Get Shorty [Paperback]

Elmore Leonard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1998

In a novel filled with his signatures--nerve-shattering suspense, crackling dialogue, scathing wit--Elmore Leonard shows once again why he sets the standard against which all other crime novels are measured.  In Get Shorty, he takes a mobster to Hollywood, where the women are gorgeous, the men are corrupt, and making it big isn't all that different from making your bones:  you gotta know who to pitch, who to hit, and how to knock 'em dead.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Nobody writes openings like Elmore Leonard. Case in point: "When Chili first came to Miami Beach twelve years ago they were having one of their off-and-on cold winters: thirty-four degrees the day he met Tommy Carlo for lunch at Vesuvio's on South Collins and had his leather jacket ripped off." You need to know about this because you need to know why there's bad blood between Chili Palmer and Ray Bones, the guy who stole his coat and is now his boss--and has ordered him to collect $4,200 from a dead guy. Except the guy didn't die; he went to Las Vegas with $300,000. So Chili goes to Las Vegas, one thing leads to another, and pretty soon he's in Los Angeles, hanging out with a movie producer named Harry Zimm and learning what it takes to be a player in Hollywood.

Get Shorty is classic Elmore Leonard: While other people write "crime fiction," Leonard's come up with a masterful social comedy that happens to be about criminals (and other fast operators). He's a master of snappy dialogue and dizzying plot twists. The best parts of Get Shorty move along so briskly you almost forget there's somebody with a firm control over the story. And you'll be rooting for Chili to get the money, the girl, and the studio deal. --Ron Hogan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Taking his latest fictive turn in Hollywood, Leonard, whose oeuvre includes screenplays as well as such bestselling novels as Glitz and Freaky Deaky , adds insider knowledge to his signature humor in this roundly satisfying behind-the-scenes tour of filmdom. Slightly disaffected Chili Palmer, a small-time loan shark with big-time style, is a vintage Leonard hero. Following a bad debt from Miami to Las Vegas and on to Beverly Hills, Chili hooks up with Harry Zimm, once a leading director of grade-B horror flicks, now trying to make a comeback. While succumbing to the siren call of celluloid, Chili also narrows in on the bad debt, in the process running up against a sharp-dressing hood with whose money Harry has played too loose. In Leonard's seamless handling, the complex plot flows through twists of revenge, murder and romance, as Chili, his authentic cool making a mark in the capital of sham ("Don't talk when you don't have to" is his very un-Hollywood motto), cagily gets it together with Karen Flores, Harry's former lover and featured star. A perfect resolution puts punch in the title and will keep readers smiling for days. Chili and his story are Leonard's best yet. First serial rights to Rolling Stone; BOMC and QPB selections; major ad/promo, author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Delta (August 1998)
• ISBN-10: 0440323983
• ISBN-13: 978-0440323983
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,999,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #38 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( L ) > Leonard, Elmore

More About the Author

Elmore Leonard has written more than forty novels, including bestsellers Up in Honey's Room, The Hot Kid, Mr. Paradise, Tishomingo Blues, Pagan Babies, and Glitz. Many of his books have been made into movies, including Get Shorty and Out of Sight. He lives with his wife, Christine, in Bloomfield Village, Michigan.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Leonard's recent best, January 18, 2000

By 

Doug Vaughn - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Get Shorty (Paperback)

With Elmore Leonard we get a new book every year or so, and it's a good thing, because even though not every one is a solid success, they are all fun and every now and then a real masterpiece emerges. I believe that Get Shorty is such a success. It's a Cinderella story as if written by Damon Runyan. Chili Palmer, a small time mobster on the trail of a deadbeat who has run off with $300,000 of mob money after faking his own death, finds himself in Hollywood getting involved with movie making instead of recovering the money. On one level the book is pure Leonard an exciting underworld story with great street talk and those edgy characters that he does so well. On another level the book is a wonderful social satire and, with its shift from Vegas to L.A., shows us a contemporary world lost in greed and seduced by show biz. Palmer's easy success as a producer (in essence doing his own life story) is a thinly veiled commentary on the shallowness of Hollywood and the lack of skill of many of its leaders. Not a surprising position for a writer who has seen almost all of his books (till this one) made into truely terrible movies (remember Stick? Mr. Majestek? The Moonshine Wars?).

Whatever else, this book is a fast paced and entertaining piece of fiction. The characters are interesting, the dialogue is memorable and funny, and the plot is ingenious and leads to a very satisfactory conclusion. This is Leonard at his best - and that is awfully good. And surprise, this time he even got a good movie out of it!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another terrific Leonard, complement to the movie, May 15, 2005

By 

Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Get Shorty (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved the movie Get Shorty, as well as the other Leonard books that have been turned into movies (Rum Punch, Out of Sight), so I had to try out this book. It's a great read and much of the snappy dialoge from the movie is taken right from the book's narrative. The dialoge works great both on screen and in the novel.

I appreciated the subtle differences in the plot line between the movie and the book, and the differences were enough to keep me interested in the book despite knowing much of the movie by heart. Leonard is a master at writing dialoge. He uses grammar that precisely captures the way people speak, and each character has a unique way of talking that is personally identifiable.

The character descriptions were so similar to the movie that I had to wonder if Leonard wrote the novel with certain actors in mind!

I recommend this as a companion to the movie. They can be enjoyed together as the same story via two different mediums, each with its own richness.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars First and probably the last Leonard I'll read, November 28, 1999

By 

Bill MacDonald - See all my reviews

This review is from: Get Shorty (Paperback)

I had been meaning to read Elmore Leonard for years now, ever since seeing movies like Resevoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. I knew Quentin Tarantino was a big fan and was heavily influenced by Leonard. So, after much surfing and emailing, I determined Get Shorty was likely the best novel to start with. It was pretty good, but a really light read. What makes Leonard's writing shine is the dialogue; you've heard the overused "dialogue crackles" rave? Well Leonard really delivers...this is why his novels make such successful movies; they read like them. This is a novel perfect for those who typically prefer movies over novels. I prefer the depth of Michael Connelly or Greg Iles or Dennis Lehane myself. But this is an entertaining story and certainly holds your attention, and before you know it, it's over. Just like a good movie.