGHTS, but still a very enjoyable read.

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Corey Bowen is serving seven years for cattle rustling and now assigned to a 30-man work camp party where a brute running his own side operation is embezzling prisoner funds while building a road. The author sets layers of information piecemeal as we work our way through this one, multiple characters in a western prison camp setting, a nearby waystation, and hard folks with a lot to gain and a lot to lose.

As Bowen receives help from shifty characters with their own designs and reasons for trying to get out of this situation, there's an awesome escape sequence, a revenge tale, and a love story in "Escape from Five Shadows" (1956).

Verdict: A great immersive escape western with real tension and unsettling morality, double-pointed dialogue, conscience, survival, and justice undertones. Bowen is a smart spin on the classic western anti-hero with hidden morals and an unbreakable code.

School note: For a book club or high school read this would be a good one to illustrate reading between the lines; what is said doesn't always mean what is being communicated. Also, young readers would like to read more westerns anyway, I reckon.

Jeff's Rating: 5 / 5 (Excellent)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG

[Bigmac McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good! More fleshed out than the Louis Lamour I've read but much narrower in scope than the McCarthy. Way heavier on the plotting than the action, i'd be interested to check out Leonard's crime fiction in the future. An enjoyable and entertaining western to burn through when you're spending the week drying out at your parents house, age 30

[B. Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

First straight western I’ve ever read. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Some of the lingo was hard to understand at times but other than that I thought it was a great little story. Moves at a good pace and the author makes it easy for you to root for the main character and hate the antagonist.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great one from the master. Excellent!

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great genre, great writing, and the great Richard Poe performance. I actually visualized this as I listened; no tangential thinking.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the Shawshank Redemption via the Old West told in the Elmore Leonard way. Fun.

[Laura Akers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is early Elmore Leonard.
His dialogue, descriptions, and ability to create tension are all present, perhaps not as refined as his later works, but still compelling.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't you totally see Lee Van Cleef as the villain?

[Kaylee Condos · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it 😊

[Chad Olson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Corey Bowen, wrongly imprisoned for cattle rustling, escapes from prison

[Paul Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent western by Elmore Leonard. In only his third novel, Leonard appears to have mastered the art of storytelling, western-style. In "Escape From Five Shadows," a young man, wrongly convicted of cattle rustling, plots to escape a from a brutal and highly illegal private prison camp that gets money from the U.S. Government.

The book's protagonist, Corey Bowen, is an intelligent young man who was tricked into participating in a theft of an honorable man's cattle. After a weak, and unjust trial, Corey and the shady Earl Manring (the man who conned Corey) are eventually sent to a horrible work camp run by the amoral and sadistic monster Frank Renda, and his murderous sidekick Brazil. Corey's first escape attempt was brave enough to impress Salvaje and his Mimbrenos riders, even though they had to capture him and bring him back to prison. Corey's second escape is going to be the one. Thanks to the help of fellow inmate Ike Pryde, and Karla Demery, the young daughter of the nearby station master, who believed in Corey's innocence, and worked hard to get him a new lawyer, as well as Lizann Falvey, the unhappy wife of weak prison camp bookkeeper Willis Falvey, Corey will makes his last stand against Renda, against Brazil, and even against the Mimbrenos in order to escape that Renda's prison nightmare for good.

What a good book! Thanks to Elmore Leonard's thoughtful and clear writing, I found myself once again fully engaged in both his story and his individual characters, to the point where at times I could not put the book down. "Escape From Five Shadows" is a fast read not just because it is only 266 pages. It is a fast read because the author eliminated any fat, and just kept the words down to the fact, descriptions and emotions of the story...and is STILL a full and rich novel. By book's end, you are sorry that the adventure is over, and at the same time left with a good feeling that a writer treated you to such a fun time.

[Matt Kukowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my fifth Elmore Leonard book, and my third of his westerns. Unlike the first two (The Bounty Hunters and The Law at Randado), which were a bit more "by-the-numbers" approaches to western stories, Escape from Five Shadows at least attempts to broach more overarching themes about the human condition--innocence, trust, honor and integrity.

Why is this a five star book then, if I use the word "attempts" instead of "succeeds?" I grade on a curve, and as westerns go (especially for a writer who was still in the very early stages of what would become a prolific career) this was a fun one. My big fear when reading westerns is that the prose will be bogged down by flowery descriptions of scenery instead of exploring the much more interesting human characters. Not so with Leonard. The dialogue crackles and the characters' pursuit of each of their goals and desires moves the plot along at a good clip. In fact, this story would work very well set in the modern era. The western setting really only serves as a framing device and, as such, Leonard probably didn't feel the need to constrain himself within the larger-than-life scope demanded by most western tales.

I'm a big fan of moments/set-pieces and Leonard's early westerns are full of memorable scenes. The Bounty Hunters has the cavalry clash and quasi duel between Flynn and Rellis, and the Law at Randado has the old mine shoot-out and the final confrontation in the bar. Without spoilers, Escape from Five Shadows surpasses both of those books in that regard.

