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Raylan Givens #1
Pronto
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780061835384
Fans of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens of the hit TV series Justified are in for a major treat. The unstoppable manhunter with the very itchy trigger finger stars in Pronto, a crime fiction gem from the one and only Elmore Leonard, “the greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever” (New York Times Book Review). The Grand Master justifies the overwhelming acclaim he has received over the course of his remarkable career with an electrifying thriller that sends the indomitable Raylan racing to Italy on the trail of a fugitive bookie who’s hiding from the vengeful Miami mob. The legendary Leonard, whom the Seattle Times lauds as the “King Daddy of crime writers,” proves that all comparisons to American noir icons John D. MacDonald, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain are well deserved with this tale of very dirty doings and extremely dangerous men coming together in the birthplace of Puccini, Garibaldi, and La Cosa Nostra.
Fans of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens of the hit TV series Justified are in for a major treat. The unstoppable manhunter with the very itchy trigger finger stars in Pronto, a crime fiction gem from the one and only Elmore Leonard, “the greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever” (New York Times Book Review). The Grand Master justifies the overwhelming acclaim he has received over the course of his remarkable career with an electrifying thriller that sends the indomitable Raylan racing to Italy on the trail of a fugitive bookie who’s hiding from the vengeful Miami mob. The legendary Leonard, whom the Seattle Times lauds as the “King Daddy of crime writers,” proves that all comparisons to American noir icons John D. MacDonald, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain are well deserved with this tale of very dirty doings and extremely dangerous men coming together in the birthplace of Puccini, Garibaldi, and La Cosa Nostra.
400 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1993
3230 people are currently reading
9641 people want to read
About the author
Elmore Leonard
202 books3,749 followersElmore 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.
Father of Peter Leonard.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,233 reviews
December 18, 2019
I've been binge-watching FX's series Justified, and decided it might be fun to extend my binge by reading the Elmore Leonard books that inspired the series. I figured I'd start out with Pronto, the first novel to feature stetson-wearing Federal Marshal Raylan Givens, native of Harlan County and veteran of the Kentucky mines.
The novel ends where the series begins, with the “justified” shooting of a mobster at an outdoor cafe in Miami. The book begins in Miami too, but it has to travel to Italy and back again in order to return to the place where it started.
At first, when the novel begins, it doesn't seem to be about Raylan Givens at all. It is the story of Harry Arno, a bookie on the run from both the Feds and the mob, but mostly on the run from the mob, which of course is trying to kill him. Marshal Givens soon takes Harry into custody, but Harry tricks Raylan and gets away. Where has Harry gone? Raylan has a hunch, for he remembers something Harry once said to him years ago.
I haven't read Leonard in awhile, and I almost forgot what a pro he is. He is so good that he habitually makes his writing do at least two things at once. For example, when he describes a person, he makes that description part of a dialogue in which one character is describing this particular person to another. (For example, Joyce, Harry's ex-stripper girlfriend, describes Raylan, who she has seen in the hotel lobby, to Harry.) The reader gets a description, but he also benefits from the further development of two additional characters, all at the same time.
You Justified fans want to know, though: is this Raylan really the same Raylan? Well, he's got two little boys, Wynona and he are definitely not getting back together, and the brim if his stetson is narrower in the books (a “businessman's stetson” they call it). Otherwise, he is pretty much the same, and you ladies can always imagine he looks just like Timothy Olyphant if you want to.
Pronto is an exciting thriller, full of interesting people, wisecracks, subterfuge and gun play. If I were you, I'd give it a try, whether you are a Justified fan or not.
July 28, 2023
Published in 1993, Pronto is the novel that introduced U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, although as is typical of a novel by Elmore Leonard, Givens is only one of a cast of great characters who populate the story. The real center of the story is a sixty-six-year-old Miami bookie named Harry Arno. Arno has been operating for years under with the permission of a hugely obese mob boss named Jimmy Cap. In return, of course, he has been regularly paying Cap a percentage of the take from his operation.
As the book opens federal law enforcement authorities are attempting to make a case against the mob boss. In the hope of doing so, they want to turn Harry Arno into a state's witness, testifying against Jimmy Cap. When Arno refuses, the feds tell Cap that Arno has been skimming from him for a number of years. They assume that the mob boss will put a hit out on Harry which, in turn, will drive harry into the arms of the feds for protection.
Naturally, Harry is enormously unhappy with this turn of events and feels betrayed by the agents of his government, even though if the truth were known, he has in fact been skimming for years and has a fortune socked away in foreign banks. As often happens in a book like this, one thing leads to another, and Harry winds up in the hands of the feds. Enter Raylan Givens who is supposed to keep tabs on Harry while matters sort themselves out.
As a young man, Harry Arno served in the army in Italy during World War II. He visits the country on a regular basis and has always dreamed of retiring there. As his situation in Miami deteriorates, Harry gives Raylan the slip and escapes to Italy under an alias. This is the second time this has happened. Years earlier, Givens was also in charge of escorting Harry for federal agents and Harry gave him the slip then too, which caused Raylan's rise in the marshal's service to slow considerably.
Embarrassed, Givens takes vacation days and follows Harry to Italy on his own time in an effort to return him to the U.S. Raylan is also concerned for the safety of the older man because Givens knows that the mob is also on Harry's tail. What follows, then, is a very entertaining story with lots of great characters, interesting scenes, and witty dialogue. Here Givens is not exactly the same character that he will become in "Justified," but it's impossible now to read the book without seeing Timothy Olyphant as Raylan. All in all, Pronto a lot of fun.
As the book opens federal law enforcement authorities are attempting to make a case against the mob boss. In the hope of doing so, they want to turn Harry Arno into a state's witness, testifying against Jimmy Cap. When Arno refuses, the feds tell Cap that Arno has been skimming from him for a number of years. They assume that the mob boss will put a hit out on Harry which, in turn, will drive harry into the arms of the feds for protection.
Naturally, Harry is enormously unhappy with this turn of events and feels betrayed by the agents of his government, even though if the truth were known, he has in fact been skimming for years and has a fortune socked away in foreign banks. As often happens in a book like this, one thing leads to another, and Harry winds up in the hands of the feds. Enter Raylan Givens who is supposed to keep tabs on Harry while matters sort themselves out.
As a young man, Harry Arno served in the army in Italy during World War II. He visits the country on a regular basis and has always dreamed of retiring there. As his situation in Miami deteriorates, Harry gives Raylan the slip and escapes to Italy under an alias. This is the second time this has happened. Years earlier, Givens was also in charge of escorting Harry for federal agents and Harry gave him the slip then too, which caused Raylan's rise in the marshal's service to slow considerably.
Embarrassed, Givens takes vacation days and follows Harry to Italy on his own time in an effort to return him to the U.S. Raylan is also concerned for the safety of the older man because Givens knows that the mob is also on Harry's tail. What follows, then, is a very entertaining story with lots of great characters, interesting scenes, and witty dialogue. Here Givens is not exactly the same character that he will become in "Justified," but it's impossible now to read the book without seeing Timothy Olyphant as Raylan. All in all, Pronto a lot of fun.
September 21, 2023
This is, I think, only the fourth Elmore Leonard novel I’ve read, so I don’t have a lot to compare it with, but I thought this was a stronger and more entertaining entry than the last couple I tried. The blurb tells me that there is a TV series based around Raylan Givens, one of the main characters of this novel, but I hadn’t even heard of that series, let alone watched it. I don’t actually watch much TV beyond sports and one-off movies. Watching TV takes up too much valuable reading time!
This book opens with the story being told by one Harry Arno, a 66-year-old Florida bookie getting squeezed between the FBI and a local mafia operator. Gradually though the perspective shifts to Givens, a onetime teenage coal miner from East Kentucky turned U.S. Marine turned Deputy Marshal. He’s a tough customer, cool under pressure, but he retains some of the innocence of his small town roots.
In the novel there’s a connection between Harry Arno and the town of Rapallo in northern Italy. The town was the home of the poet Ezra Pound, and Leonard is clearly a fan, with Pound’s poetry and life story featuring prominently in the novel. A little self-indulgence by Elmore Leonard perhaps, but not one that I minded.
Leonard started his writing career with westerns, and you can see that influence in the character of Givens, who wears a stetson and cowboy boots, and who generally acts like the good guy in a classic western novel. The dialogue that Leonard creates is a feature I’ve liked in each of his books.
Incidentally I know the word “pronto” is used quite a bit in Italian, and I presume the Italy connection in this book was the prompt for the title, but I didn’t notice the word “pronto” being used anywhere in the novel.
A book to read if you are looking for a crime novel with strong character development.
This book opens with the story being told by one Harry Arno, a 66-year-old Florida bookie getting squeezed between the FBI and a local mafia operator. Gradually though the perspective shifts to Givens, a onetime teenage coal miner from East Kentucky turned U.S. Marine turned Deputy Marshal. He’s a tough customer, cool under pressure, but he retains some of the innocence of his small town roots.
In the novel there’s a connection between Harry Arno and the town of Rapallo in northern Italy. The town was the home of the poet Ezra Pound, and Leonard is clearly a fan, with Pound’s poetry and life story featuring prominently in the novel. A little self-indulgence by Elmore Leonard perhaps, but not one that I minded.
Leonard started his writing career with westerns, and you can see that influence in the character of Givens, who wears a stetson and cowboy boots, and who generally acts like the good guy in a classic western novel. The dialogue that Leonard creates is a feature I’ve liked in each of his books.
Incidentally I know the word “pronto” is used quite a bit in Italian, and I presume the Italy connection in this book was the prompt for the title, but I didn’t notice the word “pronto” being used anywhere in the novel.
A book to read if you are looking for a crime novel with strong character development.
November 20, 2014
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
When 99.99999% of the entertainment value of your reviews is .gif based, things like this:
tend to happen quite frequently and some reviews just flat out fall through the cracks of your pop-culture-infused brain. Thus was the case with Pronto. I’m always fighting the losing battle of correcting some of my literary shortcomings and reading authors who I know I want to read and should be reading, but somehow still haven’t (and yet somehow I always find time to read this year’s Twilight or 50 Shades - God, I suck). This Spring it was Elmore Leonard’s turn. I started with a guaranteed “like” in the form of Run Punch and then it came to my attention that there was a little book called Pronto at the library. Said book just happened to be inspiration for one of my husband’s favorite television shows, which he claimed was worthy of . . .
Me, being the extremely clever lady I am, decided to give the book a gander, then surprise my husband with my vast knowledge of all things Raylan Givens and perhaps even enjoy the final season of Justified with him. And that would have been a great idea . . . if I had liked Pronto a whole lot more.
The premise, although perhaps a bit stale and overused, was entertaining enough. Raylan is a U.S. Marshal who has been assigned to retrieve a runaway bookie before he gets whacked. You know, typical cat and mouse type of chaser with a broad thrown in for good measure in order to spice things up with the MC. Leonard even decided to throw in an Italian background to class things up a bit. My problem? From what I’ve seen from the Justified commercials, Raylan is all sorts of awesome . . .
And he’s funny to boot . . .
But in book form, he wasa total a bit of an idiot. Luckily Leonard used a wide cast of characters that helped save the day and the writing was above-par, but all-in-all I was still left with a “meh” reaction to the book as a whole.
Oh and in case you’re wondering – I never bothered watching any of the television show with my husband – and he was A-Okaaaaaay with that idea. There’s a reason we’ve stayed married for a billion and a half years – I don’t shit on his parade when he’s watching shows like Sons of Anarchy or Justified or The League (but I totally call them his “stories” like he’s an old lady watching her soap operas to get a rise out of him) and he doesn’t shit on mine when I’m watching Bob’s Burgers and 30 Rock re-runs.
And now I’m only FIFTEEN reviews behind. Yay me! I deserve an internet break ; )
When 99.99999% of the entertainment value of your reviews is .gif based, things like this:
tend to happen quite frequently and some reviews just flat out fall through the cracks of your pop-culture-infused brain. Thus was the case with Pronto. I’m always fighting the losing battle of correcting some of my literary shortcomings and reading authors who I know I want to read and should be reading, but somehow still haven’t (and yet somehow I always find time to read this year’s Twilight or 50 Shades - God, I suck). This Spring it was Elmore Leonard’s turn. I started with a guaranteed “like” in the form of Run Punch and then it came to my attention that there was a little book called Pronto at the library. Said book just happened to be inspiration for one of my husband’s favorite television shows, which he claimed was worthy of . . .
