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52 Pickup
Detroit businessman Harry Mitchell had had only one affair in his twenty-two years of happy matrimony. Unfortunately someone caught his indiscretion on film and now wants Harry to fork over one hundred grand to keep his infidelity a secret. And if Harry doesn't pay up, the blackmailer and his associates plan to press a lot harder -- up to and including homicide, if necessary. But the psychos picked the wrong pigeon for their murderous scam. Because Harry Mitchell doesn't get mad... he gets even.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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4337 people want to read
About the author
Elmore Leonard
213 books3,715 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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February 20, 2019
”We picked the wrong guy,” Leo Frank said. “That’s the whole thing. We picked the wrong fucking guy.”
They want Harry’s money.
Harry Mitchell did everything that he was supposed to do. He was a World War Two ace fighter pilot who came back from the war and started his own manufacturing company that employs hundreds of people. He married well. His wife Barbara keeps herself in shape with jogging and playing tennis and is still a very attractive women.
Everything was fine until Harry met
Cynthia,
Cini,
Cin,
Sin.
He wasn’t looking for a girl; it just kind of happened. She wasn’t even as good in bed as Barbara, but she was young and fun. Feeling young was something Harry had been missing.
This was not like Harry.
When he goes over to see her and finds the cold barrel of a long pistol stuck in his neck, he realizes that whatever pleasure he had received from knocking boots with a girl half his age was about to be eclipsed by embarrassment and financial blackmail.
They have a tape.
The problem is they have the wrong guy. Harry isn’t the type of guy who is going to go all weak in the knees. He’d faced the prospect of death several thousand feet up in the air during the war. He’d spent months thinking each day was going to be his last day. He is a thinker. A man who calculates all the angles. He can weigh the pain and decide if he can take it.
They want $105,000 a year for as long as they want it.
That is just simply... unacceptable. If he agreed to terms like that, he wouldn’t be Harry Mitchell anymore.
There are three men putting the squeeze on Harry, but the main guy, Alan Raimy, is probably one of the most despicable villains I’ve ever come across in literature. In the movie of the same title from 1986, John Glover plays the role.
When he smiled, he made me shiver.
”I don’t know what this fucking world is coming to. You honestly, sincerely tell the guy how it is and the mother doesn’t believe you.”
They raise the stakes. They frame Harry for murder. He bends, but he doesn’t break. They kidnap his wife, and believe me, putting a woman in the hands of Alan Raimy is not just kidnapping. Harry makes a deal, but the whole time he is thinking about how he might fold his cards and fold again, but by the end of the night he is going to win the game.
John Glover is Alan Raimy.
Roy Scheider plays Harry Mitchell in the movie, and it is probably his best role outside of Jaws. Ann-Margret plays his wife Barbara, and though she isn’t the little scamp we remember in Viva Las Vegas anymore, she has blossomed into a full bodied vivacious woman.
The movie and the book are similar, but there are certainly more hardboiled aspects at play in the book that director John Frankenheimer shied away from in the movie. This is vintage Elmore Leonard, and if you choose to read this book, you just won’t be able to escape the experience unsullied. If you like hardboiled noir that will leave a little grit in your teeth, a knot on the back of your head, and a powerful thirst for something amber and wet, then this is the book for you.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
They want Harry’s money.
Harry Mitchell did everything that he was supposed to do. He was a World War Two ace fighter pilot who came back from the war and started his own manufacturing company that employs hundreds of people. He married well. His wife Barbara keeps herself in shape with jogging and playing tennis and is still a very attractive women.
Everything was fine until Harry met
Cynthia,
Cini,
Cin,
Sin.
He wasn’t looking for a girl; it just kind of happened. She wasn’t even as good in bed as Barbara, but she was young and fun. Feeling young was something Harry had been missing.
This was not like Harry.
When he goes over to see her and finds the cold barrel of a long pistol stuck in his neck, he realizes that whatever pleasure he had received from knocking boots with a girl half his age was about to be eclipsed by embarrassment and financial blackmail.
They have a tape.
The problem is they have the wrong guy. Harry isn’t the type of guy who is going to go all weak in the knees. He’d faced the prospect of death several thousand feet up in the air during the war. He’d spent months thinking each day was going to be his last day. He is a thinker. A man who calculates all the angles. He can weigh the pain and decide if he can take it.
They want $105,000 a year for as long as they want it.
That is just simply... unacceptable. If he agreed to terms like that, he wouldn’t be Harry Mitchell anymore.
There are three men putting the squeeze on Harry, but the main guy, Alan Raimy, is probably one of the most despicable villains I’ve ever come across in literature. In the movie of the same title from 1986, John Glover plays the role.
When he smiled, he made me shiver.
”I don’t know what this fucking world is coming to. You honestly, sincerely tell the guy how it is and the mother doesn’t believe you.”
They raise the stakes. They frame Harry for murder. He bends, but he doesn’t break. They kidnap his wife, and believe me, putting a woman in the hands of Alan Raimy is not just kidnapping. Harry makes a deal, but the whole time he is thinking about how he might fold his cards and fold again, but by the end of the night he is going to win the game.
John Glover is Alan Raimy.
Roy Scheider plays Harry Mitchell in the movie, and it is probably his best role outside of Jaws. Ann-Margret plays his wife Barbara, and though she isn’t the little scamp we remember in Viva Las Vegas anymore, she has blossomed into a full bodied vivacious woman.
The movie and the book are similar, but there are certainly more hardboiled aspects at play in the book that director John Frankenheimer shied away from in the movie. This is vintage Elmore Leonard, and if you choose to read this book, you just won’t be able to escape the experience unsullied. If you like hardboiled noir that will leave a little grit in your teeth, a knot on the back of your head, and a powerful thirst for something amber and wet, then this is the book for you.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
October 29, 2019
This tale written in the present day (1970's when it was published) remains a classic so many years later. Elmore Leonard is was a master storyteller (RIP). I have read a few of his works and this one motivates me to read many more from his extensive library.
What happens when a married man, dips his wick where it does not belong? Well, for Mr. Mitchell it means blackmail. When he decides to challenge these wanna be gangster's with new rules he makes up, mayhem ensues. This clever cat and mouse game keeps testing new avenues of deceit in ways the reader doesn't usually anticipate. It is a high stakes game. Who will win? Each gangster thinks he is more intelligent than his peers and their mark. All will be challenged in their perception.
