Customer Reviews

Pronto

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

Harry Arno, a bookie in Miami, quietly lives the good life with a sometime girlfriend, Joyce Patton. He's skimmed money from the top of his operation without the knowledge of his boss, Jimmy "Cap" Capotorto, for years and has managed to salt away nearly a cool million toward his retirement. If everything had gone the way Harry had wanted, he would have retired and moved to Rapallo, Italy, where he once saw and briefly talked to the poet, Ezra Pound. Harry was in the army at the time, and Pound was incarcerated. That was also the first time Harry killed a man. Things go sour for Harry when the Justice Department sets him up by having a snitch tell Jimmy Cap that Harry has been skimming. Everybody knows bookies skim, but nobody's supposed to be able to prove it. The Justice Department figures that Jimmy Cap will try to have Harry killed, which will force Harry to ask for witness protection and turn evidence against Jimmy Cap. Harry remains optimistic about working things out-until he has to kill a gunman sent by Jimmy Cap. United States Marshal Raylan Givens is sent to protect Harry and try to get him to come in. Raylan has a past with Harry: six years ago Raylan was escorting Harry to a court date in Chicago when Harry gave him the slip in the Atlanta airport. Raylan is an old West kind of marshal, the kind who always gets his man, so bringing Harry in this time is kind of a point of honor thing and an attempt to clean his blemished record. So when Harry gives Raylan the slip again and disappears off to Rapallo, Italy, the marshal feels compelled to go after him-even if it means stepping into the line of fire of Tommy Bitonti, Jimmy Cap's main enforcer. Tommy Bitonti-also called Tommy Bucks and the Zip-has his own axe to grind. If Harry ends up dead, the Zip gets to take over the bookie operation, which is going to mean a lot more money. Harry's on the run in Italy, and Raylan and the Zip are on a collision course.

Elmore Leonard is America's premiere crime novelist. With dozens of novels written and more movie and television deals coming every day, Leonard has become a household name. Quentin Tarantino acknowledged Leonard's influence when the young director scripted and directed PULP FICTION, and made Leonard's novel RUM PUNCH into the movie, JACKY BROWN. Early in his long career, Leonard wrote pulp western stories, then moved into the paperback market after the pulps died in the 1950s. His early western novels and pulp novellas, HOMBRE, 3:10 TO YUMA, THE LAW AT RANDADO, LAST STAND AT SABRE RIVER, and VALDEZ IS COMING were all made into movies. He wrote original western scripts for JOE KIDD, HIGH NOON PART II, and DESPERADO. Several of his crime novels, including STICK, 52 PICKUP, GLITZ, CAT CHASER, SPLIT IMAGES, GET SHORTY, PRONTO, GOLD COAST, RUM PUNCH, and OUT OF SIGHT, were made into movies. MAXIMUM BOB was made into a television series. He began his journalism career as a crime reporter in Detroit, where he worked the graveyard shift and got to know both the police officers and the criminals in the city. When his writing career took off, he started writing novels and screenplays full-time, eventually moving down to Florida where he currently lives and works.

PRONTO is a greatly simple and simply great novel. Leonard introduces his three main characters and gets them moving against each other. In the beginning, there are no clear rules or definitions between them. Harry, Raylan, and the Zip will use anyone or anything to achieve the ends each desires. Of them all, Raylan seems to be the more altruistic, but even he is not without his flaws. Joyce Patton, Harry's girlfriend, is well-drawn and carries her own depth even though she is primarily there to move the plot and action along, as well as to bring out different facets of Harry and Raylan. No Elmore Leonard novel would be complete without the cast of extras that make up the team that brings his world to life. Even these extras take on real dimensions, and the reader knows those people well, knows what they will and won't do. The dialogue is amazing, a blend of realistic street and egocentric comments and declarations that bring the characters, the scenes, and the plot to rich, crisp life. Harry, at best, is a gruff, barely likeable guy, but he rings true. Readers have known guys like him, and the fascination of what's going to happen next to a guy like Harry keeps the reader turning pages. Raylan Givens, carrying the hero's task of being the cavalry and straight-shooter, stumbles and falls a little by not stepping fully into the role, but his no-nonsense rawhide cowboy manners are a tip of the hat to the American West that spawned such men. The Zip, although he is the bad guy, carries a lot of the humor by heckling Nicky Testa, Jimmy Cap's right-hand guy, and comes across as a real person because he's only reaching for what he desires that can be his.

The pacing seemed a little off at times in this novel when compared to past Leonard books. Jimmy Cap never quite came across as the awe-inspiring menace he perhaps should have been. And the ending came a little too quickly. Also, seeing more of what happened to Raylan after the final confrontation would have been welcome.