Me, being the extremely clever lady I am, decided to give the book a gander, then surprise my husband with my vast knowledge of all things Raylan Givens and perhaps even enjoy the final season of Justified with him. And that would have been a great idea . . . if I had liked Pronto a whole lot more.
The premise, although perhaps a bit stale and overused, was entertaining enough. Raylan is a U.S. Marshal who has been assigned to retrieve a runaway bookie before he gets whacked. You know, typical cat and mouse type of chaser with a broad thrown in for good measure in order to spice things up with the MC. Leonard even decided to throw in an Italian background to class things up a bit. My problem? From what I’ve seen from the Justified commercials, Raylan is all sorts of awesome . . .
And he’s funny to boot . . .
But in book form, he was
Oh and in case you’re wondering – I never bothered watching any of the television show with my husband – and he was A-Okaaaaaay with that idea. There’s a reason we’ve stayed married for a billion and a half years – I don’t shit on his parade when he’s watching shows like Sons of Anarchy or Justified or The League (but I totally call them his “stories” like he’s an old lady watching her soap operas to get a rise out of him) and he doesn’t shit on mine when I’m watching Bob’s Burgers and 30 Rock re-runs.
And now I’m only FIFTEEN reviews behind. Yay me! I deserve an internet break ; )
June 12, 2013
Why did I love this book? Two words: Raylan Givens, my favorite kick ass modern day cowboy with a fondness for ice cream.
Pronto, however, is not exclusively Raylan's story, though he figures as a prominent character once he does arrive on the scene. This is actually the story of Harry Arno, a bookie who has decided that in one more year he's going to retire and go to Italy. Italy holds a special place in Harry's heart because he once shot a deserter there during World War II and it was there that he saw Ezra Pound (not once, but twice). This leads to a peculiar obsession for a man like Harry--he's an expert on Ezra Pound (the English teacher in me loved this quirky little twist), can quote lines from memory and reads Pound biographies despite the fact that he doesn't really understand his poetry (does anyone, really? And if you thought to yourself, "Why, yes, yes I do", then I think you're a damn liar). It's also amusing how his fixation on Pound affects those around him (his girlfriend, Joyce, memorizes all of the terrible things about ol' Ezra and even Raylan, after being assigned to escort Harry, goes to the library and checks out some of Pound's poetry, though he's puzzled by everything he reads and soon gives up). But I digress.
Harry's plan seems simple and obtainable, but, in true Leonard fashion, things go caddiwompas. The police want to bring down Harry's boss, Jimmy Cap, a 350 lbs. mob boss with a penchant for butterflies and sun tanning. So what do they do? They indirectly inform Jimmy that Harry's been skimming from him. The problem is that Harry has been skimming--for years, in fact. Jimmy Cap puts out a hit on Harry and, ciao, baby, Harry decides to move up his retirement date and leave the country. Raylan Givens is the U.S. Marshal who decides to go to Italy and try to save Harry from himself and from the hitman he knows has followed Harry.
I will readily admit to knowing nothing about the character of Raylan until watching Justified on FX. On the series, Raylan is a BAMF in a Stetson. That's played down a bit in the book, but I enjoyed it just the same. In the novel Raylan comes off as being a few bricks shy of a load--a good ol' boy in over his head, until you begin to realize that's the persona he's trying to project. It catches people off-guard and gives him an edge. No one knows exactly how to take him, but, make no mistake, Raylan is smarter than your average bear and is capable of extreme violence if necessary. If Raylan has a flaw it's that his sense of justice is so old school black and white that it creates a type of naiveté. In a world where words mean little, Raylan still expects a promise to mean something (after all, it's his willingness to take Harry Arno's word that allows Harry to elude Raylan's grasp twice and thwart his hopes of a promotion with the Marshals service). With his Old West code of ethics and hardscrabble Kentucky coal mining background, Raylan is a complex and entertaining character who makes for an intriguing juxtaposition with the world of Miami's crime syndicate. I'll definitely be reading Riding the Rap and tracking down the Raylan Givens' short stories to sustain me until the next season of Justified.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder
Pronto, however, is not exclusively Raylan's story, though he figures as a prominent character once he does arrive on the scene. This is actually the story of Harry Arno, a bookie who has decided that in one more year he's going to retire and go to Italy. Italy holds a special place in Harry's heart because he once shot a deserter there during World War II and it was there that he saw Ezra Pound (not once, but twice). This leads to a peculiar obsession for a man like Harry--he's an expert on Ezra Pound (the English teacher in me loved this quirky little twist), can quote lines from memory and reads Pound biographies despite the fact that he doesn't really understand his poetry (does anyone, really? And if you thought to yourself, "Why, yes, yes I do", then I think you're a damn liar). It's also amusing how his fixation on Pound affects those around him (his girlfriend, Joyce, memorizes all of the terrible things about ol' Ezra and even Raylan, after being assigned to escort Harry, goes to the library and checks out some of Pound's poetry, though he's puzzled by everything he reads and soon gives up). But I digress.
Harry's plan seems simple and obtainable, but, in true Leonard fashion, things go caddiwompas. The police want to bring down Harry's boss, Jimmy Cap, a 350 lbs. mob boss with a penchant for butterflies and sun tanning. So what do they do? They indirectly inform Jimmy that Harry's been skimming from him. The problem is that Harry has been skimming--for years, in fact. Jimmy Cap puts out a hit on Harry and, ciao, baby, Harry decides to move up his retirement date and leave the country. Raylan Givens is the U.S. Marshal who decides to go to Italy and try to save Harry from himself and from the hitman he knows has followed Harry.
I will readily admit to knowing nothing about the character of Raylan until watching Justified on FX. On the series, Raylan is a BAMF in a Stetson. That's played down a bit in the book, but I enjoyed it just the same. In the novel Raylan comes off as being a few bricks shy of a load--a good ol' boy in over his head, until you begin to realize that's the persona he's trying to project. It catches people off-guard and gives him an edge. No one knows exactly how to take him, but, make no mistake, Raylan is smarter than your average bear and is capable of extreme violence if necessary. If Raylan has a flaw it's that his sense of justice is so old school black and white that it creates a type of naiveté. In a world where words mean little, Raylan still expects a promise to mean something (after all, it's his willingness to take Harry Arno's word that allows Harry to elude Raylan's grasp twice and thwart his hopes of a promotion with the Marshals service). With his Old West code of ethics and hardscrabble Kentucky coal mining background, Raylan is a complex and entertaining character who makes for an intriguing juxtaposition with the world of Miami's crime syndicate. I'll definitely be reading Riding the Rap and tracking down the Raylan Givens' short stories to sustain me until the next season of Justified.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder
November 27, 2023
Reading an Elmore Leonard novel is a visceral experience, like eating a great burger paired with a perfect cold glass of pilsner. It's like watching a boxing match in which the boxer you're rooting for lands every punch perfectly. It's exhilerating.
Leonard works on that viceral level. You become a fly on the wall. Better yet: you are a minor character sitting in the room, privy to the conversation going on in front of you. And, oh, what a fucking great conversation. Until the bullets start flying, and then you're fucked.
"Pronto", written in 1993, introduced the world to Raylan Givens, U.S. Marshall. He would later get his own TV show "Justified" and played by Timothy Oliphant.
Givens is a prototypical Leonard hero: taciturn, laid-back, not one to toot his own horn. In fact, Leonard's heroes are almost always underestimated by everyone. The bad guys, especially, who never see them as a clear and present danger. Until, of course, it's too late.
In "Pronto", Givens is assigned to protect a mob bookie named Harry Arno, who the mob is after for skimming money. Arno gives Givens the slip, which wouldn't be so bad except that Arno has done it to Givens before, years ago, for a completely unrelated thing. It's frankly embarrassing, and Givens is kind of a laughing-stock among his peers in the U.S. Marshall service and the FBI.
An old-school Sicilian hitman is after Arno, and he's willing to go through Arno's stripper girlfriend Joyce to get to him. Joyce, however, is a prototypical Leonard damsel: smart and tougher than she looks.
Plus, Raylan's kinda sweet on her. It won't stop him from doing his job: find Arno, alive. He's a gentleman that way.
There's a lot of humor in a Leonard novel, much of which comes from the naturalistic dialogue. (Quentin Tarantino owes his entire career to Leonard.) There's also a lot of violence, much of which happens suddenly and out of the blue.
Don't be surprised, when reading a Leonard novel, to feel the need to duck every once in a while...
Leonard works on that viceral level. You become a fly on the wall. Better yet: you are a minor character sitting in the room, privy to the conversation going on in front of you. And, oh, what a fucking great conversation. Until the bullets start flying, and then you're fucked.
"Pronto", written in 1993, introduced the world to Raylan Givens, U.S. Marshall. He would later get his own TV show "Justified" and played by Timothy Oliphant.
Givens is a prototypical Leonard hero: taciturn, laid-back, not one to toot his own horn. In fact, Leonard's heroes are almost always underestimated by everyone. The bad guys, especially, who never see them as a clear and present danger. Until, of course, it's too late.
In "Pronto", Givens is assigned to protect a mob bookie named Harry Arno, who the mob is after for skimming money. Arno gives Givens the slip, which wouldn't be so bad except that Arno has done it to Givens before, years ago, for a completely unrelated thing. It's frankly embarrassing, and Givens is kind of a laughing-stock among his peers in the U.S. Marshall service and the FBI.
An old-school Sicilian hitman is after Arno, and he's willing to go through Arno's stripper girlfriend Joyce to get to him. Joyce, however, is a prototypical Leonard damsel: smart and tougher than she looks.
Plus, Raylan's kinda sweet on her. It won't stop him from doing his job: find Arno, alive. He's a gentleman that way.
There's a lot of humor in a Leonard novel, much of which comes from the naturalistic dialogue. (Quentin Tarantino owes his entire career to Leonard.) There's also a lot of violence, much of which happens suddenly and out of the blue.
Don't be surprised, when reading a Leonard novel, to feel the need to duck every once in a while...
March 15, 2010
The Raylan Givens character that Elmore Leonard introduced in this book is the basis of a new TV show called Justified that will be premiering soon. If you just read the first half of the book, you’d probably wonder why anyone would do a show where the hero is a complete moron. If you read the whole book, you’ll be sure to set your DVR to record the series so you won’t miss a minute of it.
Harry Arno is a sixty-six year old bookie in Miami who has been dreaming about retiring to Italy for years. His plans get escalated when the feds make Harry’s mob partner think that he’s been skimming to force Harry to become a witness to avoid being killed. Problem is that Harry actually has been skimming for years to finance his retirement plan.
After an attempt is made on Harry’s life, U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens is assigned to watch Harry to make sure he doesn’t get killed. Harry still doesn’t want to be a witness so he flees to Italy, making Raylan look stupid in the process. Raylan chases Harry on his own time to make up for his mistake. For Harry, retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and hiding from the mob in Italy wasn’t exactly the smartest plan ever devised.
This is a prime example of Elmore Leonard with a large cast of interesting characters, all thinking they’re the hero of the story going on in their heads. Raylan is also one of Leonard’s more interesting creations as a former coal miner turned lawman who sees himself as a modern day cowboy. I’ll definitely be watching the new show and hoping that Hollywood does justice to Raylan.
Harry Arno is a sixty-six year old bookie in Miami who has been dreaming about retiring to Italy for years. His plans get escalated when the feds make Harry’s mob partner think that he’s been skimming to force Harry to become a witness to avoid being killed. Problem is that Harry actually has been skimming for years to finance his retirement plan.
After an attempt is made on Harry’s life, U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens is assigned to watch Harry to make sure he doesn’t get killed. Harry still doesn’t want to be a witness so he flees to Italy, making Raylan look stupid in the process. Raylan chases Harry on his own time to make up for his mistake. For Harry, retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and hiding from the mob in Italy wasn’t exactly the smartest plan ever devised.