While not a comedy in the sense of laughing out loud in every chapter, this is a more lighthearted crime story. If crime noir is a favorite, this one is worthy of your attention.
What happens when a married man, dips his wick where it does not belong? Well, for Mr. Mitchell it means blackmail. When he decides to challenge these wanna be gangster's with new rules he makes up, mayhem ensues. This clever cat and mouse game keeps testing new avenues of deceit in ways the reader doesn't usually anticipate. It is a high stakes game. Who will win? Each gangster thinks he is more intelligent than his peers and their mark. All will be challenged in their perception.
While not a comedy in the sense of laughing out loud in every chapter, this is a more lighthearted crime story. If crime noir is a favorite, this one is worthy of your attention.
August 5, 2021
52 Pick-up is an early crime novel from Elmore Leonard, published in 1974 when Leonard was still in the process of shifting from writing westerns to writing crime novels, and it shows all the hallmarks that would make Leonard one of the greatest crime writers of his generation. The characters are interesting and all a bit off-norm; the dialog is crisp and smart, and the plot moves along swiftly.
The protagonist is a Detroit businessman named Harry Mitchell. Mitchell is a World War II vet who pulled himself up by the bootstraps and created a prosperous manufacturing company. He's got a beautiful wife, two kids, a nice home, and suddenly, a mid-life crisis. Harry falls for a woman half his age that he meets in a strip club and who he admits is not even as good in bed as the wife he has at home. This relationship makes no sense, but then these kinds of relationships rarely do.
A group of three scumbags discovers Harry's affair and attempt to blackmail him with the evidence. If he doesn't fork over a hundred and five thousand dollars (an odd amount for a blackmail demand but one that makes sense in the context of the plot), they will expose Mitchell at great cost to his marriage and his standing in the community.
When Harry tells the gang to go roll a hoop (or words to that effect) the blackmailers up the ante considerably, putting Harry in a very difficult predicament. They assume that Mitchell will have no choice now but to pay, but Harry doesn't play by the Marquis of Queensbury Rules and the blackmailers may discover that they've bitten off more than they can chew.
Mitchell is a typical Elmore Leonard protagonist--a bit flawed but also a clever man who's resolved to do things his own way. Watching the dance between Harry and the blackmailers is great fun and, as is the case with virtually any Elmore Leonard novel, this is a very good read.
The protagonist is a Detroit businessman named Harry Mitchell. Mitchell is a World War II vet who pulled himself up by the bootstraps and created a prosperous manufacturing company. He's got a beautiful wife, two kids, a nice home, and suddenly, a mid-life crisis. Harry falls for a woman half his age that he meets in a strip club and who he admits is not even as good in bed as the wife he has at home. This relationship makes no sense, but then these kinds of relationships rarely do.
A group of three scumbags discovers Harry's affair and attempt to blackmail him with the evidence. If he doesn't fork over a hundred and five thousand dollars (an odd amount for a blackmail demand but one that makes sense in the context of the plot), they will expose Mitchell at great cost to his marriage and his standing in the community.
When Harry tells the gang to go roll a hoop (or words to that effect) the blackmailers up the ante considerably, putting Harry in a very difficult predicament. They assume that Mitchell will have no choice now but to pay, but Harry doesn't play by the Marquis of Queensbury Rules and the blackmailers may discover that they've bitten off more than they can chew.
Mitchell is a typical Elmore Leonard protagonist--a bit flawed but also a clever man who's resolved to do things his own way. Watching the dance between Harry and the blackmailers is great fun and, as is the case with virtually any Elmore Leonard novel, this is a very good read.
January 18, 2012
Blackmailers have factory owner Harry Mitchell over a barrel. Either he pays them $105,000 a year or they turn over an incriminating film of him cheating on his wife to the police and press, and more, if he doesn't pay up. Too bad Harry Mitchell has ideas of his own...
Elmore Leonard sure knows how to weave a serpentine tale, doesn't he? He takes a story that seems simple on the surface, that of some blackmailers hitting up a pigeon for money, and turns it into something else all together. It was written in 1974 but has a certain timelessness to it.
Harry Mitchell is the usual Leonard protagonist: cool, capable, and not entirely spotless. The way he handles the blackmailers set the stage for later Leonard protagonists like Chili Palmer and Raylan Givens. I like that Leonard made Barbara's behavior toward Harry believable after she found out he had an affair.
The bad guys are an unsavory crew, as to be expected. I didn't expect some of them to go out the way they did, though. That's one of the reasons I mean to read more Elmore Leonard in 2012. He manages to surprise me in each outing. As usual with Leonard, the dialogue is as smooth as fine Scotch.
While it may be slightly less polished than some of his later works, all of the Leonard hallmarks are there: double crosses, slick dialogue, and fairly believable situations. I couldn't wait for the blackmailers to get what was coming to them and Leonard did not disappoint. Very highly recommended.
Elmore Leonard sure knows how to weave a serpentine tale, doesn't he? He takes a story that seems simple on the surface, that of some blackmailers hitting up a pigeon for money, and turns it into something else all together. It was written in 1974 but has a certain timelessness to it.
Harry Mitchell is the usual Leonard protagonist: cool, capable, and not entirely spotless. The way he handles the blackmailers set the stage for later Leonard protagonists like Chili Palmer and Raylan Givens. I like that Leonard made Barbara's behavior toward Harry believable after she found out he had an affair.
The bad guys are an unsavory crew, as to be expected. I didn't expect some of them to go out the way they did, though. That's one of the reasons I mean to read more Elmore Leonard in 2012. He manages to surprise me in each outing. As usual with Leonard, the dialogue is as smooth as fine Scotch.
While it may be slightly less polished than some of his later works, all of the Leonard hallmarks are there: double crosses, slick dialogue, and fairly believable situations. I couldn't wait for the blackmailers to get what was coming to them and Leonard did not disappoint. Very highly recommended.
March 17, 2013
Harry Mitchell could be a poster boy for the Greatest Generation. He was a World War II ace fighter pilot and afterwards started his own manufacturing firm that’s become a successful business while he and his wife Barbara enjoyed a happy marriage and raised two kids.
