Split Images is a 1981 crime novel written by Elmore Leonard.
After multimillionaire and playboy Robbie Daniels guns down a burglar who broke into his property, Daniels discovers he enjoys killing people and recruits police officer Walter Kouza to help him hone his craft. Police officer Lieutenant Bryan Hurd and reporter Angela Nolan both suspect Robbie of killing the burglar while he was unarmed, and pursue the pair to bring them to justice.
List of tropes applying to the novel:
- Bittersweet Ending: Hurd is able to arrest Robbie, but not before he was able to kill several people, including Angela.
- Faux Affably Evil: Robbie is charming, friendly, and sophisticated, making him a local celebrity in both Miami and Detroit. However, as Angela points out, there's something off about him that's impossible to place, and it quickly turns out he's sadistic to a fault and utterly sociopathic.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Robbie decides to murder Chichi not because he's a drug dealer, but because he's jealous of Chichi's successful relationships with multiple women.
- Intrepid Reporter: Angela puts herself at great risk to bring Robbie to justice. Unfortunately, it leads to him murdering her in cold blood.
- Police Brutality: Kouza is on trial for shooting an unarmed man during a raid, which Robbie bails him out from by hiring an expensive lawyer to defend him. Kouza still gains a grudge against Hurd from the experience, since Hurd testified against him.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Kouza throws racial slurs around like there's no tomorrow.