This is a prime example of Elmore Leonard with a large cast of interesting characters, all thinking they’re the hero of the story going on in their heads. Raylan is also one of Leonard’s more interesting creations as a former coal miner turned lawman who sees himself as a modern day cowboy. I’ll definitely be watching the new show and hoping that Hollywood does justice to Raylan.
September 3, 2013
My book recommendation for this month is not "a" book recommendation, but a body of work. Like many writers, I want to pay tribute to Elmore Leonard, who recently passed away. He was for me the quintessential writer of quirky, engaging and thoroughly believable dialogue. When reading his books, I never much paid attention to the plots because I was too engaged in his characters. You got to know them in the course of a book, and you wanted to spend time with them. Even most bizarre, troublesome and sometimes evil characters were compelling enough that you wanted to know more. Never a wasted word, never a slow space in the telling of his books, he was one of a kind. I will miss him greatly. I recommend any of his books from his early westerns like Valez Is Coming and Hombre to his Raylan Givens novels in the present. If you've never read one, give him a try. If you had, read one anyway, if only to remember how good he was.
May 5, 2024
This is another one of those “cleaning out the closet” reads (Jul2022). I loved the tv show Justified and was really bummed when it ended, but was pleasantly surprised by the new series City Primeval. So finally getting around to reading the books (I’ve done this with quite a few tv shows that I’ve liked), I was really surprised that the show never included this first installment. Well, I guess I shouldn’t say that none of the story was included in the show. I think there were some flashbacks (very few) as well as some references to “what happened in Miami” between Raylan and various people. Anyway, this installment was, for me, a look into why Raylan was transferred from Miami to Harlan County (KY).
The book summary was actually kind of useless as book summaries sometimes go. It’s actually a tribute to Elmore Leonard than what a book summary is supposed to be. Whatever. The primary storyline is Harry, a 65yr old bookie, who wants to finally retire now that he has a boatload of money that he skimmed from the mobster, Jimmy (aka the Cap). The Feds, who are after the Cap, set Harry up to take the fall so that they can flip Harry to catch the Cap. Harry bolts to Italy because the Cap sent his guy Tommy (aka the Zip) to kill Harry.
There is a secondary storyline of Raylan who is supposed to bring Harry in, but Harry got away from Raylan just like he did years earlier when Raylan tried to bring Harry in for something else. Raylan, who is obsessed with “getting his man” (especially this man) goes after Harry by following Harry’s girlfriend, Joyce, who Harry sends for after he gets to Italy. As to be expected, the Zip and his guys follow Joyce too knowing that she will eventually lead them to Harry.
Murder and mayhem ensue (typical Raylan Givens behavior), ending in a scene with Raylan, the Zip, Harry and Joyce and it’s that scene that I believe was where the first episode of the tv show actually started because I kind of remember that scene. I also remembered Torres, a Miami cop, and Earl Crowe, one of the Cap’s hitmen. Anyway, I enjoyed this bonus read about Raylan and understanding more about why Raylan got transferred to Harlan County.
Also, a weird twist in the story was the relationship between Raylan and his soon to be ex-wife, Winona. While the story of her running off with the Realtor is still part of Raylan and Winona’s story, there is another part of their story that the tv writers chose to leave out. Bad decision. I wish they would have included that part into Raylan’s character, but then I guess he wouldn’t have been able to be the total footloose and fancy-free player that he was in the tv show.
Most of the characterization was pretty good, with the exception to that part of Raylan I just mentioned. The pacing was very good; typical fast-paced, action-packed Raylan Givens style of story. Very much typical Justified stuff. The storyline was good and the ending was great! I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.25. Adding the next installment now.
The book summary was actually kind of useless as book summaries sometimes go. It’s actually a tribute to Elmore Leonard than what a book summary is supposed to be. Whatever. The primary storyline is Harry, a 65yr old bookie, who wants to finally retire now that he has a boatload of money that he skimmed from the mobster, Jimmy (aka the Cap). The Feds, who are after the Cap, set Harry up to take the fall so that they can flip Harry to catch the Cap. Harry bolts to Italy because the Cap sent his guy Tommy (aka the Zip) to kill Harry.
There is a secondary storyline of Raylan who is supposed to bring Harry in, but Harry got away from Raylan just like he did years earlier when Raylan tried to bring Harry in for something else. Raylan, who is obsessed with “getting his man” (especially this man) goes after Harry by following Harry’s girlfriend, Joyce, who Harry sends for after he gets to Italy. As to be expected, the Zip and his guys follow Joyce too knowing that she will eventually lead them to Harry.
Murder and mayhem ensue (typical Raylan Givens behavior), ending in a scene with Raylan, the Zip, Harry and Joyce and it’s that scene that I believe was where the first episode of the tv show actually started because I kind of remember that scene. I also remembered Torres, a Miami cop, and Earl Crowe, one of the Cap’s hitmen. Anyway, I enjoyed this bonus read about Raylan and understanding more about why Raylan got transferred to Harlan County.
Also, a weird twist in the story was the relationship between Raylan and his soon to be ex-wife, Winona. While the story of her running off with the Realtor is still part of Raylan and Winona’s story, there is another part of their story that the tv writers chose to leave out. Bad decision. I wish they would have included that part into Raylan’s character, but then I guess he wouldn’t have been able to be the total footloose and fancy-free player that he was in the tv show.
Most of the characterization was pretty good, with the exception to that part of Raylan I just mentioned. The pacing was very good; typical fast-paced, action-packed Raylan Givens style of story. Very much typical Justified stuff. The storyline was good and the ending was great! I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.25. Adding the next installment now.
August 16, 2015
For me, there's John Steinbeck, Elmore Leonard and Flannery O'Connor and then all other authors. That said, Leonard's work is championship caliber or DNP due to league substance violation. Hit or miss. His 1993 novel Pronto actually lopes along for 241 pages occupying the middle of the pack. Rather than a great novel, it's travelogue that reads more like backstory to a great novel. Then the last 24 pages happen and throw everything up for grabs.
The story opens in South Miami Beach, where 66-year-old Harry Arno ("He was the same age as Paul Newman", Leonard mentions) is in a tight spot. The manager of three sports books, Harry Arno splits his earnings fifty-fifty with Jimmy Capotorto, the local boss who for the exception of cocaine, gets a piece of all ill gotten gains in Dade County. Harry Arno is responsible for covering his own operating expenses, but that doesn't matter because Harry Arno's been skimming the mob for decades.
Tipped by his friend, vice cop Buck Torres, Harry learns that the Bureau has tapped his lines in an attempt to drag Jimmy Cap in front of a grand jury. The feds have figured out that Harry is skimming from his boss, and by putting that information on the street, hope Harry will run to them for protection, turning state's witness against Jimmy Cap. The Bureau has already tapped a conversation between Jimmy Cap and another party about handling Harry. The other party goes by the name Tommy Bucks.
Harry said, "Well, I'm not going to worry about it. If it was ten or twelve years ago, and Jimmy told Tommy Bucks in those words, 'Handle it,' that would be a different story. I mean back when he first came over," Harry said. "Tommy's a Zip. You know what I mean? One of those guys they used to import from Sicily to handle the rough stuff. Guy could be a peasant right out of the Middle Ages, looks around and he's in Miami Beach. Can't believe it. They hand the Zip a gun and say, 'There, that guy.' And the Zip takes him out. You understand? They import the kind of guy who likes to shoot. He's got no priors here; nobody gives a shit if he gets picked up, convicted, put away. If he does, you send for another Zip."
Keeping Harry in Miami is Joyce Patton, a 40-year-old catalog model and cocktail waitress he's been seeing off and on. His memory not what it used to be, Harry sometimes "reveals" to her a dark secret, the time in 1945 when he shot a U.S. Army deserter in the town of Rapallo, Italy. It's a secret Harry "reveals" to most any captive audience. The U.S. Marshals Service, anticipating that Harry needs to stay healthy long enough to testify, posts one of their men outside his apartment.
Enter Raylan Givens, a man Joyce reports looks more like a farmer than a fed. Stringy, hollow cheeked, a Stetson hat tilted over his brow just right with the accent to match, Raylan has met Harry before. Six years ago, escorting the bookie to testify before a grand jury in Atlanta, Harry slipped out on Raylan in the airport. Though Harry was not a prisoner and was never served with a warrant after his escape, Raylan never forgot. Or maybe he did. Taking Harry to dinner, Raylan realizes too late that his man is taking a while in the men's room.
After losing Harry in Atlanta five years ago, Raylan was reassigned to Glynco as a firearms instructor, the talent there is no doubt he possessed being the handling of guns. Raylan is estranged from his sons, Ricky, nine, and Randy, three and a half, who Raylan had wanted to name Hank and George after the greatest country singers of all time, until his wife Winona got her way and named them instead. Ex-wife, after she ran away with their real estate agent in Georgia.
When he loses Harry a second time, Raylan takes it personally. He draws some vacation time and boards a flight to London, where he has a good idea where Harry went next. He recalls the bookie telling him a secret five years ago, a story about the time Harry shot a deserter in Italy, in a town called Rapallo. Using far less sophisticated means, the Zip learns where to look for Harry and returns to his home country, where a network of fellow Zips are more than happy to help him find a guy.
Pronto is a novel I could take or leave through 241 of its 265 pages. I'll state why:
-- I like titles that I assume mean one thing, until I get deep into the book, and learn they really mean something else.
-- I don't like that for much of the novel, Raylan seems to be a poor law enforcement agent. He loses witnesses, proves inept at field work, has no professional allies and wanders into situations he doesn't know how he'll get out of. Even his ex-wife seems to have taken issue with Raylan's anger.
-- I do like that Raylan is a straight shooter -- literally -- with an undefiable sense of justice. He's like the flip side of the coin of Omar Little from The Wire, a rogue beast who when you see coming, you just have to get out of its way.
-- I don't like that the Leonard's facility with strong, smart women goes vastly unused in this novel. Joyce Patton is underwritten. I kept thinking of all the feisty Italian women who might have turned up in this story, but it is not to be.
-- I do love Leonard's dialogue.
"You didn't think I was Italian?" Harry said.
"Uh-unh, not even you wearing your coat like that, like Fellini. You from somewhere on the East Coast. New York?"
"Miami. The Beach most of my life."
"You could be Italian, yeah, but not from around here the way you're dressed. Well, you could come from Milan, I guess, close by. But to look all the way Italian, man, you got to have the suit with the pointy shoulders and the pointy shoes with the little thin soles. You staying here on your holiday?"
"I've got a place," Harry said, and then came right out and told him, "a villa. I'm making up my mind if I want to live here."
"Rapallo? Man, this is all there is to it. You hiding out?"
"Do I look like I am?"
"I've run into all kinds of people over here hiding from something--the only reason I ask. I don't care, you understand. I see a man like yourself come to a place like this? Pretty much strictly for locals? I have to wonder, that's all."
-- I don't like that the novel seems like a novella that Leonard let get out of hand. There are a lot of scenes with guys talking about how they're going to wack someone, all of it courtesy one character, Jimmy Cap's bodyguard Nicky Testa, alias Joe Macho. I get what Leonard is doing with this turkey, the guy who's never killed anybody talking about how he could kill somebody, but he got on my nerves.
-- I do like that Leonard took a holiday from Miami Beach and tried his hand at a different locale, relocating much of the story to Italy. Harry's bond with Rapallo is well grounded in the memories so many of our servicemen seem to return from a foreign war with. The setting pushes new air through the corridor of Leonard's patented lawn flamingo pulp fiction.
The saving grace of Pronto are the last 14 pages. I had Raylan Givens pegged as both a poor excuse for a marshal, but Leonard flips all those presumptions on their head in the climax. It isn't that Raylan lacks values, it's that his values went out of fashion with the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. If Doc Holliday stepped out of a time machine into the present day, he'd behave a lot like Raylan Givens -- short on legal expertise or investigative techniques, long on marksmanship and justice.