Ah, but the mid-life crisis has made more than one man stupid, and Harry has a fling with a woman half his age. Just as he is about to break it off, Harry is confronted by a trio of blackmailers who have films that show his infidelity. They demand a small fortune, but when Harry balks, they up the ante and try to tie him into an even larger crime. However, Harry isn’t the kind of guy who is just going to allow himself to be extorted.
This is vintage Elmore Leonard with slick plotting, off-beat characters and sharp dialogue. The setting of Detroit in the mid-’70s is a great time and place for a gritty crime novel and doesn’t seem too dated.
There’s a couple of loose ends that bothered me. The sub-plot about a union representative pushing Harry’s buttons about an upcoming negotiation seems to just disappear which is odd after . Even though there’s a satisfactory conclusion, I would have liked to have had some kind of epilogue to give us an idea of how things were going to play out.
Those are relatively minor complaints about a well crafted crime story by one of the all-time greats in the genre.
Ah, but the mid-life crisis has made more than one man stupid, and Harry has a fling with a woman half his age. Just as he is about to break it off, Harry is confronted by a trio of blackmailers who have films that show his infidelity. They demand a small fortune, but when Harry balks, they up the ante and try to tie him into an even larger crime. However, Harry isn’t the kind of guy who is just going to allow himself to be extorted.
This is vintage Elmore Leonard with slick plotting, off-beat characters and sharp dialogue. The setting of Detroit in the mid-’70s is a great time and place for a gritty crime novel and doesn’t seem too dated.
There’s a couple of loose ends that bothered me. The sub-plot about a union representative pushing Harry’s buttons about an upcoming negotiation seems to just disappear which is odd after . Even though there’s a satisfactory conclusion, I would have liked to have had some kind of epilogue to give us an idea of how things were going to play out.
Those are relatively minor complaints about a well crafted crime story by one of the all-time greats in the genre.
July 15, 2022
I had low expectations for this lurid Elmore Leonard tale and managed to be disappointed. Published in 1974, 52 Pickup bumps along as the middle-aged owner of a small manufacturing company in Detroit named Harry Mitchell-which sounds like a '70s man's name or one that would appear somewhere in an adult theater--duels with three crooks who attempt to blackmail him, first over Harry's affair with a seedy model old enough to be his daughter, and when that fails, her murder. This novel hasn't aged well.
Harry, instead of buying a motorcycle or taking up the bongos, worked through his midlife crisis by engaging in a three-month affair with a barely legal model/ stripper/ whatever named Cini he met at a bar. Harry went as far as renting an apartment for her, taking her to the Bahamas and supposed maybe he was in love. Later, he tries to convince his lawyer that it wasn't about sex and he isn't a bad guy, honest, but the lack of self-awareness is extraordinary considering Harry has designed a third of his shop's inventory. Okay. Smart men can be stupid too.
The affair turns out to be unfortunate for both Harry and Cini when three men show up at the apartment to play an 8MM film documenting Harry's extracurricular activities. They demand $105,000. As with a lot of Elmore Leonard novels, the crooks are the highlight. The ringleader, Alan Raimy, manages an adult theater. Alan is a disgraced CPA with a nose for embezzlement, weed, kitschy home décor and underage girls. In the habit of calling men "sport," he's the kind of smarmy SOB you want to punch in the nose. Bobby Shy is a gunman who loves to pull a trigger and take on cowboy scores like robbing tourist buses. The third man is a schlep named Leo Franks, who runs the "modeling agency" that Cini works for.
Elmore Leonard has never written a book with less than stellar dialogue. He throws the reader immediately in to whatever is cooking in the scene, and this fast-paced read is no exception.
The barrel shifted past Alan to ten o'clock, Bobby squeezed the trigger and shattered the globe of a mood lamp hanging from the wall.
"You could be shooting into the next room, for Christ sake!" Alan said. "What if you hit somebody?"
Bobby sprung open the cylinder of the .38 and began reloading it, taking the cartridges from his coat pocket. "I'm going to hit somebody, you don't say what the man offer us. Last call," he said, snapping the revolver closed and putting it squarely on Alan. "How much?"
"You know as well as I do," Alan said, "Fifty-two thousand."
Bobby Shy smiled. "Don't you feel better now?"
"Look," Alan said, "how was I going to tell you if I can't find you?"
"Tell me now, I'm listening."
"All right, the man made us an offer. Fifty-two thousand, all he can afford to pay."
"You believe it?"
"I looked at his books," Alan said. "Yes, I believe him. The way he's got his dough tied up he can't touch most of it. He offers fifty-two. All right, let's take it while he still believes it'll save his ass, But--here's what we're talking about--what do we need Leo for?"
"I don't see we ever needed him."
"Leo spotted the guy. He did that much. But now he's nervous, Christ, you don't know what he's going to do next."
"So me and you," Bobby said, "we split the fifty-two."
Alan nodded. "Twenty-six grand a piece."
"And we go together to pick it up."
"And we go together to hit the guy, whether we do it then or later."
"All this time," Bobby Shy said, "what's Leo doing, watching?"
"Leo's dead. I don't see any other way."
Bobby Shy thought about it. "Yeah, he could find out, couldn't he?"
"We can't take a chance."
"Man's too shaky, ain't he?"
"Do it with the guy's gun," Alan said. "How does that grab you?"
"Tell Leo we want to use it on the man."
"Right. He hands it to you."
"I guess," Bobby Shy said, "seeing he's a friend of yours, you want me to do it."
"Not so much he's a friend," Alan said, "as you're the pro." He grinned at Bobby Shy. "Don't tell me how you're going to do it. Let me read it in the paper and be surprised."
I wish I'd been able to read 52 Pickup in the '70s. In addition to the fact that Harry can't stop referring to Bobby Shy as the "colored" guy, his affair with Cini takes effort to place in historical context as well. Extramarital options for professional married men were once limited to secretaries or strippers and Cini's typing skills are never disclosed. Nothing about her is, really, as she exists off-page as a prop who is unceremoniously shot in a snuff film when Harry balks at paying up. His wife of twenty-two years, Barbara, is an empty nester with a bottom half that men can't seem to stop commenting on. Gross.