Here is my ranking of the five Leonard books I've read, in case anyone is interested (I've seen other reviewers who have read several Leonard books do the same thing, and I found it helpful when I was deciding what books of his to get started with):

1. Get Shorty
2. Be Cool
3. Escape from Five Shadows
4. The Law at Randado
5. The Bounty Hunters

[Rob Haswell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elmore Leonard wrote more than 40 novels in his career and I feel like I've read every damn one of them. So I'm always stoked when that is not the case and I find one that I haven't read. Such is the case with Escape from Five Shadows, one of the earliest Western novels Leonard wrote. Now, as a point of order, for my money Leonard is the greatest crime writer of all time. His sharp characters, witty dialogue and intricate plot lines are a masterclass in popular fiction. So I have come to judge Leonard against Leonard. This book gets 3 stars because, in the Leonard canon, its a fairly pedestrian effort. Still, it's Leonard so you know it has great dialogue and the train really moves during act three. However, he hadn't fully mastered his craft (and Leonard is nothing if not a master craftsman), so at times, the writing was a little clunkier than I'm used to. Many of the secondary characters aren't fully realized and come off a bit two dimensional. And the ending is a bit too pat, albeit an attempt to tie up multiple competing narratives, is worth the effort.

That being said, two strong female characters, and an interesting protagonist and Leonard at the helm still makes this a highly readable and enjoyable book.

[Darlene Ashworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not my normal genre. I read this for our library book club pick.

Corey Bowen was wrongly convicted of cattle rustling and ended up with a seven year prison term. The story begins with Corey who captures the eye of the daughter of a small town supplier. She believes there is more to him than meets the eye and makes it her mission to help him. Corey is under the head of the prison’s constant surveillance as he is always watching for escape attempts. Renda is a crooked prison officer and doesn’t care about anything but making money off the government for each prisoner.

There are more twists and turns and everyone has an angle. Who can you trust and how can he escape his prison sentence?

For a western which I don’t normally read, I enjoyed the book. It wasn’t a perfect ending but it was good.

[Gary Sites · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read all of the reviews of this short novel before trying to write one myself. I don’t have anything much different to add. It’s early Elmore Leonard, so you would have to give him a little bit of a break. It’s nowhere near as good as his later work, but it’s still worth a read if you like westerns or prison break stories. There’s a section where dynamite is used in the construction of a road, which I thought was really well written. The dialogue is good with the exception that it lacks humor--something that I look forward to in reading Leonard. I particularly liked the Mimbreno, Salvaje, and his interactions with the main character, Corey Bowen. The ending was a bit too abrupt for my taste, but I kind of expected it after a few Leonard novels under my belt.

[Micheal Jimerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

We learn more from deconstructing Elmore Leonard’s writing than from his famous top ten rules. He plotted a novel where everyone is in prison, from the inmates to the guard including the warden. Substance abuse, greed, and desire hold them prisoner, yet the protagonist we discover from the start is the only one truly innocent.
Recently, I have pondered what the term classic western means. Louis Lamour and Elmer Kelton are certainly classic western authors. Despite Elmore Leonard’s success in crime fiction, his best works are his classic westerns. Novels like Get Shorty and Maximum Bob have a surreal quality to them. Yet, his westerns have a gritty authenticity, which makes them timeless. He also does a great job drawing strong women and Native American characters.

[Thomas Tyrer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am gradually making my way through the entire Elmore Leonard back catalog and, fortunately, I still have at least 20-25 books still to go. I like to rely upon shorter Western novellas to cleanse my reading palate after a longer, more literary work, and "Escape from Five Shadows" fit that bill perfectly. Leonard always paints three dimensional characters within the typically strong good vs. evil Western structure so his novels are never caricatures of the form. From the well-meaning convict to the corrupt foreman to the powerless work camp warden to the honorable Native American tracker, all would be far worse in someone else's hands. But Leonard works his usual wonders.

[William Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong early work from Leonard. He was even early on, in Westerns before crime novels, adept at plotting, dialogue, and pacing miles ahead of other writers. This one, as his work almost always does, moves swiftly and perfectly toward its climax, beat by beat. An early scene with Willis and Karla felt a bit awkward, but Willis is a not fully sketched out character. Otherwise, sharp and engaging. Some of his Westerns, Valdez and Hombre, are justifiably more famous and praised. Those are unique and the characters, pacing, plot are stellar, memorable. Here Leonard is cutting his teeth, sure, but most authors would give a few teeth to be so fully-grown talented in their writing infancy.

[David H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was born in 1957 (October 18th to be exact) and this book was copyrighted in 1956. It would seem that a novel that old might appear dated, but that is not the case for "Escape from Five Shadows". It read just as if it was written recently. Speaking of writing, I was impressed with Elmore Leonard's fast moving, easy reading writing style. My problem was that I never developed an interest in any of the characters. I never doubted that the hero would find a way out of his legal problems and choose the right girl. My grade for "Escape from Five Shadows" is three stars.