Fans of James Lee Burke, Robert B. Parker, Robert Crais, Donald Westlake, and Carl Hiaasen will find a new treasure in Elmore Leonard if they haven't already discovered this author.

The second season of Justified just began, so I thought it'd be a good time to read Elmore Leonard's other book featuring Raylan Givens. Apparently Leonard is so pleased with the television series based on his characters that it's inspired him to revisit them. So there will be a third book in the not-too-distant future.

In Pronto, Raylan takes his Beretta and his Stetson to Italy chasing after Harry Arlo. The unscrupulous bookie has been skimming from his boss for years while working his gambling operations. Harry believed that he was simply doing what every bookie does, and that his boss should consider it a cost of doing business. But apparently his boss doesn't share those same feelings and has put a price on his head. Harry decides to accelerate his plans to retire to a villa in Italy by a couple of years and disappears.

Raylan, who has managed to allow Harry to slip through his fingers twice now while he was responsible for watching him, decides to take things personally this time around and travels to Italy to protect Harry from his boss's hired muscle as well as bring him back to the States.

I enjoyed Pronto. Leonard's style takes some getting used to. He uses a lot of dialogue to tell his stories and to provide his characters' backstories. He doesn't spend much time setting his plots up, he's kind of the antithesis of Tom Clancy in that regard. Reading his books is kind of like watching a movie - you sit down, relax for a couple of hours, and enjoy the story. I find it a little ironic that so far, Hollywood has failed miserably in every attempt it's had to take one of Leonard's books and make a successful movie out of it. It makes Justified all the more satisfying to watch.

"Pronto" while not Leonards best novel could easily be his funniest novel. Leonard is the Quentin Tarantino of books, by that I mean he is best known for his dialogue. The dialogue is Pronto is some of his best and wittiest. The book is about Harry Arno, a sports bookie who works for Jimmy Cap. Unknown to Jimmy, Harry has been skimming from him for a long time and is finally ready to retire and move to Rapallo, Italy where he shot a man during the war. Problem is the feds have set up a way to get Jimmy Cap and by doing this they have convinced him that Harry has been skimming more than he actually has. Now Jimmy wants Tommy Bucks (a.k.a The Zip) to catch Harry, but Harry has already ran off to Rapallo with his girlfriend Joyce (Joy when she was a topless dancer)

But now Harry has cowboy-hat wearing US Marshall Raylan Givens on his tail and he's stuck in a tight spot with both Givens and The Zip after him. B-.

One of the best known characters created by Elmore Leonard is undoubtedly federal marshal Raylan Givens. Raylan's fame, however, rests less on the role he plays in Leonard's writings, but as the star of the brilliant F/X television series JUSTIFIED, easily one of the most critically acclaimed series on television. To the best of my knowledge (based on my own perhaps flawed reading) Raylan appears in three of Leonard's novels and one of his short stories. He was initially in the novel PRONTO, in which he intervenes to save the life of a Miami bookie and then later in RIDING THE RAP, in which he once again tries to save the life of the same bookie. Both are very good novels, though I would not rate either among his very best books, like SWAG or LaBRAVA. Raylan reappeared later in the short story "Fire in the Hole," which I have in his great short story collection WHEN THE WOMEN COME OUT TO DANCE, which is going to be reprinted shortly as FIRE IN THE HOLE. Clearly the publisher is trying to take advantage of the free publicity offered by the TV series.

The Raylan Givens of the books occupies a slightly different universe than the Raylan Givens of the television series. While Leonard has been enthusiastic about the series (although he is listed as an executive producer, he actually does no work on the show at all, the title undoubtedly being a part of the agreement for the producers of the show using his character), saying that Timothy Olyphant delivers his lines precisely the way he envisioned when writing them, he does insist that they didn't get the hat right. This is not a bad thing, in my opinion. Think of the photos you saw of Lyndon Johnson wearing his hat in the sixties. That is precisely the kind of hat that Leonard had in mind.

Apart from the hat, there are odd parallels between the two Raylan Givens. This is due in part to the fact that the TV series has borrowed liberally from the two novels and short story in which Givens originally appeared. For instance, Harry, the bookie in the two novels, appears on the TV series in a much younger incarnation. Several scenes in the books appear in the show. For instance, in an early Season One episode two gunmen are hired to go after Raylan. Encountering him on a road they try to approach him from a distance. One keeps saying, "We just want to talk." Raylan tells him that if he takes another step closer he is going to shoot him. He takes a step and Raylan shoots him. That scene original appeared in PRONTO. The entire plot of the novel RIDING THE RAP is utilized in a Season One episode, with a number of minor modifications. Nonetheless, the resemblances between the episode and the novel are deep and profound. The plot of the short story "Fire in the Hole" provides the narrative for the TV series Pilot, the only major difference being that Boyd Crowder did not die in the series. In fact, due to the TV series Boyd, who unquestionably was killed in the short story, was retroactively resurrected from the dead, the gunshot miraculously not damaging any major organs, all so that this enormously popularly character was able to appear in the novel RAYLAN.