The film version of 52 Pickup was critically praised in 1986 for the performances of John Glover as Alan Raimy and Clarence Williams III as Bobby Shy. If these two showed up to scam me, I'd throw myself out a tall window and be done with it. Ten years was enough time to realize how one-dimensional Barbara Mitchell was on the page and Ann-Margret was given much more to do with her in the movie. Relocated to L.A., it lacks the gunmetal gray weather of Detroit as well as the auto industry setting, which sets the novel apart from those on the coasts, but it's really not enough for me to recommend the book.
Harry, instead of buying a motorcycle or taking up the bongos, worked through his midlife crisis by engaging in a three-month affair with a barely legal model/ stripper/ whatever named Cini he met at a bar. Harry went as far as renting an apartment for her, taking her to the Bahamas and supposed maybe he was in love. Later, he tries to convince his lawyer that it wasn't about sex and he isn't a bad guy, honest, but the lack of self-awareness is extraordinary considering Harry has designed a third of his shop's inventory. Okay. Smart men can be stupid too.
The affair turns out to be unfortunate for both Harry and Cini when three men show up at the apartment to play an 8MM film documenting Harry's extracurricular activities. They demand $105,000. As with a lot of Elmore Leonard novels, the crooks are the highlight. The ringleader, Alan Raimy, manages an adult theater. Alan is a disgraced CPA with a nose for embezzlement, weed, kitschy home décor and underage girls. In the habit of calling men "sport," he's the kind of smarmy SOB you want to punch in the nose. Bobby Shy is a gunman who loves to pull a trigger and take on cowboy scores like robbing tourist buses. The third man is a schlep named Leo Franks, who runs the "modeling agency" that Cini works for.
Elmore Leonard has never written a book with less than stellar dialogue. He throws the reader immediately in to whatever is cooking in the scene, and this fast-paced read is no exception.
The barrel shifted past Alan to ten o'clock, Bobby squeezed the trigger and shattered the globe of a mood lamp hanging from the wall.
"You could be shooting into the next room, for Christ sake!" Alan said. "What if you hit somebody?"
Bobby sprung open the cylinder of the .38 and began reloading it, taking the cartridges from his coat pocket. "I'm going to hit somebody, you don't say what the man offer us. Last call," he said, snapping the revolver closed and putting it squarely on Alan. "How much?"
"You know as well as I do," Alan said, "Fifty-two thousand."
Bobby Shy smiled. "Don't you feel better now?"
"Look," Alan said, "how was I going to tell you if I can't find you?"
"Tell me now, I'm listening."
"All right, the man made us an offer. Fifty-two thousand, all he can afford to pay."
"You believe it?"
"I looked at his books," Alan said. "Yes, I believe him. The way he's got his dough tied up he can't touch most of it. He offers fifty-two. All right, let's take it while he still believes it'll save his ass, But--here's what we're talking about--what do we need Leo for?"
"I don't see we ever needed him."
"Leo spotted the guy. He did that much. But now he's nervous, Christ, you don't know what he's going to do next."
"So me and you," Bobby said, "we split the fifty-two."
Alan nodded. "Twenty-six grand a piece."
"And we go together to pick it up."
"And we go together to hit the guy, whether we do it then or later."
"All this time," Bobby Shy said, "what's Leo doing, watching?"
"Leo's dead. I don't see any other way."
Bobby Shy thought about it. "Yeah, he could find out, couldn't he?"
"We can't take a chance."
"Man's too shaky, ain't he?"
"Do it with the guy's gun," Alan said. "How does that grab you?"
"Tell Leo we want to use it on the man."
"Right. He hands it to you."
"I guess," Bobby Shy said, "seeing he's a friend of yours, you want me to do it."
"Not so much he's a friend," Alan said, "as you're the pro." He grinned at Bobby Shy. "Don't tell me how you're going to do it. Let me read it in the paper and be surprised."
I wish I'd been able to read 52 Pickup in the '70s. In addition to the fact that Harry can't stop referring to Bobby Shy as the "colored" guy, his affair with Cini takes effort to place in historical context as well. Extramarital options for professional married men were once limited to secretaries or strippers and Cini's typing skills are never disclosed. Nothing about her is, really, as she exists off-page as a prop who is unceremoniously shot in a snuff film when Harry balks at paying up. His wife of twenty-two years, Barbara, is an empty nester with a bottom half that men can't seem to stop commenting on. Gross.
The film version of 52 Pickup was critically praised in 1986 for the performances of John Glover as Alan Raimy and Clarence Williams III as Bobby Shy. If these two showed up to scam me, I'd throw myself out a tall window and be done with it. Ten years was enough time to realize how one-dimensional Barbara Mitchell was on the page and Ann-Margret was given much more to do with her in the movie. Relocated to L.A., it lacks the gunmetal gray weather of Detroit as well as the auto industry setting, which sets the novel apart from those on the coasts, but it's really not enough for me to recommend the book.
November 20, 2013
52 Pickup: Elmore Leonard's Card Game
"If you want it, here it is, come and get it
Make your mind up fast
If you want it, anytime, I can give it
But you better hurry 'cause it may not last
Did I hear you say
That there must be a catch?
Will you walk away
From a fool and his money?"
--Paul McCartney, 1970
Ever played 52 Pickup? It only takes two players. A standard deck will do. It's a joke, man. The dealer's in on the trick. The stooge is the pigeon, the patsy. The dealer shuffles the deck. Ready? The dealer throws the deck up in the air, scattering the cards on the floor, gleefully yelling, "52 Pickup!" And the pigeon has to pick up the cards.
The Game
Elmore Leonard plays 52 Pick Up with the best of them. But cards are not what you need to play his game. It's dollars. Lots of them.
Alan Raimy is a pretty smart guy. He's got a degree in Business Advertising. He can read a Dunn and Bradstreet analysis. He likes Ranco Manufacturing owned and run by Harry Mitchell. Business hasn't been so good for Alan. Sex gets a smart guy in trouble, especially when the girlies are underage. You know, it starts out simple, a little wienie wagging and then you're giving teeny boppers a little weed and you're off the street for a bit. Alan has an adult theater.
Alan has friends. Leo is the set up. He's got this modeling studio where guys can rent a polaroid and photograph a model in a little white room for next to nothing. Leo has a cute little twenty one year old girl named Cini, working her way through school.
Sometimes you hold all the cards. In walks Harry Mitchell with a business client who wants a little fun. Harry's client hits on Cini, but she's not playing. Cini talks to Harry.