Elmore Leonard circled back to Raylan Givens with his next novel, Riding the Rap in 1995. A novella featuring the lawman, Fire in the Hole, was published in 2001. Ten years later, the last novel Leonard would publish picked up the character with Raylan. A TV series starring Timothy Olyphant as the unorthodox marshal titled Justified aired on FX from 2010-2015. The opening scene of the pilot episode drew from the climax of Pronto while the plot was adapted from Fire in the Hole.
The story opens in South Miami Beach, where 66-year-old Harry Arno ("He was the same age as Paul Newman", Leonard mentions) is in a tight spot. The manager of three sports books, Harry Arno splits his earnings fifty-fifty with Jimmy Capotorto, the local boss who for the exception of cocaine, gets a piece of all ill gotten gains in Dade County. Harry Arno is responsible for covering his own operating expenses, but that doesn't matter because Harry Arno's been skimming the mob for decades.
Tipped by his friend, vice cop Buck Torres, Harry learns that the Bureau has tapped his lines in an attempt to drag Jimmy Cap in front of a grand jury. The feds have figured out that Harry is skimming from his boss, and by putting that information on the street, hope Harry will run to them for protection, turning state's witness against Jimmy Cap. The Bureau has already tapped a conversation between Jimmy Cap and another party about handling Harry. The other party goes by the name Tommy Bucks.
Harry said, "Well, I'm not going to worry about it. If it was ten or twelve years ago, and Jimmy told Tommy Bucks in those words, 'Handle it,' that would be a different story. I mean back when he first came over," Harry said. "Tommy's a Zip. You know what I mean? One of those guys they used to import from Sicily to handle the rough stuff. Guy could be a peasant right out of the Middle Ages, looks around and he's in Miami Beach. Can't believe it. They hand the Zip a gun and say, 'There, that guy.' And the Zip takes him out. You understand? They import the kind of guy who likes to shoot. He's got no priors here; nobody gives a shit if he gets picked up, convicted, put away. If he does, you send for another Zip."
Keeping Harry in Miami is Joyce Patton, a 40-year-old catalog model and cocktail waitress he's been seeing off and on. His memory not what it used to be, Harry sometimes "reveals" to her a dark secret, the time in 1945 when he shot a U.S. Army deserter in the town of Rapallo, Italy. It's a secret Harry "reveals" to most any captive audience. The U.S. Marshals Service, anticipating that Harry needs to stay healthy long enough to testify, posts one of their men outside his apartment.
Enter Raylan Givens, a man Joyce reports looks more like a farmer than a fed. Stringy, hollow cheeked, a Stetson hat tilted over his brow just right with the accent to match, Raylan has met Harry before. Six years ago, escorting the bookie to testify before a grand jury in Atlanta, Harry slipped out on Raylan in the airport. Though Harry was not a prisoner and was never served with a warrant after his escape, Raylan never forgot. Or maybe he did. Taking Harry to dinner, Raylan realizes too late that his man is taking a while in the men's room.
After losing Harry in Atlanta five years ago, Raylan was reassigned to Glynco as a firearms instructor, the talent there is no doubt he possessed being the handling of guns. Raylan is estranged from his sons, Ricky, nine, and Randy, three and a half, who Raylan had wanted to name Hank and George after the greatest country singers of all time, until his wife Winona got her way and named them instead. Ex-wife, after she ran away with their real estate agent in Georgia.
When he loses Harry a second time, Raylan takes it personally. He draws some vacation time and boards a flight to London, where he has a good idea where Harry went next. He recalls the bookie telling him a secret five years ago, a story about the time Harry shot a deserter in Italy, in a town called Rapallo. Using far less sophisticated means, the Zip learns where to look for Harry and returns to his home country, where a network of fellow Zips are more than happy to help him find a guy.
Pronto is a novel I could take or leave through 241 of its 265 pages. I'll state why:
-- I like titles that I assume mean one thing, until I get deep into the book, and learn they really mean something else.
-- I don't like that for much of the novel, Raylan seems to be a poor law enforcement agent. He loses witnesses, proves inept at field work, has no professional allies and wanders into situations he doesn't know how he'll get out of. Even his ex-wife seems to have taken issue with Raylan's anger.
-- I do like that Raylan is a straight shooter -- literally -- with an undefiable sense of justice. He's like the flip side of the coin of Omar Little from The Wire, a rogue beast who when you see coming, you just have to get out of its way.
-- I don't like that the Leonard's facility with strong, smart women goes vastly unused in this novel. Joyce Patton is underwritten. I kept thinking of all the feisty Italian women who might have turned up in this story, but it is not to be.
-- I do love Leonard's dialogue.
"You didn't think I was Italian?" Harry said.
"Uh-unh, not even you wearing your coat like that, like Fellini. You from somewhere on the East Coast. New York?"
"Miami. The Beach most of my life."
"You could be Italian, yeah, but not from around here the way you're dressed. Well, you could come from Milan, I guess, close by. But to look all the way Italian, man, you got to have the suit with the pointy shoulders and the pointy shoes with the little thin soles. You staying here on your holiday?"
"I've got a place," Harry said, and then came right out and told him, "a villa. I'm making up my mind if I want to live here."
"Rapallo? Man, this is all there is to it. You hiding out?"
"Do I look like I am?"
"I've run into all kinds of people over here hiding from something--the only reason I ask. I don't care, you understand. I see a man like yourself come to a place like this? Pretty much strictly for locals? I have to wonder, that's all."
-- I don't like that the novel seems like a novella that Leonard let get out of hand. There are a lot of scenes with guys talking about how they're going to wack someone, all of it courtesy one character, Jimmy Cap's bodyguard Nicky Testa, alias Joe Macho. I get what Leonard is doing with this turkey, the guy who's never killed anybody talking about how he could kill somebody, but he got on my nerves.
-- I do like that Leonard took a holiday from Miami Beach and tried his hand at a different locale, relocating much of the story to Italy. Harry's bond with Rapallo is well grounded in the memories so many of our servicemen seem to return from a foreign war with. The setting pushes new air through the corridor of Leonard's patented lawn flamingo pulp fiction.
The saving grace of Pronto are the last 14 pages. I had Raylan Givens pegged as both a poor excuse for a marshal, but Leonard flips all those presumptions on their head in the climax. It isn't that Raylan lacks values, it's that his values went out of fashion with the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. If Doc Holliday stepped out of a time machine into the present day, he'd behave a lot like Raylan Givens -- short on legal expertise or investigative techniques, long on marksmanship and justice.
Elmore Leonard circled back to Raylan Givens with his next novel, Riding the Rap in 1995. A novella featuring the lawman, Fire in the Hole, was published in 2001. Ten years later, the last novel Leonard would publish picked up the character with Raylan. A TV series starring Timothy Olyphant as the unorthodox marshal titled Justified aired on FX from 2010-2015. The opening scene of the pilot episode drew from the climax of Pronto while the plot was adapted from Fire in the Hole.
September 1, 2013
Graham Greene was known to have categorized some of his own books as entertainments. Greene was aware that a writer had great power over the worlds he created. He knew that a writer could manipulate his stories and his characters in order to enhance the thrill of the read. So when one reads The End of the Affair they experience a different approach to writing than the approach used by Greene in Brighton Rock. Even though both books are entertaining, the latter is one of Greene’s entertainments because of the obvious manipulations used by Greene to create a film noir feel to the work.
Then we have Pronto, which is highly entertaining and had me flipping through pages. Like Brighton Rock the book is character-driven and filled with organized crime figures, hit-men, mobsters, bookies, and a diligent investigator, Raylan Givens. But this is not an entertainment and the difference is Leonard's deep respect for reality.
Leonard creates his world, populates it with his characters and then steps back, almost as if to see what happens. By the end of the book, you feel as if Leonard is just as amazed at the ending as the reader.
The characters are human, imperfect, and unpredictable. They are just as likely to act upon their emotions as they are their own reasoning, and the results of their decisions are never conclusive. Their lives are interesting and their fates cannot be predicted. You keep reading page after page because you want to know more about them, as we in life want to know more about the interesting people around us. And just as in life, we never fully know as much about these interesting people as we would like to know.
It is for this want of knowing more about Leonard's characters that you could easily dismiss Leonard as a pulp-fictionist. However, for those who enjoy looking deeper into the writing of the books they read, there is a lot in Leonard’s writing to look at.
Then we have Pronto, which is highly entertaining and had me flipping through pages. Like Brighton Rock the book is character-driven and filled with organized crime figures, hit-men, mobsters, bookies, and a diligent investigator, Raylan Givens. But this is not an entertainment and the difference is Leonard's deep respect for reality.
Leonard creates his world, populates it with his characters and then steps back, almost as if to see what happens. By the end of the book, you feel as if Leonard is just as amazed at the ending as the reader.
The characters are human, imperfect, and unpredictable. They are just as likely to act upon their emotions as they are their own reasoning, and the results of their decisions are never conclusive. Their lives are interesting and their fates cannot be predicted. You keep reading page after page because you want to know more about them, as we in life want to know more about the interesting people around us. And just as in life, we never fully know as much about these interesting people as we would like to know.
It is for this want of knowing more about Leonard's characters that you could easily dismiss Leonard as a pulp-fictionist. However, for those who enjoy looking deeper into the writing of the books they read, there is a lot in Leonard’s writing to look at.
March 24, 2025
One of his best, for me. Completely enthralling, fast, funny, flawlessly paced and plotted. Wonderfully awful (sartorially embarrassing) bad guys, including yet another dumb-as-a-post heavy, and no 2-D characters anywhere. Not a dull moment, not a wasted adverb, peerless dialogue, another indispensable classic.
February 9, 2015
Pronto is my first read from Elmore Leonard and it’s all because of the introduction of one Raylan Givens, the character the TV series Justified is based on, which I’m a big fan of.
U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens is not the main character of Pronto, more a co-star but he still manages to steal the show in a character driven story.
The stories main focal point is mob book runner Harry Arno, an aged man who works the phone, takes the bets and makes money for the Mafia. Harry's fortunes change when he gets set up and incurs the wrath of mob enforcer Tommy 'the zip' Bucks and he's forced to flee both Raylan and the country in search of a safe haven.
He lands in Italy, a place he was planning to retire to, soon to follow is his ex-stripper girlfriend Joyce, the Mafia hot on his trail and Raylan using his vacation time.
Pronto is an entertaining crime thriller that at times reminded me of a western with some outstanding dialogue and one or two intriguing stand-offs. Raylan shows all the hallmarks of his TV persona, likeable, an eye for the ladies, perceptive, intelligent and humorous. There's some really good points in this but it doesn't hold throughout, I guess that's due to Raylan being by far the best character but not the primary focus.
There's plenty of depth to the characters and the dialogue keeps your attention but it could have been so much better. I will follow up with the next in the series because Raylan as you may have guessed is a bit of a favourite and this story whilst absorbing, was never translated into an episode of Justified.
The audio narration by Nick Landrum at just over 7 hours was pretty good, with the odd bit of Italian dialect and this certainly won’t be my last Elmore Leonard and Raylan Givens story.
A 3.5 Rating.
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens is not the main character of Pronto, more a co-star but he still manages to steal the show in a character driven story.
The stories main focal point is mob book runner Harry Arno, an aged man who works the phone, takes the bets and makes money for the Mafia. Harry's fortunes change when he gets set up and incurs the wrath of mob enforcer Tommy 'the zip' Bucks and he's forced to flee both Raylan and the country in search of a safe haven.
He lands in Italy, a place he was planning to retire to, soon to follow is his ex-stripper girlfriend Joyce, the Mafia hot on his trail and Raylan using his vacation time.
Pronto is an entertaining crime thriller that at times reminded me of a western with some outstanding dialogue and one or two intriguing stand-offs. Raylan shows all the hallmarks of his TV persona, likeable, an eye for the ladies, perceptive, intelligent and humorous. There's some really good points in this but it doesn't hold throughout, I guess that's due to Raylan being by far the best character but not the primary focus.
There's plenty of depth to the characters and the dialogue keeps your attention but it could have been so much better. I will follow up with the next in the series because Raylan as you may have guessed is a bit of a favourite and this story whilst absorbing, was never translated into an episode of Justified.
