Pronto [Mass Market Paperback]

Elmore Leonard (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 30, 2010

Harry Arno was grossing six to seven thousand dollars a week running a South Miami Beach gambling operation. To protect his position, he was forced to cut a deal with the local muscle, Jimmy Capotorto (Jimmy Cap to the likes of Harry), an even fifty-fifty split. For years Harry had been padding his own stake by skimming a grand a week off the top. A couple of local detectives wise to sticky fingers try to bag Jimmy the Cap by putting the squeeze on Harry. Now, the dicks suggest, would be a good time for Harry to rat the mobster out.

U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens has his own agenda. He has to deliver Harry to a Federal grand jury to testify at Jimmy's drug-running trial. Even though he's a step slower that he used to be, Harry's no fool. When Jimmy Cap's men are a hair too slow gunning him down and Raylan's surveillance slips, Harry's already two steps ahead of them. Years of preparation pay off and Harry slips out of the country pronto. Being on the lam is no time to get soft, but Harry didn't plan on missing his companion Joyce so much. Sneaking her to his hideout could save him from loneliness but Joyce's quick departure tips off his trackers. Jimmy Cap's men follow Joyce while Raylan stays close behind. The three sides end up in Rapallo, Italy, watching their own backs while keeping abreast of Harry's. But it's not until the chase leads back to Miami that the real winners and losers are revealed. Pronto is classic Elmore Leonard


From the Trade Paperback edition.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the world of Elmore Leonard novels, cops and criminals get by with a grudging respect for each other's capabilities:

Harry had been arrested by Buck Torres a half-dozen times or so; they knew each other pretty well and were friends. Not socially, Harry had never met Buck's wife, but friends in the way they trusted one another and always had time to talk about other things than what they did for a living.

Right now, 66-year-old Harry Arno's in trouble. In order to get at his boss, Jimmy Cap, the feds told Jimmy that Harry's skimming off the sports book he runs, the idea being that Harry will testify in exchange for protection from Tommy Bucks (a.k.a. the Zip), Jimmy's enforcer. But Harry's got a few tricks up his sleeve. Then when a straight-shooting U.S. Marshall decides to spend his vacation tracking Harry down, all hell breaks loose. Set in Miami, Florida, and Rapallo, Italy, Pronto is another brilliantly executed combination of suspense and black humor from the master of crime fiction. --Ron Hogan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

From sly title through breath-stopping climax to funny wrap-up, readers will relish Leonard's ( Maximum Bob ) latest roller coaster ride. South Miami Beach bookie Harry Arno has been skimming from his mafia bosses for years. After a ruthless FBI man spreads a rumor to that effect, in an attempt to get Harry to testify against his boss, "Jimmy Cap," the 66-year-old bookie splits early on his long-planned retirement in Rapallo, Italy. Rapallo is soon mobbed, so to speak, as Harry is joined by his girlfriend, his new bodyguard, Jimmy Cap's Italian-born enforcer "the Zip," a handful of Italian thugs and a deputy U.S. Marshal, Raylan Givens. All engage in a deadly dance before Raylan manages to get most of the good guys back to Miami, where the dance begins again. Leonard's spare language and propulsive plotting still leave room for expositions of Sicilian slang, gamblers' lingo and Ezra Pound's private life. His colorful characters work together splendidly, especially the top trio: Harry, whose drinking, posturing and willfulness endanger everybody; the lethal Zip, who models himself, literally, on Frank Costello; and Raylan, whose Stetson and apparent goofiness mask a hard past in bloody Harlan County, Ky. The only problem with the book is that it ends. BOMC and QPB selection; major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harper; Reprint edition (March 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062020315
• ISBN-13: 978-0062020314
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #492,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Harry Rides a Roller Coaster September 24, 2002

By Carolyn Faseler

Format:Hardcover

PRONTO by Elmore Leonard is a joyride of a story about Harry Arno, an over the hills Miami bookmaker. Harry plans to retire in Italy on money he skimmed from his corpulent mob boss, Jimmy "Cap" Capotorto. The feds want Jimmy Cap so they set up Harry to give information about Cap's activities by putting out the word about his skimming activities. An assassin is sent to get Harry but he's faster with a gun. In a final jab at the law, before he skips town, Harry gives the slip to U. S. Marshal Raylan Givens for the second time since they first met six years ago. In addition, "Zip", another mob affiliate, wants to take over Harry's action, so he tells Cap that he'll take out Harry in Italy. Consequently, Harry has so many people following him that the small village of Rapallo, Italy, becomes inundated with U. S. mobsters and federal agents plus Harry's old girlfriend, ex-stripper, Joyce. During all of these events, the sixty-six year old Harry starts drinking seriously again which causes the situation to deteriorate fast. Harry is in real danger of losing his life, as are several of the other players.

Leonard wrote twenty-three books before being discovered by the bestseller market in l983, the year LA BRAVA was published and won the Edgar Award. In l953, his first novel, THE BOUNTY HUNTERS, was published, but the market for westerns began to dry up. Leonard is best known for his crime novels.

All of the characters in PRONTO are drawn with clarity and colors so vivid the reader would know each one if he or she ran into them on the street. U. S. Marshal Raylan Givens is a fast-draw cowboy of the Old West variety. His cream cowboy hat bobbing aloft alerts readers to his entry in any combat zone. Though Raylan laments his inability to express himself emotionally, readers come to know him and root for his success where Harry is concerned. In addition, the inclusion of the Ezra Pound stories add more spice to the understanding of Harry and his reasons for retiring to Italy. How could anyone resist researching Pound's poetry after reading a line like: "Dinklage, where art thou, with, or without, your von?" (My dictionary says "von" is a German word that indicates nobility or place of origin.) It's a nonsensical and hilarious question. Never mind what Pound meant.

PRONTO is snazzy. It's loaded with notable characters and an enticing plot. The passage where Gloria, Jimmy Caps girlfriend, tells Nick Testa about Jimmy Cap's reason for wanting to visit Butterfly World is funny. The same story is repeated later from Jimmy's viewpoint. It's still funny. But Leonard's prose might be a small problem for some readers. It reads like people talk and think at the same time. His use of the language as a tool for his stories is brilliant. However, high school sophomore English students should probably not read Leonard for a few years as many of them already use sentence fragments and run-ons without his genius.

Leonard's novels are addicitive. Try GET SHORTY which was made into a movie starring John Travolta in l995. BE COOL is the follow-up to GET SHORTY. Some of his other novels are BANDITS, FREAKY DEAKY and KILLSHOT.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Raylan's Story Starts Here January 27, 2012

By Cecelia Stark

Format:Kindle Edition

Prior to watching Justified on TV, I had read the Fire in the Hole short-story. I had also read numerous Elmore Leonard novels. Many I love, some not so much. When I heard Elmore's latest was simply called Raylan, I knew I had to catch up. That prompted me to read Pronto, Raylan's introductory novel. Next, I'll read the follow-up, Riding the Rap, before I tackle the new one.

Honestly, reading Djibouti recently, I was starting to question whether Elmore was ever the writer I remembered, but Pronto set me straight. This is easily the best Elmore Leonard novel I've ever read.

It might even be the best crime novel I've ever read, but being female, my taste in crime novels may be different than most. This story is purely character-driven. Guns don't fire and guys don't slap each other around every chapter, but the tension is always there, and when action strikes, you're on the edge of your seat, swinging with the characters.

I love this novel.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Pronto May 19, 2011

By Karla

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is Leonard's introduction of U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens, now the central character of the excellent television series "Justified." The series features some of the great villains on television. Pronto is the beginning and a must-read for Raylan fans.