Harry's got hormones. Cini's half his wife's age. She's young, she's fresh. Harry rents an apartment for Cini. Harry and Cini have sex. Alan has it on film. He'll show the film to Harry's wife and other people that might view this film as a blemish on Harry's reputation.
But Harry's stubborn. He knows one payment won't be the end of it. He's stalling on the down payment of 10K.
Harry's going to have to learn the hard way. Alan produces a little snuff film with C1ni as the star. Alan's muscle, Bobby Shay, who likes to pull the trigger is the third in this merry little band of bad asses. Oh, yeah. And the gun that snuffs Cyni, it's Harry's.
Harry's over a barrel, right? No. Elmore Leonard is writing this story. You know the bad guys are not going to beat him. You're cheering for Harry.
It's simple. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. You know what they say about assume. It makes an ass out of you and me. Alan has picked the wrong patsy. Harry's no simple white collar business man. He started Ranco. He worked on the line for nineteen years. He's got brawn and brains. Sometimes a Dunn & Bradstreet doesn't tell you all you need to know. Things like Harry was a World War II fighter pilot who shot down nine Luftwaffe planes.
Harry spills the beans to Barbara, his wife of twenty-two years. Gosh, I've only screwed around on you once! Barbara forgives. Hmmm, male fantasy? She's missed Harry. Frenzied lovemaking follows. Long leisurely lovemaking follows.
Harry spins his trap. Divide and conquer. Cut a deal with Alan. Show him the books. Show him he can only pay $52,000.00. Let nature take its course. $52,000 split three ways doesn't go as far as $105,000.00. The gang of three will take care of themselves, especially after Harry tells Leo and Bobby about the deal he's cut with Alan.
Sit back. Have a good whiskey. Enjoy the ride. Do you really have any question on who's going to be left standing when this game is played out?
Leonard's dialog crackles. The action moves faster than a bullet. The suspense crackles. A bit dated? Consider this a look back at the 70s. This is no Brady Bunch. Just roll with it.
This is another Leonard novel that made it to the movies. A good one.
The 1986 film directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Roy Scheider, Ann Margaret as Barbara and Kelly Prestion as Cini.
In 2011, the film made the litmus test list of top twenty man movies. I'd say if there were a list of books appealing to men, Leonard's novel would make the list, too.
And, if somebody asks you to play 52-Pickup, make sure you're the dealer.
Like crime novels? Grab this one.
"If you want it, here it is, come and get it
Make your mind up fast
If you want it, anytime, I can give it
But you better hurry 'cause it may not last
Did I hear you say
That there must be a catch?
Will you walk away
From a fool and his money?"
--Paul McCartney, 1970
Ever played 52 Pickup? It only takes two players. A standard deck will do. It's a joke, man. The dealer's in on the trick. The stooge is the pigeon, the patsy. The dealer shuffles the deck. Ready? The dealer throws the deck up in the air, scattering the cards on the floor, gleefully yelling, "52 Pickup!" And the pigeon has to pick up the cards.
The Game
Elmore Leonard plays 52 Pick Up with the best of them. But cards are not what you need to play his game. It's dollars. Lots of them.
Alan Raimy is a pretty smart guy. He's got a degree in Business Advertising. He can read a Dunn and Bradstreet analysis. He likes Ranco Manufacturing owned and run by Harry Mitchell. Business hasn't been so good for Alan. Sex gets a smart guy in trouble, especially when the girlies are underage. You know, it starts out simple, a little wienie wagging and then you're giving teeny boppers a little weed and you're off the street for a bit. Alan has an adult theater.
Alan has friends. Leo is the set up. He's got this modeling studio where guys can rent a polaroid and photograph a model in a little white room for next to nothing. Leo has a cute little twenty one year old girl named Cini, working her way through school.
Sometimes you hold all the cards. In walks Harry Mitchell with a business client who wants a little fun. Harry's client hits on Cini, but she's not playing. Cini talks to Harry.
Harry's got hormones. Cini's half his wife's age. She's young, she's fresh. Harry rents an apartment for Cini. Harry and Cini have sex. Alan has it on film. He'll show the film to Harry's wife and other people that might view this film as a blemish on Harry's reputation.
But Harry's stubborn. He knows one payment won't be the end of it. He's stalling on the down payment of 10K.
Harry's going to have to learn the hard way. Alan produces a little snuff film with C1ni as the star. Alan's muscle, Bobby Shay, who likes to pull the trigger is the third in this merry little band of bad asses. Oh, yeah. And the gun that snuffs Cyni, it's Harry's.
Harry's over a barrel, right? No. Elmore Leonard is writing this story. You know the bad guys are not going to beat him. You're cheering for Harry.
It's simple. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. You know what they say about assume. It makes an ass out of you and me. Alan has picked the wrong patsy. Harry's no simple white collar business man. He started Ranco. He worked on the line for nineteen years. He's got brawn and brains. Sometimes a Dunn & Bradstreet doesn't tell you all you need to know. Things like Harry was a World War II fighter pilot who shot down nine Luftwaffe planes.
Harry spills the beans to Barbara, his wife of twenty-two years. Gosh, I've only screwed around on you once! Barbara forgives. Hmmm, male fantasy? She's missed Harry. Frenzied lovemaking follows. Long leisurely lovemaking follows.
Harry spins his trap. Divide and conquer. Cut a deal with Alan. Show him the books. Show him he can only pay $52,000.00. Let nature take its course. $52,000 split three ways doesn't go as far as $105,000.00. The gang of three will take care of themselves, especially after Harry tells Leo and Bobby about the deal he's cut with Alan.
Sit back. Have a good whiskey. Enjoy the ride. Do you really have any question on who's going to be left standing when this game is played out?
Leonard's dialog crackles. The action moves faster than a bullet. The suspense crackles. A bit dated? Consider this a look back at the 70s. This is no Brady Bunch. Just roll with it.
This is another Leonard novel that made it to the movies. A good one.
The 1986 film directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Roy Scheider, Ann Margaret as Barbara and Kelly Prestion as Cini.
In 2011, the film made the litmus test list of top twenty man movies. I'd say if there were a list of books appealing to men, Leonard's novel would make the list, too.
And, if somebody asks you to play 52-Pickup, make sure you're the dealer.