The audio narration by Nick Landrum at just over 7 hours was pretty good, with the odd bit of Italian dialect and this certainly won’t be my last Elmore Leonard and Raylan Givens story.
A 3.5 Rating.
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
August 10, 2025
While this novel qualifies as Raylan Givens book 1 it could also be qualified as Harry Arno book 1, as it is the tale of of a sports bookie Harry Arno thats gets squeezed by the Department of Justice into a position that endangers his life by the MAFFIA. They want him to spill the beans on one lower level capo and make up some stuff to bring danger to his door. And instead of spilling the beans Arno does something else and takes a trip to Europe, especially Italy were he spend some time during WW2 and it somehow always stayed on his mind he would like te retire there. This time he has a good reason to go there.
Raylan Givens has met Harry before and at that time Harry slipped out of his custody and that marked his career. For a second time Harry gives him the slip and this time Raylan follows him to Italy to protect him from the stupidity of Harry himself and that of the Justice department who are responsible for the ordered hit on Harry.
It is a slowly told story with interesting characters that are given a body and the US Marshall does come out looking mighty laid back and a rather cool customer who is best not crossed with malicious plans or ideas. The dialogue is brilliant and fun and the story while not as grand does deliver a very well tale. This book would easily cover one episode of the tv show it spawned called "Justified", but no more.
Elmore Leonard does write a good story and he gave us a interesting character to enjoy in the form of a US Marshall but has not forgotten that a good tale has more interesting figures even if some of the Italian gangsters are a bit of stereotype. An entertaining read.
Raylan Givens has met Harry before and at that time Harry slipped out of his custody and that marked his career. For a second time Harry gives him the slip and this time Raylan follows him to Italy to protect him from the stupidity of Harry himself and that of the Justice department who are responsible for the ordered hit on Harry.
It is a slowly told story with interesting characters that are given a body and the US Marshall does come out looking mighty laid back and a rather cool customer who is best not crossed with malicious plans or ideas. The dialogue is brilliant and fun and the story while not as grand does deliver a very well tale. This book would easily cover one episode of the tv show it spawned called "Justified", but no more.
Elmore Leonard does write a good story and he gave us a interesting character to enjoy in the form of a US Marshall but has not forgotten that a good tale has more interesting figures even if some of the Italian gangsters are a bit of stereotype. An entertaining read.
August 10, 2020
.
3 Stars
I'm not impressed. It's like a short story padded with tons of useless dialogue.
As usual with my reviews, please first read the publisher’s blurb/summary of the book. Thank you.
Leonard's dialogue is overstuffed, verbose and doesn't often advance the plot or reveal more of the character speaking. He also describes scenes and settings extensively, but not in an interesting or revealing way.
The character Harry Arno is quite irritating and indecisive. The plot plods along, boringly, but with moments of good action, well told.
Raylan comes across as independent-minded, mostly honest and highly skilled, yet his detection is pretty dull.
Harry talks constantly about the famous poet Ezra Pound, his wife Dorothy and his mistress Olga. Harry had met them several times during and after WW-2. In some ways the Ezra Pound history is more entertaining than the main plot.
Dorothy Shakespear, Ezra's wife
Full size image here
Olga Rudge, the mistress
Full size image here
Ezra Pound
Full size image here
All in all, a pretty dull book. I'm going to read more of the series, but book #2 doesn't seem much better.
Leonard is not much of a philosopher, so they're not many quotes.
Notes and quotes:
October 29, Harry would remember, he had vegetable soup, a few crackers, iced tea, and the Jell-O, strawberry. Stepped out into the sunlight in his beige warm-ups with the red piping, his Reeboks, and there was Buck Torres standing by an unmarked car, a blue '91 Caprice. 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. Buck Torres had never asked Harry about his business with Jimmy Capotorto, trying to get to Jimmy Cap through Harry.
-
He asked about guys who ran these clubs hitting on her. She told Harry they weren't her type. As Joy she'd open her act with Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog," do funky moves to the intricate guitar riffs between the lyrics and get the room's attention fast. Her glasses would slip and she'd push them back up while she danced. The idea was not to look too professional.
-
Joyce said, "You know what happens when you play a country tune backwards? You get your girl and your truck back, you're not drunk anymore and your hound dog comes back to life." She said, "I was born in Nashville."
.
3 Stars
I'm not impressed. It's like a short story padded with tons of useless dialogue.
As usual with my reviews, please first read the publisher’s blurb/summary of the book. Thank you.
Leonard's dialogue is overstuffed, verbose and doesn't often advance the plot or reveal more of the character speaking. He also describes scenes and settings extensively, but not in an interesting or revealing way.
The character Harry Arno is quite irritating and indecisive. The plot plods along, boringly, but with moments of good action, well told.
Raylan comes across as independent-minded, mostly honest and highly skilled, yet his detection is pretty dull.
Harry talks constantly about the famous poet Ezra Pound, his wife Dorothy and his mistress Olga. Harry had met them several times during and after WW-2. In some ways the Ezra Pound history is more entertaining than the main plot.
Dorothy Shakespear, Ezra's wife
Full size image here
Olga Rudge, the mistress
Full size image here
Ezra Pound
Full size image here
All in all, a pretty dull book. I'm going to read more of the series, but book #2 doesn't seem much better.
Leonard is not much of a philosopher, so they're not many quotes.
Notes and quotes:
October 29, Harry would remember, he had vegetable soup, a few crackers, iced tea, and the Jell-O, strawberry. Stepped out into the sunlight in his beige warm-ups with the red piping, his Reeboks, and there was Buck Torres standing by an unmarked car, a blue '91 Caprice. 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. Buck Torres had never asked Harry about his business with Jimmy Capotorto, trying to get to Jimmy Cap through Harry.
-
He asked about guys who ran these clubs hitting on her. She told Harry they weren't her type. As Joy she'd open her act with Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog," do funky moves to the intricate guitar riffs between the lyrics and get the room's attention fast. Her glasses would slip and she'd push them back up while she danced. The idea was not to look too professional.
-
Joyce said, "You know what happens when you play a country tune backwards? You get your girl and your truck back, you're not drunk anymore and your hound dog comes back to life." She said, "I was born in Nashville."
.
April 7, 2024
Jules Winnfield, Marcellus Wallace, and The Wolf sit in a barber shop in Miami and while waiting for a trim, discuss Elmore Leonard’s 1993 novel Pronto that introduced the world to Deputy Federal Marshal Raylan Givens.
Jules: All I’m saying is the motherf***** could write, he knew how people talk and put that in his books. Real, motherf****** language in his books.
Marcellus: Raylan has a speech pattern like Butch.
Jules: But Butch was from Knoxville, Raylan is from Kentucky.
Marcellus: Like it f****** matters, east hillbilly land, you know what I’m saying.
Wolf: I believe what our employer is trying to explain to us, Jules, is that Leonard had a talent for making his characters speak in such a way as to be readily understandable for people in our line of work and by extension, recognizable to an audience who expect certain patterns in speech.
Jules: And the crime, was Elmore made? I mean, godd*** the man explains it like he was a part of how this goes down, he had the Italian hitmen going after Harry the bookie correctly, had Harry act like a book on the run would act and put it all together into a very page turnable package.
Wolf: I’m not aware of Harry being a part of a family, he was really just a low level player and got caught with his beak wet. So Harry gives Raylan the slip, again, and Raylan, because he’s some kind of bloodhound tracker, follows him to Italy to get him back before he gets whacked by some old country killers.
Jules: That! That right there was made this work, the dialogue between the Miami Italian who can’t find his ass with both hands and these O motherf****** G bangers in old Italy. Motherf***** says, “I’m gonna kill the cowboy”, and these old motherf****** saying, “Do it, player, he’s right there! What are you waiting for?” Ah man! I’m in. I’m motherf****** in, is all I’m saying.
Marcellus: Leonard had me blocking my afternoon so I could finish his book, he knows how to tell a great story.
[phone rings and Marcellus answers]
Marcellus to Wolf: Got a job for you, Chili says he needs some help.
Jules: and now I am motherf****** out!
Jules: All I’m saying is the motherf***** could write, he knew how people talk and put that in his books. Real, motherf****** language in his books.
Marcellus: Raylan has a speech pattern like Butch.
Jules: But Butch was from Knoxville, Raylan is from Kentucky.
Marcellus: Like it f****** matters, east hillbilly land, you know what I’m saying.
Wolf: I believe what our employer is trying to explain to us, Jules, is that Leonard had a talent for making his characters speak in such a way as to be readily understandable for people in our line of work and by extension, recognizable to an audience who expect certain patterns in speech.
Jules: And the crime, was Elmore made? I mean, godd*** the man explains it like he was a part of how this goes down, he had the Italian hitmen going after Harry the bookie correctly, had Harry act like a book on the run would act and put it all together into a very page turnable package.
Wolf: I’m not aware of Harry being a part of a family, he was really just a low level player and got caught with his beak wet. So Harry gives Raylan the slip, again, and Raylan, because he’s some kind of bloodhound tracker, follows him to Italy to get him back before he gets whacked by some old country killers.
Jules: That! That right there was made this work, the dialogue between the Miami Italian who can’t find his ass with both hands and these O motherf****** G bangers in old Italy. Motherf***** says, “I’m gonna kill the cowboy”, and these old motherf****** saying, “Do it, player, he’s right there! What are you waiting for?” Ah man! I’m in. I’m motherf****** in, is all I’m saying.
Marcellus: Leonard had me blocking my afternoon so I could finish his book, he knows how to tell a great story.
[phone rings and Marcellus answers]
Marcellus to Wolf: Got a job for you, Chili says he needs some help.
Jules: and now I am motherf****** out!
May 21, 2016
"The ant's a centaur in his dragon world. Pull down thy vanity...'
-- Ezra Pound, Canto LXXXI
Not the best Elmore Leonard, but worth it for three major things:
1. Justified. This is the first Elmore Leonard novel that features Raylan Givens (later to appear in the FX series Justified). I think I've watched maybe one episode and it looks good, but if you are a fan of the series just be aware, this book isn't exactly centered on Raylan Givens. It is centered on Miami bookmaker Harry Arno. Arno is a romantic bookie who needs rescuing. He is fascinated by a meeting he had with Ezra Pound during WWII. Arno is talkative, harmless, and easy to like.
2. Chapter 19. Imagine the possibility of Elmore Leonard writing about Ezra Pound. This chapter is that possibility made real. Leonard explores Pound in Italy, a couple of Ezra Pound's Cantos and the story of the love triangle between Ezra Pound, his wife, and his mistress. The story ends up being a vector for the plot action in Leonard's book.
3. Elmore Leonard's writing. Even in his minor novels and more pulpy stuff, the guy can write dialogue. There are reasons I keep coming back to writers like John D. MacDonald, Jim Thompson, and Elmore Leonard. They are artists. They certainly want to sell books, but their writing is crisp, their dialogue is often hilarious, and they are unpretentious. From a ROI perspective, a prospective writer will, IMHO, do way better by spending $1000 buying and reading stuff from writers like Thompson, MacDonald, Leonard, etc., than $50-100k to get an MFA in creative writing.
-- Ezra Pound, Canto LXXXI
Not the best Elmore Leonard, but worth it for three major things:
1. Justified. This is the first Elmore Leonard novel that features Raylan Givens (later to appear in the FX series Justified). I think I've watched maybe one episode and it looks good, but if you are a fan of the series just be aware, this book isn't exactly centered on Raylan Givens. It is centered on Miami bookmaker Harry Arno. Arno is a romantic bookie who needs rescuing. He is fascinated by a meeting he had with Ezra Pound during WWII. Arno is talkative, harmless, and easy to like.
2. Chapter 19. Imagine the possibility of Elmore Leonard writing about Ezra Pound. This chapter is that possibility made real. Leonard explores Pound in Italy, a couple of Ezra Pound's Cantos and the story of the love triangle between Ezra Pound, his wife, and his mistress. The story ends up being a vector for the plot action in Leonard's book.