There is a major difference between the three earlier Raylan Givens stories written by Leonard and the new novel RAYLAN. The first three clearly exerted enormous influence on the series, excepting the style of the hat. In the new novel, the TV series perhaps influenced the book more. The plot is not quite consistent with events in the TV series. I'm going to avoid many specifics because to delve into them would be to raise up spoilers for either the book or the series, so let me just say that characters in the book die who do not die in the series, while at least one character who dies in the show dies differently in the novel. It is almost as if the two exist in parallel universes, much like the DC superheroes in Earth One and Earth Two. The show and the novel are both alike and very different.

I'm not entirely clear on whether Leonard wrote the book prior to Season Two of the show (though I suspect he did) or whether he wrote it afterwards. I believe he probably wrote this last winter and that there is a chance he showed the manuscript to the show's writers. Either way, reading the novel after having seen Season Two of JUSTIFIED is a rather schizophrenic experience. As a result, while I love Leonard as a writer, I found I enjoyed this Raylan Givens story considerably less than the previous ones. There are some splendid moments (one involving a bathtub and a kimono is an example), but it almost felt as if in this book Leonard was trying to write about a character who had taken on a life of his own. It is as if Raylan has been publically redefined in a way over which Leonard has minimal control.

RAYLAN is really not a novel so much as a collection of overlapping short stories. The main stories are 1) the story of a group of thieves who steal kidneys off people and then try to sell them back, 2) Carol, born to a miner but now working for the mining company, and her employee Boyd Crowder try to pull off a deception about a crime, 3) a petty thug who forces young women to rob banks for him, and 4) a young woman who plays high stake poker, funded by a local horse breeder. None of the stories are at all bad, none quite like the TV series (though there are definite resemblances and it will be interesting to see if any of the new stories will feature in Season Three of the show), but none especially unforgettable.

All in all, I would rate RAYLAN the weakest of the four Raylan Givens stories I've read so far. I would rank them all in this order: "Fire in the Hole," RIDING THE RAP, PRONTO, and RAYLAN. Mind you, RAYLAN isn't bad; it simply isn't up to Leonard's highest standards. That is still higher than most of the books published today.

Listened to the audiobook of this ... Joe Mantegna sounded a lot like how Timothy Olyphant talks in the TV show, which was pretty awesome. :-D This short story takes place right before the events depicted in the pilot episode of the TV show. In fact, the shooting scene from the first episode is one of the last scenes in this book.

This book was very, very good. I thought so anyways. I will be honest and say that the only reason why I bought the book was that it had the seal on the front saying "features Raylon Givens, from the hit series JUSTIFIED." The cover is dull, The description did describe it, but wasn't very suspenseful. The beginning of the book was informative, it had to be in order to set the story. If I had only read the beginning I would not have bought the book. So therefore the sale to me of the book was purely from the T.V. show.

So here is the idea, a bookie from Miami, named Harry Arno, is getting ready to retire. The Miami police decide that if they frame him for skimming, which he does but not as much as he is being framed for. Raylon had Harry in custody at one point before and Harry "gave him his word" and escaped. Now that Harry's boss found him out, he sends a hit after him. Not a pro just the first guy who is willing to do it, someone expendable. Harry has the best pistol ever in vented, the M1911 A1 with him and shoots the guy.

Now Harry is on the run from the law, Raylon, and his big bad boss. Part of the way through the book, The U.S. Marshal's drop the case. Raylon is now defending Harry because he would be killed shortly by a "Zip." But here is the thing that gets Harry in trouble once he moves to Italy is that he send for his much younger girlfriend Joyce (ex-stripper by the way.)

This book is great. It has good, simple, realistic action, Good and funny dialogue, and lengthy descriptions of each character's past when they are introduced into the story. The supporting characters add a great humorous element such as a guy called "Joe Macho" who is a muscle bound simpleton who really doesn't know how to be a bad ass, he just acts like it.

The sexual scenes are funny. I personally don't like sex in book the way it is done most of the time. In this it is not sugar coated, nor is it in extreme detail, it is just explained in enough detail to implement the humor they are intended for.

Over all this book is a great story, it includes the beginning of the JUSTIFIED series, however it is played out differently yet in the same spirit. The series and this book have enough similarities to entertain the same people, yet they are different enough so that when someone who has sen the show reads the book, they will not be predicting every event.

I give it four stars!!

[...]

I've read four Elmore Leonard novels, and this was my least favorite of those. Pronto suffers from a predictable storyline and sometimes unlikeable characters (I'm referring to the good guys; the ones you're supposed to like). Not bad, but I'd recommend LaBrava, Bandits or Rum Punch over this one.