Like crime novels? Grab this one.
December 19, 2022
One of the very early Elmore Leonard crime novels, 52 Pick-Up contains all the elements that have made his novels among the most popular hardboiled crime capers written. A cleverly devised crime, a bunch of devious and ruthless criminals and a surprisingly resourceful protagonist who takes them on.
Harry Mitchell only made one mistake, he fell for a girl almost half his age. He couldn’t really explain it, he was happily married, his manufacturing company was doing well and life was pretty good.
The men who tried to blackmail him with the secret film they took of him and the girl made a mistake too. They chose Harry Mitchell as their mark.
Mitchell’s not the kind of guy to roll over and pay the demanded $105,000 per year until they say stop. He’s the kind of guy who’ll fight, even when the stakes are raised and they threaten him with a potential murder frame.
This is Elmore Leonard at his crafty best putting together a seemingly foolproof plan only to reveal that, when you choose the wrong man, it’s full of foolish ideas and it’s been devised by fools. Highly dangerous, murderous fools, to be sure, but fools all the same.
But one of them is smart enough to eventually realise their mistake, commenting to his cronies:
“The guy was coming on strong all of a sudden, different than the kind of straight-A stiff he had looked like at first.”
Mitchell is a typical Leonard character, a man who, on the surface appears to be your normal everyday Joe who’d make a great patsy. But there’s far more to the former World War II veteran than first meets the eye. He’s a resourceful fighter and that’s where the fascination lies.
This is a swiftly flowing story that changes course effortlessly with move and countermove being made. A blackmail is only as strong as the weakness of the person being blackmailed and when that person shows strength, then all hell can break loose. I enjoyed the ride.
Harry Mitchell only made one mistake, he fell for a girl almost half his age. He couldn’t really explain it, he was happily married, his manufacturing company was doing well and life was pretty good.
The men who tried to blackmail him with the secret film they took of him and the girl made a mistake too. They chose Harry Mitchell as their mark.
Mitchell’s not the kind of guy to roll over and pay the demanded $105,000 per year until they say stop. He’s the kind of guy who’ll fight, even when the stakes are raised and they threaten him with a potential murder frame.
This is Elmore Leonard at his crafty best putting together a seemingly foolproof plan only to reveal that, when you choose the wrong man, it’s full of foolish ideas and it’s been devised by fools. Highly dangerous, murderous fools, to be sure, but fools all the same.
But one of them is smart enough to eventually realise their mistake, commenting to his cronies:
“The guy was coming on strong all of a sudden, different than the kind of straight-A stiff he had looked like at first.”
Mitchell is a typical Leonard character, a man who, on the surface appears to be your normal everyday Joe who’d make a great patsy. But there’s far more to the former World War II veteran than first meets the eye. He’s a resourceful fighter and that’s where the fascination lies.
This is a swiftly flowing story that changes course effortlessly with move and countermove being made. A blackmail is only as strong as the weakness of the person being blackmailed and when that person shows strength, then all hell can break loose. I enjoyed the ride.
November 18, 2013
It's a shame, ain't it? Everybody is trying to mess everybody.
That's rich, coming from the mouth of a small time crook, trying to blackmail a middle aged guy having an affair with a much younger woman, but it is a rather good resume of the plot of this Elmore Leonard novel. Actually, it could be said it is a fair assessment of most E.L crime capers, where nothing goes according to plan and things go pear shaped in an ugly way with obstinate regularity.
I was curious about the title, but it only becomes relevant towards the middle of the book, so I'll pressent the story as it develops, with as little spoilers as I can:
Harry Mitchell is a moderately succesful industrialist in Detroit, a self-made man who came up from the workshop floor to own now a manufacturing company for spare auto parts (of course, this is Detroit in the 70's, not the present day wasteland). He has a very well preserved and attractive wife, Barbara, but he still manages to get involved with a much younger girl he meets in a strip joint. Pretty soon, this girl disappears and Mitchell is blackmailed by a trio of masked strangers. The rest of the novel is all about Mitchell trying to get out of his predicament, mostly by his own wits and with a liberal use of his fists. There is a minor plotline dealing with union troubles and sabotage at the plant, and a better one describing Harry Mitchell and his wife trying to patch together their marriage after his betrayal, but the focus is on the question : pay up or go to the police? or find another solution?
The identity of the blackmaiklers is not in doubt, as a good part of the novel is presented from their perspective. Leo Frank, Alan Raimy and Bobby Shy are all involved in pornography, drugs, armed robbery, but they didn't impress me as very intelligent. They make up for this by ruthlessness, and I actually was more interested in their accounts of the underworld lifestyle than in the Mitchell point of view.
This is one of the better written novels I've read so far by Elmore Leonard, with a tight plot, realistic crooks and great dialogue. Yet I can't say it is one of my favorites, and this comes mostly from my lack of enthusiasm for Harry Mitchell. I disliked his 'my way or the highway' tough guy persona, especially in his dealing with workers and union guys. I thought also that the writer should have made it harder for him to get the upper hand in the dealings with the blackmailers, and in particular I believe the ending is forced, too Hollywood style instead of a more messier finish in line with how things developed previously.
In conclusion : a quick read, with Elmore Leonard in top form, a little formulaic but with enough twists and local colour to make it memorable. I understand there's a movie version and I plan to check it out: all of his novels translate well to the silver screen, and this one should be no exception.
August 9, 2010
This is the third earlier Leonard book that I have picked up, and like the other two (MOONSHINE WARS and MR. MAJESTYK), it is a solid read. Fast, violent, and fun.
All three books share one very distinct Leonardian quality: precision. There is nothing extraneous in any of the stories. Leonard tells only what is necessary and then moves on. It keeps the novels short and fast.
I would also argue that same quality keeps the books from reaching past a ceiling they always seem to hit. While they are good, the depth is only as deep as the necessity of the story. Some would argue that that kind of story integration is what every author should strive for.
However, there are times that it makes the story feel constructed. The beauty is often in the flaw. A digression here, a red herring there, character traits that add depth but do not pertain directly to the story, backstory, a stronger sense of place, etc.
I like quick, lean stories with very little fat. But the fat is where the flavor comes from. While I really do like Leonard's stories (and I plan to eventually read all of them), they are occasionally a little lean for me.