3. Elmore Leonard's writing. Even in his minor novels and more pulpy stuff, the guy can write dialogue. There are reasons I keep coming back to writers like John D. MacDonald, Jim Thompson, and Elmore Leonard. They are artists. They certainly want to sell books, but their writing is crisp, their dialogue is often hilarious, and they are unpretentious. From a ROI perspective, a prospective writer will, IMHO, do way better by spending $1000 buying and reading stuff from writers like Thompson, MacDonald, Leonard, etc., than $50-100k to get an MFA in creative writing.
October 22, 2014
This is a great introduction to Raylan & ends about where the TV series 'Justified' begins, although there was quite a change for TV. Still, the basics are there & it paints a thorough picture of Raylan's personality. He's a wonderful character, too. His laconic yet tenacious style coupled with a twisty, thrilling plot is so satisfying.
As an audio book, it was pretty well read. The reader did some voices & all were intelligible yet distinct & fit the characters well. He did rush breaks, but I'm not sure if that was him or the production company's editing. I really hate that, though. At the end of a chapter or section, there should be a couple of seconds to break, but here "Chapter Twelve" (or whatever) comes so fast after the last word in chapter 11 that it's almost painful.
This was another download from my local library. I can't thank them enough for making so many hours of entertainment available.
As an audio book, it was pretty well read. The reader did some voices & all were intelligible yet distinct & fit the characters well. He did rush breaks, but I'm not sure if that was him or the production company's editing. I really hate that, though. At the end of a chapter or section, there should be a couple of seconds to break, but here "Chapter Twelve" (or whatever) comes so fast after the last word in chapter 11 that it's almost painful.
This was another download from my local library. I can't thank them enough for making so many hours of entertainment available.
March 27, 2014
Did I read the same book as everyone else? After hearing about Leonard's supposed "mastery" of the hard-boiled crime genre, I picked this one up expecting plenty of twists, turns, and action. Instead, I found myself reading page after page of dull dialogue. They go to a restaurant and talk. Then they go to Italy and talk in cafes. Then they talk in a villa. The plot is so simple and the action so scarce that one must wonder if Leonard is simply bored with his own work. I can imagine the author being vaguely interested in Ezra Pound's time in Italy, so he shoehorns it in here as much as he can. None of what actually does happen is particularly exciting, with the minor exception of the (somewhat anti-climactic) final "shootout". The character of Givens may be somewhat interesting, but his motivations for doing some absurd things are never really explained, and his love interest comes seemingly out of nowhere.
June 15, 2020
I wondered often before i started reading this novel if the literary Raylan Givens was a minor Leonard character and not as well done as tv version played by Timothy Olyphant in Justified. Raylan in the tv show is ice cool character wonderfully written, played so well by an actor that reminded me of Clint Eastwood and not because of the modern Cowboy thing.
Raylan in this book is just as great as a character, he carried the book in the same cool,hardboiled manner and he was mildly amusing with his whole style. The novel was well done when it comes to dark humor as usual.The only reason i dont rate this book higher with more stars is that other characters was not as well written as Raylan. I have read many 4,5 stars Elmore Leonard books to compare this book with.
Its funny everyone who reads Leonard know he is famous, highly rated for writing lowlife characters but my two fav character of his so far are not one of the many criminals running around in his books, it is two US Marshals of his in two different series.
Raylan in this book is just as great as a character, he carried the book in the same cool,hardboiled manner and he was mildly amusing with his whole style. The novel was well done when it comes to dark humor as usual.The only reason i dont rate this book higher with more stars is that other characters was not as well written as Raylan. I have read many 4,5 stars Elmore Leonard books to compare this book with.
Its funny everyone who reads Leonard know he is famous, highly rated for writing lowlife characters but my two fav character of his so far are not one of the many criminals running around in his books, it is two US Marshals of his in two different series.
March 11, 2015
I adore Justified, so I wanted to read the original source for the series. Decent, sparse writing and an ok plot.
March 29, 2018
Another Leonard classic. Never see Justified in FX but if it's anyway as good I will be happy to see it. It is probably one of my favorites novels with Rum Punch close behind, which is high praise because it was my favorite Leonard novel. Can't wait until read more of Raylan Givens' adventures.
April 12, 2015
The Review: http://thefictionalhangout.blogspot.c...
Harry Arno runs a South Miami Beach gambling operation. To protect his position, he was forced to cut a deal with the local muscle, Jimmy Capotorto (Jumbo Jimmy Cap), an even fifty-fifty split. For years Harry had been padding his own stake by skimming off the top. Now a couple of local detectives - wise to sticky fingers - try to bag Jimmy by putting the squeeze on Harry. U.S. Marshalls deliver Harry to court to testify at Jimmy's trial. Even though he's a step slower than he used to be, Harry's no fool - he slips out of the country pronto. With Jimmy Cap's men following and the Feds close behind, the three sides end up in 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 ...
I’ve been meaning to read Elmore Leonard for a while now, ever since I heard that his short story Fire in the Hole, featuring Raylan’s character, inspired Justified, which is one of my favourite shows. However, when I picked up Pronto, I decided that I’d do my best to read all of the Raylan Givens novels in the order that they were released, and the first thing that becomes abundantly clear about Pronto is that despite being billed as the first in a Raylan Givens series, it is not a Raylan Givens novel, featuring the character only as a secondary role, instead shifting the focus onto 66 year old ex-con Harry Arno, who leads Raylan on a merry goose chase to Italy and back as the action divides itself between Miami and Europe in one of the strongest thriller novels that I’ve had the chance to read.
Much like Justified, the dialogue here is excellent and the main selling point of the book. The interactions between the characters are great to see and Leonard handles them incredibly well. I didn’t mind that Raylan wasn’t the main focus of the book because Harry Arno was so fascinating, and it was almost refreshing to see a book where he wasn’t the main focus. Leonard gives the characters themselves enough depth to make them formidable, and whilst Harry Arno was never a character in Justified, and they didn’t decide to adapt Pronto, probably due to the action splitting up between Italy and America, it was fascinating to see these characters come to life as they out-do each other here. Raylan himself makes an intimidating presence as well, and it’s great to see that his character is virtually exactly the same as the show, and I couldn’t help but read his dialogue in Timothy Olyphant’s voice. As I plan on reading more of Elmore Leonard’s novels in the near future, it’ll be really interesting to see where he takes Raylan, and Harry Arno, going forward, as they’re two very interesting characters indeed.
The fact that the book wasn’t set entirely in Harlan County like Justified was allows for a different change of pace and we even get to see Raylan in Italy, which is something that we never got to see on screen. It was a refreshing breather to see this though, yet even with the action not entirely taking place in the States, we still got the neo-western feel, in part due to Raylan himself being like a 19th Century lawman. The book itself managed to be incredibly quick as well, moving along at a very brisk pace once I got into it and I finished the majority in an afternoon, not being able to put it down. The best thing about thrillers is that they’ll keep you hooked and engaged right the way through even if the quality of the book isn’t actually that great (case in point, most of James Patterson’s novels that he co-writes), but the thing is here, Pronto is actually good anyway. You’ll want to read more, and Elmore Leonard really is on top form.
I didn’t have any major issues with Pronto. It kept me hooked, and I really enjoyed how it played out, with the cat and mouse chase being pulled off incredibly well, and readers who haven’t necessarily seen Justified can read this one just fine and still understand what’s going on, and those who have, like me, whether you’ve seen every episode or are still catching up, can enjoy it just as much. Much like the TV series, which I encourage everybody to watch when they can, Elmore Leonard’s Pronto is awesome. I’ll be returning to read more of Harry Arno and Raylan Givens for sure.
VERDICT: 8.9/10
Harry Arno runs a South Miami Beach gambling operation. To protect his position, he was forced to cut a deal with the local muscle, Jimmy Capotorto (Jumbo Jimmy Cap), an even fifty-fifty split. For years Harry had been padding his own stake by skimming off the top. Now a couple of local detectives - wise to sticky fingers - try to bag Jimmy by putting the squeeze on Harry. U.S. Marshalls deliver Harry to court to testify at Jimmy's trial. Even though he's a step slower than he used to be, Harry's no fool - he slips out of the country pronto. With Jimmy Cap's men following and the Feds close behind, the three sides end up in 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 ...
I’ve been meaning to read Elmore Leonard for a while now, ever since I heard that his short story Fire in the Hole, featuring Raylan’s character, inspired Justified, which is one of my favourite shows. However, when I picked up Pronto, I decided that I’d do my best to read all of the Raylan Givens novels in the order that they were released, and the first thing that becomes abundantly clear about Pronto is that despite being billed as the first in a Raylan Givens series, it is not a Raylan Givens novel, featuring the character only as a secondary role, instead shifting the focus onto 66 year old ex-con Harry Arno, who leads Raylan on a merry goose chase to Italy and back as the action divides itself between Miami and Europe in one of the strongest thriller novels that I’ve had the chance to read.
Much like Justified, the dialogue here is excellent and the main selling point of the book. The interactions between the characters are great to see and Leonard handles them incredibly well. I didn’t mind that Raylan wasn’t the main focus of the book because Harry Arno was so fascinating, and it was almost refreshing to see a book where he wasn’t the main focus. Leonard gives the characters themselves enough depth to make them formidable, and whilst Harry Arno was never a character in Justified, and they didn’t decide to adapt Pronto, probably due to the action splitting up between Italy and America, it was fascinating to see these characters come to life as they out-do each other here. Raylan himself makes an intimidating presence as well, and it’s great to see that his character is virtually exactly the same as the show, and I couldn’t help but read his dialogue in Timothy Olyphant’s voice. As I plan on reading more of Elmore Leonard’s novels in the near future, it’ll be really interesting to see where he takes Raylan, and Harry Arno, going forward, as they’re two very interesting characters indeed.
The fact that the book wasn’t set entirely in Harlan County like Justified was allows for a different change of pace and we even get to see Raylan in Italy, which is something that we never got to see on screen. It was a refreshing breather to see this though, yet even with the action not entirely taking place in the States, we still got the neo-western feel, in part due to Raylan himself being like a 19th Century lawman. The book itself managed to be incredibly quick as well, moving along at a very brisk pace once I got into it and I finished the majority in an afternoon, not being able to put it down. The best thing about thrillers is that they’ll keep you hooked and engaged right the way through even if the quality of the book isn’t actually that great (case in point, most of James Patterson’s novels that he co-writes), but the thing is here, Pronto is actually good anyway. You’ll want to read more, and Elmore Leonard really is on top form.
I didn’t have any major issues with Pronto. It kept me hooked, and I really enjoyed how it played out, with the cat and mouse chase being pulled off incredibly well, and readers who haven’t necessarily seen Justified can read this one just fine and still understand what’s going on, and those who have, like me, whether you’ve seen every episode or are still catching up, can enjoy it just as much. Much like the TV series, which I encourage everybody to watch when they can, Elmore Leonard’s Pronto is awesome. I’ll be returning to read more of Harry Arno and Raylan Givens for sure.
VERDICT: 8.9/10
November 15, 2015
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Source: Library Checkout
Pronto tells the story of Harry Arno: he's a Miami bookie, is dating a topless dancer named Joyce and plans to retire to a villa in Italy within the next year. Harry has been skimming profits from his boss Jimmy 'Cap' for years but has so far remained undetected until the Feds decide to set him up in order to get to Jimmy thus forcing him to move up his retirement date and has him fleeing town immediately.
I decided to pick Pronto as my first Elmore Leonard novel because of the fact that I love 'Justified' so much. While my love of the show centers around the character Raylan Givens (or, if I'm being quite honest, mainly because of Timothy Olyphant) he doesn't play the leading character as I would have expected. Pronto is a dialogue driven narrative with a large cast of engaging characters that are all given their share of the spotlight in this story. The mob bosses are hysterical and their simple mindedness is portrayed well and with good humor. Raylan Givens is a small-town cowboy that is much smarter than his persona would imply. Harry is a thief who uses and abuses anyone that can be a benefit to him but still manages to still be a character you care about. Pronto is an entertaining blend of western and crime fiction with a subtle dash of humor.
This was enjoyable on audio with narrator Alexander Adams capable of using a multitude of different voices and even managed to make the occasional Italian dialogue sound authentic. Now that I've had my first experience reading an Elmore Leonard book I can safely say it won't be my last.