Spaghetti with a twist

Just he kind of Leonard novel that reminds us why he's earnt a reputation for being the best crime fiction writer in the business. Pronto is a beautifully crafted modern day western which pits the laconic US Marshall Raylan Givens into a to the death struggle with imported Italian Mafiosi hitman 'The Zip'. The story focuses on Raylan's efforts to stop 'The Zip' taking fatal revenge on veteran Miami sports bookmaker Harry Arno. Harry has quietly been on the skim from 300lb Godfather, Jimmy 'The Cap' Capotorto to the tune of $1000 a week for the last 20 years. Made wise to Harry's scamming by the Feds, Jimmy sends Harry a message in the form of low-life hit man Earl Crowe. Harry gets his gun off first and despite the efforts of the Feds to get him to trade what he knows, doesn't wait around for another visit from the murderous 'Zip' . Harry skips his bond and the baby sitting Marshall Givens and makes a nostalgic dash for Rapallo, Italy. Holed up in a picarequse Italian resort Harry is soon pursued by his ex-stripper girlfriend Joyce, 'The Zip', gangster sidekick Nicky Testa and Givens looking to redeem himself for letting Harry skip, knowing that if he doesn't do something, Harry's ass is grass. 'The Zip' who struts his macho stuff back in his homeland and endlessly humiliates Stronzo Nicky demonstrates his penchant for violence with a cold bloodied murder. The inevitable show down back in Miami between Givens and 'The Zip' reeks of spaghetti western; ' you've got 24 hours to leave the County, or I will come after you with a gun'. Givens - the cowboy in the city - charms us with his laconic humour, gritty moral sentiments and his steely sense of justice. Pronto is an exhibition of superb narrative delivery, crackling dialogue; believable characters and curious inside information about the criminal world. The inevitability of the endgame matters little, as Leornard weaves another masterly crooked tale. Don't miss it. Copyright©1997POR

Miami Beach bookie Harry Arno is used to playing the odds, skimming money from gangster Jimmy "Cap" Capotorto, and socking away a cool million in a Swiss bank account. The game turns sour, however, when the FBI tips off the mob about Arno's skimming in an attempt to scare and `flip' Harry into becoming a federal witness against Cap. After Cap orders the hit, Harry shoots one of Cap's trigger men and flees to Italy, where he dreams of living an idyllic existence with his girlfriend Joyce in a villa by the sea. Following Harry to Italy is mob enforcer Tommy Bucks and U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens.

Elmore Leonard is the best-selling author of more than three dozen novels. His work is often pipelined straight to Hollywood, where his novels have been adapted for several blockbuster films such as Get Shorty, Out of Sight, and Jackie Brown (Rum Punch).

`Pronto' is a strange pot-boiler, the plot driven by three characters: Harry, Tommy, and Raylan. Harry is constantly reminiscing about World War II; Tommy carries a picture of the old crime boss Frank Costello in his wallet; Raylan is a cowboy. All three men are anachronisms, stuck in a world without honor, while pining for a nobler past.

Unfortunately, `Pronto' is primarily the story of Harry Arno, one of the most unlikable protagonists in contemporary fiction. Harry is a self-centered jerk and liar, so lacking in human grace that he seems almost autistic, unable to relate to anyone. Note the following line, after the fortyish, childless Joyce admits to Harry a yearning to be a mother:

"You're not the mommy type, kiddo."

After Joyce's hotel room is trashed by Mafia killers, she mentions Raylan's kindness after he brings her luggage to the villa. Harry replies:

"He's used to picking up suitcases, doing the heavy work. It's the kind of law enforcement he's in."

There's an emotional deadness in Harry that makes the flesh crawl. Leonard has purposely cast Harry this way, perhaps as a literary stunt, yet it ultimately cripples what could have been an excellent thriller. When a reader becomes alienated from the novel's main character, any emotional investment in the story is lost. Readers will also wonder why Raylan and Joyce care so much about Harry, who treats both with condescending disdain. After one hundred pages into `Pronto', most will be rooting for Tommy Bucks, vainly hoping that he will blow Harry's head off.

Nevertheless, Leonard has an uncanny gift for staging dramatic action sequences that keeps the reader turning pages until the final bloody climax. When depicting the dark side of human nature, Leonard is masterful; yet he flounders when depicting noble men and women. Raylan is the sheriff in this spaghetti western, and Joyce is the long-suffering hooker with the heart of gold. Yet neither seems as real as Tommy Bucks, the most compelling character in `Pronto', whose motive and ambition is clear and focused.

`Pronto' is a clever and entertaining novel, yet one senses that a piece is missing, a center to hold everything together. That missing piece is Harry Arno, who is as lifeless and vapid at the end of this novel as he was at the beginning.