All three books share one very distinct Leonardian quality: precision. There is nothing extraneous in any of the stories. Leonard tells only what is necessary and then moves on. It keeps the novels short and fast.
I would also argue that same quality keeps the books from reaching past a ceiling they always seem to hit. While they are good, the depth is only as deep as the necessity of the story. Some would argue that that kind of story integration is what every author should strive for.
However, there are times that it makes the story feel constructed. The beauty is often in the flaw. A digression here, a red herring there, character traits that add depth but do not pertain directly to the story, backstory, a stronger sense of place, etc.
I like quick, lean stories with very little fat. But the fat is where the flavor comes from. While I really do like Leonard's stories (and I plan to eventually read all of them), they are occasionally a little lean for me.
February 9, 2017
3.5
Classic Elmore Leonard. I was really into this book at the start, impressed as usual by the character dialogue and building excitement to the story. Unfortunately, the build-up faltered and the story, which began to lag toward the end, came to an abrupt end with an anticlimactic close... as does this review.
March 1, 2024
Blackmail is a good topic for playing "what would I do?" Payup, confess, go to the cops, or try to turn-the-tables on the blackmailers. I liked that Mitchell's decisions were always unpredictable. He was a hardass with an engineer's problem solving skills. The other characters were not so inventive. The blackmailers were too weak. The wife was too noble. Despite my gripes, I have to admit that Elmore gives you plenty of action and suspense.
January 22, 2014
I've gotten really into genre lately -- which must surprise those who've heard me pontificate so much on Plato and on Nazis. Well, actually, not into genre, so much, as just into crime/mystery/spy novels. I still hate Sci-Fi, despite my somewhat heroic efforts to read a mass of it a year or so back. Maybe it's an age thing....
But perhaps it's not so surprising, after all. Many years ago, I learned to my great astonishment that my professor was an avid reader of mystery novels (I don't know whom he read -- he was a man of high culture -- and I think he considered Borges, whom he had met, a mystery writer...; but I do know that he mentioned Agatha Christie), because (as he put it) solving crimes is a lot like solving for a problem in philology - piecing together tantalizing and always incomplete clues until the necessary (and confirmable) result emerges.
Of course, that presupposes that the crime story is well handled. And this one, unfortunately, strictly from a "craft" point of view, is mediocre. (This was one of his earliest non-westerns, apparently, and it seems that he just didn't have his MoJo yet.) After reading Swag, at any rate, it was a let down. For Swag is superb.
But '52' was a let down in a way that is highly instructive. The writing is so bad (relatively speaking) - by which I mean, that the plotting, pacing, the way dialogue and characters are all handled, shows that the young writer made a host of identifiable and specifiable mistakes -- so bad, in fact, that the careful reader can pick out all the blunders like a surgeon pulling splinters of shattered wood out of the body of a corpse.
Thus, by making a careful analysis of the strengths of Swag and the writing flubs in '52', a budding writer would find his/herself in a highly instructive laboratory -- for one of the best ways to learn any craft is by making a close examination not of the successful (as genius is often unrepeatable), but of failures and second-rate efforts.
So the third star goes to the pedagogical value of this 'text'.
The book itself, being one I didn't like.
But perhaps it's not so surprising, after all. Many years ago, I learned to my great astonishment that my professor was an avid reader of mystery novels (I don't know whom he read -- he was a man of high culture -- and I think he considered Borges, whom he had met, a mystery writer...; but I do know that he mentioned Agatha Christie), because (as he put it) solving crimes is a lot like solving for a problem in philology - piecing together tantalizing and always incomplete clues until the necessary (and confirmable) result emerges.
Of course, that presupposes that the crime story is well handled. And this one, unfortunately, strictly from a "craft" point of view, is mediocre. (This was one of his earliest non-westerns, apparently, and it seems that he just didn't have his MoJo yet.) After reading Swag, at any rate, it was a let down. For Swag is superb.
But '52' was a let down in a way that is highly instructive. The writing is so bad (relatively speaking) - by which I mean, that the plotting, pacing, the way dialogue and characters are all handled, shows that the young writer made a host of identifiable and specifiable mistakes -- so bad, in fact, that the careful reader can pick out all the blunders like a surgeon pulling splinters of shattered wood out of the body of a corpse.
Thus, by making a careful analysis of the strengths of Swag and the writing flubs in '52', a budding writer would find his/herself in a highly instructive laboratory -- for one of the best ways to learn any craft is by making a close examination not of the successful (as genius is often unrepeatable), but of failures and second-rate efforts.
So the third star goes to the pedagogical value of this 'text'.
The book itself, being one I didn't like.
April 24, 2024
”We picked the wrong guy,” Leo Frank said. “That’s the whole thing. We picked the wrong fucking guy.”
Elmore Leonard-52 Pickup
3.5 stars.
Harry is being blackmailed. This is not a good thing for Harry. He likes his life orderly..blackmailers present a problem.
The blackmailers are confident they can get whatever they want on Harry since they have the goods.
Howe ver..they are about to discover their plan has problems. Because Harry doesn't like to be blackmailed. And Harry is not the compliant mark his blackmailers thought he'd be. He is "the wrong fucking guy.”
I liked this story. This was pure Noir. It was packed with adventure and some fun, (some rather not so) characters with a fast paced involving story line.
There is a rape depicted in this book that turned me off and that is why I gave it only 3.5 stars.
But the story itself was really fun. You can tell it was written back when it was. I loved the character of Harry and kept turning the pages. Fun read although I wish what I mentioned earlier had not been included.
Elmore Leonard-52 Pickup
3.5 stars.
Harry is being blackmailed. This is not a good thing for Harry. He likes his life orderly..blackmailers present a problem.
The blackmailers are confident they can get whatever they want on Harry since they have the goods.
Howe ver..they are about to discover their plan has problems. Because Harry doesn't like to be blackmailed. And Harry is not the compliant mark his blackmailers thought he'd be. He is "the wrong fucking guy.”
I liked this story. This was pure Noir. It was packed with adventure and some fun, (some rather not so) characters with a fast paced involving story line.
There is a rape depicted in this book that turned me off and that is why I gave it only 3.5 stars.
But the story itself was really fun. You can tell it was written back when it was. I loved the character of Harry and kept turning the pages. Fun read although I wish what I mentioned earlier had not been included.