Source: Library Checkout
Pronto tells the story of Harry Arno: he's a Miami bookie, is dating a topless dancer named Joyce and plans to retire to a villa in Italy within the next year. Harry has been skimming profits from his boss Jimmy 'Cap' for years but has so far remained undetected until the Feds decide to set him up in order to get to Jimmy thus forcing him to move up his retirement date and has him fleeing town immediately.
I decided to pick Pronto as my first Elmore Leonard novel because of the fact that I love 'Justified' so much. While my love of the show centers around the character Raylan Givens (or, if I'm being quite honest, mainly because of Timothy Olyphant) he doesn't play the leading character as I would have expected. Pronto is a dialogue driven narrative with a large cast of engaging characters that are all given their share of the spotlight in this story. The mob bosses are hysterical and their simple mindedness is portrayed well and with good humor. Raylan Givens is a small-town cowboy that is much smarter than his persona would imply. Harry is a thief who uses and abuses anyone that can be a benefit to him but still manages to still be a character you care about. Pronto is an entertaining blend of western and crime fiction with a subtle dash of humor.
This was enjoyable on audio with narrator Alexander Adams capable of using a multitude of different voices and even managed to make the occasional Italian dialogue sound authentic. Now that I've had my first experience reading an Elmore Leonard book I can safely say it won't be my last.
May 10, 2013
Elmore Leonard is my second-favorite author next to Stephen King. Given (no pun intended!) that fact, that I loved Pronto will come as no surprise. What is surprising is how deftly Leonard switches settings in this tale. We begin in Miami, head over to Italy for a substantial chunk of the novel, then return to Miami. And all the while, Leonard is juggling characters, their motivations, and their desires. Making this juggling act an even greater feat is the fact that the characters' motivations and desires are constantly shifting.
Raylan Givens is our hero; what struck me about him was how fallible he was early in the novel. With a lesser writer, Raylan's metamorphosis into a gritty, witty hero would seem implausible at best; however, because Leonard repeatedly demonstrates Raylan's inherent kindness--and more importantly, his willingness to trust others and forgive them for their sins--we come to understand that Raylan doesn't really metamorphose as much as he simply learns from his mistakes and digs down deep to find a better version of himself. Yes, he is a changer, but he's not a transformer (unless you count the way he transforms an ex-stripper named Joyce into a person who wants more than the lot for which she has previously settled).
I'll stop now before I give too much away, but in conclusion I'll say that while this novel wasn't my favorite Leonard book, it easily deserves its five stars. Leonard writes better stuff in his sleep than most writers do when surcharged with Red Bull, coffee, and a head full of writing rules. Dutch is a national treasure!
Raylan Givens is our hero; what struck me about him was how fallible he was early in the novel. With a lesser writer, Raylan's metamorphosis into a gritty, witty hero would seem implausible at best; however, because Leonard repeatedly demonstrates Raylan's inherent kindness--and more importantly, his willingness to trust others and forgive them for their sins--we come to understand that Raylan doesn't really metamorphose as much as he simply learns from his mistakes and digs down deep to find a better version of himself. Yes, he is a changer, but he's not a transformer (unless you count the way he transforms an ex-stripper named Joyce into a person who wants more than the lot for which she has previously settled).
I'll stop now before I give too much away, but in conclusion I'll say that while this novel wasn't my favorite Leonard book, it easily deserves its five stars. Leonard writes better stuff in his sleep than most writers do when surcharged with Red Bull, coffee, and a head full of writing rules. Dutch is a national treasure!
October 19, 2022
“You hear him say he’s from some county? People from the South do that. Not in Florida so much, I mean people from the south South.”
“I’ve heard of Harlan County,” Joyce said. “You want to know what I think?”
“Tell me.”
“He’s not as dumb as you’d like to believe.”
“I’ve heard of Harlan County,” Joyce said. “You want to know what I think?”
“Tell me.”
“He’s not as dumb as you’d like to believe.”
April 16, 2018
I really enjoyed reading this because of Elmore Leonard's effortless narrative style of writing. He blends in his dialogue so seamlessly with the descriptive prose that it is easy to imagine what's happening as if it's right in front of you. This novel would make a perfect Quentin Tarantino film. PRONTO was a refreshing change after reading a long line of romance novels. The key players in this novel were:
1. The Bookie aka Harry Arno aka John Harold Arnaud: 66 yr old war veteran:
2. The Cowboy aka US Deputy Marshall Raylan Givens: 40 yr old about to be divorced father of 2 sons:
3. The Mobster aka Jumbo Jimmy Capotorto: 60something yr old leader of the Miami Italian mob:
4. The Hitman/Enforcer aka Tomasino Bonatito aka Tommy Bucks: 30something yr old Sicilian immigrant who loves to dress up like real life '50's mobster Frank Costello. Tommy is also called the Zip because that's the term the Italian-Americans in the mob used to describe those fresh from the homeland:
5. The Meathead aka Nicky Testa aka Mr. Macho: Jimmy Capo's 20something yr old bodyguard who is hunky to look at but is as dumb as rocks yet thinks he can take out both the cowboy and the hitman:
6. The Girlfriend aka Joyce Patton: Harry's 40 yr old ex stripper lady love who seems willing to do anything for him:
7. The Expatriate aka Robert Gee: an African-American expatriate former Vietnam vet who meets Harry in Rapallo and starts working for him:
8. The Cop: Sergeant Torres: a Miami PD officer who is friends with Harry but is not corrupt.
9. The Fed aka Special Agent McCormick: the guy who wants to pin a RICO indictment on Jimmy Capo and will do whatever it takes to get it. McCormick doesn't seem to have much scruples.
10. The Mistress aka Gloria: Jimmy Capo's 20something blonde bunny who is hired to satisfy his many manly needs ( and the one sex scene with Jumbo and Gloria made me want to puke ! ):
PRONTO was filled with dry humour, lots of bad guys, a small time criminal protagonist called Harry Arno ( aka John Harold Arnaud ) and a U.S Deputy Marshall sent to bring Harry back to Miami. This novel is filled with crime and the kind of humour one can find in a Tarantino film. The novel opens with 66 yr old Harry, who is the Miami bookie that works for the local mob boss Jumbo Jimmy Capotorto. Harry was enjoying his life with his 40 yr old ex-stripper girlfriend Joyce and had already planned for his retirement in Rapallo Italy where he had leased a villa and some orange groves. He was a two bit criminal but he wasn't an evil guy. Harry's troubles start when a federal agent called McCormick decides to use him as bait to reel in the bigger catch: to pin a RICO indictment on Jimmy Capo. According to McCormick's plan ( which seemed to circumvent a lot of legal technicalities ) the feds would get a small time con man who was already in trouble with the law, to assist them in making Harry squeal on Jimmy. McCormick got this guy Kenneth to lie to Jimmy and tell him that Harry was stealing from him. That would make Jimmy put out a hit on Harry and allow the feds to make a deal with Harry: if Harry agreed to sell out Jimmy then the feds would offer him witness protection. I felt kinda sorry for poor old Harry. The guy had just been rhapsodizing about his beautiful retirement villa in Rapallo and now he had the feds and the mob after him ! The actual villain of the story was Jimmy Capo's hitman/enforcer called Tomasino Bitonti aka Tommy Bucks.
Tommy Bucks was the classic old school type mobster one would see on black and white movies. He dressed only in suave suits and liked to copy the style of real life '50's mobster Frank Costello. Tommy was also called "The Zip", because he had only been in the US for about 10 years, from Sicily. Tommy had bigger goals though. He wanted to be put in charge of Harry's bookie business after he took out the latter and then he hoped to take out Jumbo Jimmy. The other key player among the criminals was the 20 something year old meathead called Nicky Testa. Nicky aka Mr. Macho only liked to lift weights, admire his muscles and worked as Jimmy's personal bodyguard. Jimmy had a 20 something yr old mistress called Gloria who appeared to be a dumb bimbo but revealed her mercenary craftiness in the end when she sided with Tommy Bucks over Jimmy. Harry's troubles were added to after he shot a guy who was sent by Jimmy to kill him. After he was released on bond, Harry had the added stress of an old "friend" following him. This newcomer was the other main character US Marshall Raylan Givens. Raylan had an old score to settle with Harry because the latter had escaped his custody about 10 yrs before. This time Raylan was not going to let Harry get away again.
Harry was smarter than everyone thought and he managed to escape once more and this time he used a passport in his real name to go to Rapallo in Italy, where he had his villa. Raylan knew where Harry would be going, based on an old story that the latter had told him. Harry would have only had to contend with Raylan coming after him, had he not called Joyce and asked her to come meet him. Tommy Bucks had her followed to the travel agent's office ( yeah, the book is that old ) and got the guy to reveal her flight plans. Now poor Harry has both Raylan and Tommy coming after him ! And Joyce is in the middle not even knowing that hell will soon break loose. I loved reading the way the scenes would shift quickly from one group of characters to another and especially how the author would get right into the inner musings of a character's mind. A lot of these character's inner thoughts were funny as hell although Harry's ( the protagonist ) were more bittersweet. Harry was at a major crossroads in his life and discovered, after arriving in Rapallo and spending time there, that he wasn't going to be happy there. He missed Miami and missed all the habitual things that were part of his old life. Harry also has a bit of an obsession with the poet Ezra Pound because he had met the latter in Rapallo when he ( Harry ) had been a 20 yr old soldier. He'd also met Ezra once many years later but they never spoke the second time. The author focused a bit on Harry's obsession with Pound's complex poetry and the fact that Harry couldn't understand any of it yet he was able to recite verses from memory. I took a lot of time trying to figure out the significance of this and was able to come up with the following: Ezra P was the only internationally famous American Harry had ever met and his memory had been that of an impressionable 20 yr old so it's elevated to the second most significant event in his life. Harry could also be one of those folks who love deciphering puzzles and Pound's poetry has been known to be a literary puzzle for readers. Or, maybe it's simply because Harry envied Pound's ability to live life an adventurous expatriate existence and share the same house with both his wife and mistress. There might be some symbolism somewhere and I'm still thinking about it because I hate to have unanswered questions after I've read a book.
In Rapallo, there were lots of twists and tension with everybody looking for Harry and using Joyce as bait. Raylan had come to Rapallo on his personal time since the Feds had decided ( duh ???? ) to not bother extraditing Harry since their plans to go after Jimmy Capo had changed. Sergeant Torres had told Raylan that McCormick had gotten Kenneth the hoodlum to lie and set up Harry. This sort of changed Raylan's attitude to Harry and the US Marshall soon found himself having to intervene to protect both Harry and Joyce. The irony about all this was that Harry had really been stealing from Jimmy Capo all these years but no one had known ( Harry was that good of a small time thief ). In Rapallo, Tommy Bucks and Nicky Testa arrived and are helped by Tommy Italian pals. It is funny that Tommy even finds the time to have several rounds of quickie sex with a prostitute named Rosanna. Harry soon started to unravel a bit due to the stress. He starts to drink again and eat unhealthy food but he has Raylan and the expatriate bodyguard Robert Gee to protect him. In a series of horrible events, Robert is taken captive, Raylan sends Harry and Joyce back to Miami but is unable to save Robert from being killed by Tommy Bucks. This was a horrible scene and I really felt sad for poor Robert. The guy had been through Vietnam, had worked as a mercenary soldier of fortune in Africa and Arabia and was now planning on returning home to Texas when Tommy kills him. Up to this point I had found Tommy was kinda cool ( evil but cool ). After this point, he is just evil.
Back in Miami, there is a major power struggle happening in the mob. Tommy wants to take over from Jimmy, Nicky wants to kill Tommy and take his job and Gloria the bimbo is watching like a piranha waiting to see which of the 3 men she should pin her future penis polishing hopes upon. There's also a major twist because the sexual chemistry that had been brewing between Raylan and Joyce in Rapallo heats up and explodes into passion. Joyce decides to leave Harry for Raylan. The Marshall warns Tommy about trying to kill Harry again and gives the hitman 24 hours to leave Miami and never return. Tommy thinks he is bluffing and then there's a showdown in a restaurant where Raylan ends up killing Tommy. This scene was portrayed at the very beginning of the first episode of the first season of Justified. The TV series began where this book ends. It's in the following clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RjVA...
Meanwhile, the meathead Nicky Testa loses his temper with Jumbo Jimmy who wants to go visit Butterfly World. Nicky shoots Jimmy while the latter is naked and shaving. The novel ends with Harry and Torres talking about Joyce's departure with Raylan and how Gloria is cosying up to Nicky and how McCormick has new plans in place for the Miami mob...
1. The Bookie aka Harry Arno aka John Harold Arnaud: 66 yr old war veteran:
2. The Cowboy aka US Deputy Marshall Raylan Givens: 40 yr old about to be divorced father of 2 sons:
3. The Mobster aka Jumbo Jimmy Capotorto: 60something yr old leader of the Miami Italian mob:
4. The Hitman/Enforcer aka Tomasino Bonatito aka Tommy Bucks: 30something yr old Sicilian immigrant who loves to dress up like real life '50's mobster Frank Costello. Tommy is also called the Zip because that's the term the Italian-Americans in the mob used to describe those fresh from the homeland:
5. The Meathead aka Nicky Testa aka Mr. Macho: Jimmy Capo's 20something yr old bodyguard who is hunky to look at but is as dumb as rocks yet thinks he can take out both the cowboy and the hitman:
6. The Girlfriend aka Joyce Patton: Harry's 40 yr old ex stripper lady love who seems willing to do anything for him:
7. The Expatriate aka Robert Gee: an African-American expatriate former Vietnam vet who meets Harry in Rapallo and starts working for him:
8. The Cop: Sergeant Torres: a Miami PD officer who is friends with Harry but is not corrupt.
9. The Fed aka Special Agent McCormick: the guy who wants to pin a RICO indictment on Jimmy Capo and will do whatever it takes to get it. McCormick doesn't seem to have much scruples.
10. The Mistress aka Gloria: Jimmy Capo's 20something blonde bunny who is hired to satisfy his many manly needs ( and the one sex scene with Jumbo and Gloria made me want to puke ! ):
PRONTO was filled with dry humour, lots of bad guys, a small time criminal protagonist called Harry Arno ( aka John Harold Arnaud ) and a U.S Deputy Marshall sent to bring Harry back to Miami. This novel is filled with crime and the kind of humour one can find in a Tarantino film. The novel opens with 66 yr old Harry, who is the Miami bookie that works for the local mob boss Jumbo Jimmy Capotorto. Harry was enjoying his life with his 40 yr old ex-stripper girlfriend Joyce and had already planned for his retirement in Rapallo Italy where he had leased a villa and some orange groves. He was a two bit criminal but he wasn't an evil guy. Harry's troubles start when a federal agent called McCormick decides to use him as bait to reel in the bigger catch: to pin a RICO indictment on Jimmy Capo. According to McCormick's plan ( which seemed to circumvent a lot of legal technicalities ) the feds would get a small time con man who was already in trouble with the law, to assist them in making Harry squeal on Jimmy. McCormick got this guy Kenneth to lie to Jimmy and tell him that Harry was stealing from him. That would make Jimmy put out a hit on Harry and allow the feds to make a deal with Harry: if Harry agreed to sell out Jimmy then the feds would offer him witness protection. I felt kinda sorry for poor old Harry. The guy had just been rhapsodizing about his beautiful retirement villa in Rapallo and now he had the feds and the mob after him ! The actual villain of the story was Jimmy Capo's hitman/enforcer called Tomasino Bitonti aka Tommy Bucks.
Tommy Bucks was the classic old school type mobster one would see on black and white movies. He dressed only in suave suits and liked to copy the style of real life '50's mobster Frank Costello. Tommy was also called "The Zip", because he had only been in the US for about 10 years, from Sicily. Tommy had bigger goals though. He wanted to be put in charge of Harry's bookie business after he took out the latter and then he hoped to take out Jumbo Jimmy. The other key player among the criminals was the 20 something year old meathead called Nicky Testa. Nicky aka Mr. Macho only liked to lift weights, admire his muscles and worked as Jimmy's personal bodyguard. Jimmy had a 20 something yr old mistress called Gloria who appeared to be a dumb bimbo but revealed her mercenary craftiness in the end when she sided with Tommy Bucks over Jimmy. Harry's troubles were added to after he shot a guy who was sent by Jimmy to kill him. After he was released on bond, Harry had the added stress of an old "friend" following him. This newcomer was the other main character US Marshall Raylan Givens. Raylan had an old score to settle with Harry because the latter had escaped his custody about 10 yrs before. This time Raylan was not going to let Harry get away again.
Harry was smarter than everyone thought and he managed to escape once more and this time he used a passport in his real name to go to Rapallo in Italy, where he had his villa. Raylan knew where Harry would be going, based on an old story that the latter had told him. Harry would have only had to contend with Raylan coming after him, had he not called Joyce and asked her to come meet him. Tommy Bucks had her followed to the travel agent's office ( yeah, the book is that old ) and got the guy to reveal her flight plans. Now poor Harry has both Raylan and Tommy coming after him ! And Joyce is in the middle not even knowing that hell will soon break loose. I loved reading the way the scenes would shift quickly from one group of characters to another and especially how the author would get right into the inner musings of a character's mind. A lot of these character's inner thoughts were funny as hell although Harry's ( the protagonist ) were more bittersweet. Harry was at a major crossroads in his life and discovered, after arriving in Rapallo and spending time there, that he wasn't going to be happy there. He missed Miami and missed all the habitual things that were part of his old life. Harry also has a bit of an obsession with the poet Ezra Pound because he had met the latter in Rapallo when he ( Harry ) had been a 20 yr old soldier. He'd also met Ezra once many years later but they never spoke the second time. The author focused a bit on Harry's obsession with Pound's complex poetry and the fact that Harry couldn't understand any of it yet he was able to recite verses from memory. I took a lot of time trying to figure out the significance of this and was able to come up with the following: Ezra P was the only internationally famous American Harry had ever met and his memory had been that of an impressionable 20 yr old so it's elevated to the second most significant event in his life. Harry could also be one of those folks who love deciphering puzzles and Pound's poetry has been known to be a literary puzzle for readers. Or, maybe it's simply because Harry envied Pound's ability to live life an adventurous expatriate existence and share the same house with both his wife and mistress. There might be some symbolism somewhere and I'm still thinking about it because I hate to have unanswered questions after I've read a book.
In Rapallo, there were lots of twists and tension with everybody looking for Harry and using Joyce as bait. Raylan had come to Rapallo on his personal time since the Feds had decided ( duh ???? ) to not bother extraditing Harry since their plans to go after Jimmy Capo had changed. Sergeant Torres had told Raylan that McCormick had gotten Kenneth the hoodlum to lie and set up Harry. This sort of changed Raylan's attitude to Harry and the US Marshall soon found himself having to intervene to protect both Harry and Joyce. The irony about all this was that Harry had really been stealing from Jimmy Capo all these years but no one had known ( Harry was that good of a small time thief ). In Rapallo, Tommy Bucks and Nicky Testa arrived and are helped by Tommy Italian pals. It is funny that Tommy even finds the time to have several rounds of quickie sex with a prostitute named Rosanna. Harry soon started to unravel a bit due to the stress. He starts to drink again and eat unhealthy food but he has Raylan and the expatriate bodyguard Robert Gee to protect him. In a series of horrible events, Robert is taken captive, Raylan sends Harry and Joyce back to Miami but is unable to save Robert from being killed by Tommy Bucks. This was a horrible scene and I really felt sad for poor Robert. The guy had been through Vietnam, had worked as a mercenary soldier of fortune in Africa and Arabia and was now planning on returning home to Texas when Tommy kills him. Up to this point I had found Tommy was kinda cool ( evil but cool ). After this point, he is just evil.
Back in Miami, there is a major power struggle happening in the mob. Tommy wants to take over from Jimmy, Nicky wants to kill Tommy and take his job and Gloria the bimbo is watching like a piranha waiting to see which of the 3 men she should pin her future penis polishing hopes upon. There's also a major twist because the sexual chemistry that had been brewing between Raylan and Joyce in Rapallo heats up and explodes into passion. Joyce decides to leave Harry for Raylan. The Marshall warns Tommy about trying to kill Harry again and gives the hitman 24 hours to leave Miami and never return. Tommy thinks he is bluffing and then there's a showdown in a restaurant where Raylan ends up killing Tommy. This scene was portrayed at the very beginning of the first episode of the first season of Justified. The TV series began where this book ends. It's in the following clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RjVA...
Meanwhile, the meathead Nicky Testa loses his temper with Jumbo Jimmy who wants to go visit Butterfly World. Nicky shoots Jimmy while the latter is naked and shaving. The novel ends with Harry and Torres talking about Joyce's departure with Raylan and how Gloria is cosying up to Nicky and how McCormick has new plans in place for the Miami mob...
February 10, 2026
This is a superb novel and easy to read.
This is the first book in the Raylan Givens series. Raylan is a US Marshal who seems to wear his cowboy hat a lot. The main character in the book, however, is a man called Harry Arno and the main question you will have in this book is how long will Harry last, will he get to the end of the book?
Harry has been skimming some money from his betting business that's part of an empire run by a rather large mobster called Jimmy Capotorto in Miami. Jimmy Cap has been told by rivals of Harry that Harry is taking a percentage for himself and not paying all the profits to Jimmy Cap. This is partially true but Harry is soon on the run, heading to Rapallo in Italy where he was stationed at times during WWII. He is followed there, first by Joyce his part-time girlfriend and then by Jimmy Cap's mobsters, and then by Raylan Givens, who Harry escapes from for the second time in his life, at a restaurant. Harry has been skimming money in preparation for his retirement for twenty years and has bought a substantial villa on the hillside overlooking Rapallo.
The meetings and shootings take place at quite a speed before most of the characters return to the USA where the denouement occurs.
This is the first book in the Raylan Givens series. Raylan is a US Marshal who seems to wear his cowboy hat a lot. The main character in the book, however, is a man called Harry Arno and the main question you will have in this book is how long will Harry last, will he get to the end of the book?
Harry has been skimming some money from his betting business that's part of an empire run by a rather large mobster called Jimmy Capotorto in Miami. Jimmy Cap has been told by rivals of Harry that Harry is taking a percentage for himself and not paying all the profits to Jimmy Cap. This is partially true but Harry is soon on the run, heading to Rapallo in Italy where he was stationed at times during WWII. He is followed there, first by Joyce his part-time girlfriend and then by Jimmy Cap's mobsters, and then by Raylan Givens, who Harry escapes from for the second time in his life, at a restaurant. Harry has been skimming money in preparation for his retirement for twenty years and has bought a substantial villa on the hillside overlooking Rapallo.
The meetings and shootings take place at quite a speed before most of the characters return to the USA where the denouement occurs.
October 17, 2016
Pronto takes place in Miami Beach and in northern Italy and is a relatively complex story concerning a bookie, Harry Arno that falls on the wrong side of his mafia boss and Raylan’s attempt to save his life. Oh yeah, Raylan and he have already crossed paths much to the deficit of Raylan’s career in the Federal Marshals (the guy ran off on him) years back and there are complications all over the place. As with many Justified stories, it ends in bloodshed (though not Raylan’s or Harry’s) and is action-packed cover to cover. I need to read the other Raylan stories and books, but this first story for me was highly entertaining and I did get attached to many of the characters. Like on the TV show, which Graham Yost admits to heavily leaning on Leonard for storytelling techniques and ideas, there are multiple layers to the action with nearly every character having independent and conflicting motives. It creates an intriguing web of suspense. The descriptions are rather spare, but the character development is subtle and rich. There are hints of sex but it is done tastefully and not in a manner that disrupts the story-telling. I feel like kind of an idiot because I didn’t know that it was also Leonard that wrote the story Rum Punch was the inspiration behind the Tarantino classic Jackie Brown or that he wrote Get Shorty as well (and no, haven’t seen that movie yet, its on my list!). I just added massively to my bulky and overloaded reading list.
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