April 29, 2025
I have previously read several Elmore Leonard novels. He is my go-to writer when I need to reset my mind before diving back into more serious works. I view his novels as lightweight entertainments with witty, crafty, and especially unique characters. They are always prone to acting contrary to expectations, which makes them engaging and interesting. They keep me reading just to see what they will do next.
52 Pickup, however, failed to reach Leonard’s typical level of character development. The criminals were just criminals. They were honestly depicted, but they never rose above their commonplace downtown-Detroit characteristics. The main character, the victim of the criminal plot, is enjoyably proactive in his predicament, but he stays uninterestingly calm throughout his ordeal. The end of the book picks up a bit, but it really had nowhere else to go but up.
Lastly, there’s just a bad sexual vibe to this book. It’s saturated in strip joints, prostitution, voyeurism, child molestation, and rape. While Leonard is known for not shying away from such things, he will typically use them sparingly as a device to emphasize evil and provoke fear. In 52 Pickup, these depictions saturate the story and make it into something that’s just not very palatable.
52 Pickup, however, failed to reach Leonard’s typical level of character development. The criminals were just criminals. They were honestly depicted, but they never rose above their commonplace downtown-Detroit characteristics. The main character, the victim of the criminal plot, is enjoyably proactive in his predicament, but he stays uninterestingly calm throughout his ordeal. The end of the book picks up a bit, but it really had nowhere else to go but up.
Lastly, there’s just a bad sexual vibe to this book. It’s saturated in strip joints, prostitution, voyeurism, child molestation, and rape. While Leonard is known for not shying away from such things, he will typically use them sparingly as a device to emphasize evil and provoke fear. In 52 Pickup, these depictions saturate the story and make it into something that’s just not very palatable.
February 28, 2018
What a joy to read, or in this case listen to.
Elmore Leonard at his quirky, off beat, black humoured best.
Three tough guys decide to blackmail Harry Mitchell, a Detroit Businessman, big mistake.
Harry is not the man you would choose to stand over. These three goons set Harry up with a young attractive hooker and Harry falls for it. Unknown to Harry the goons are filming Harry and the girl in some tell tale scenes. The goons take the film to Harry and tell him "it's $100,050. or the wife gets the film"
Harry confesses to Barbara, his wife, who tells him he's a bum and to get out.
When the goons find that the wife knows about the film they try something else, like killing the hooker.
Time for Harry to step up to he plate.
How Harry solves this problem is totally unexpected but really great.
I just love all of the out of date words like, tough guys, goons,bum and hooker, it's so evocative of the period in time.
Recommended for 1970's crime buffs. A 4 star read.
Elmore Leonard at his quirky, off beat, black humoured best.
Three tough guys decide to blackmail Harry Mitchell, a Detroit Businessman, big mistake.
Harry is not the man you would choose to stand over. These three goons set Harry up with a young attractive hooker and Harry falls for it. Unknown to Harry the goons are filming Harry and the girl in some tell tale scenes. The goons take the film to Harry and tell him "it's $100,050. or the wife gets the film"
Harry confesses to Barbara, his wife, who tells him he's a bum and to get out.
When the goons find that the wife knows about the film they try something else, like killing the hooker.
Time for Harry to step up to he plate.
How Harry solves this problem is totally unexpected but really great.
I just love all of the out of date words like, tough guys, goons,bum and hooker, it's so evocative of the period in time.
Recommended for 1970's crime buffs. A 4 star read.
November 10, 2013
"We picked the wrong guy," Leo Frank said. "That's the whole thing. We picked the wrong fucking guy."
Oh Leo, you and your two low-life friends did indeed pick the wrong guy to blackmail this time.
I read 52 Pickup as a monthly read in the Pulp Fiction group here on Goodreads and I'm really glad I decided to participate. This was such a well crafted and well written crime story. The characters and their actions were realistic and it didn't come across as "phony" or one-dimensional as often these tales are.
I have not seen the film adaptation and will probably skip it as I always believe books are superior to the film in most instances. I just read on Wikipedia that this film was set in L.A. which is an obvious negative for me. I loved the early 1970's seedy Detroit setting full of porn theaters and nude bars amongst the industrial landscape. Los Angeles would not be an adequate substitution. It just wouldn't be the same.
My one complaint was
An interesting side note is that I checked out the 1st edition copyright 1974 from our library -- but it was titled "Fifty-Two" Pickup not "52" Pickup. This resulted in not being about to find the book on their computer database at first try. I had to search by author. From my quick internet research the title could have changed when the film was made in 1986? Not sure if that is correct...
Oh Leo, you and your two low-life friends did indeed pick the wrong guy to blackmail this time.
I read 52 Pickup as a monthly read in the Pulp Fiction group here on Goodreads and I'm really glad I decided to participate. This was such a well crafted and well written crime story. The characters and their actions were realistic and it didn't come across as "phony" or one-dimensional as often these tales are.
I have not seen the film adaptation and will probably skip it as I always believe books are superior to the film in most instances. I just read on Wikipedia that this film was set in L.A. which is an obvious negative for me. I loved the early 1970's seedy Detroit setting full of porn theaters and nude bars amongst the industrial landscape. Los Angeles would not be an adequate substitution. It just wouldn't be the same.
My one complaint was
An interesting side note is that I checked out the 1st edition copyright 1974 from our library -- but it was titled "Fifty-Two" Pickup not "52" Pickup. This resulted in not being about to find the book on their computer database at first try. I had to search by author. From my quick internet research the title could have changed when the film was made in 1986? Not sure if that is correct...
November 3, 2013
from the Avon paperback back-cover blurb:
Detroit businessman Harry Mitchell was having a mid-life crisis. He had an attractive wife at home. He had a voluptuous girlfriend on the side. And now he had a problem with porn movies.
He was in one.
A man with a stocking over his head and a .38 in his hand wanted a hundred grand to keep Harry's picture out of circulation. But the hoods behind this blackmail scam made a big mistake when they fingered Harry Mitchell for their pigeon...
With Elmore Leonard it's hard to say one novel is his best or maybe better than the rest.
You can say it but saying it doesn't make it true.
I will go this far: were it possible to honestly compile a Top 10 list drawing from every novel ever published by Elmore Leonard, this could easily place somewhere in the top 5.
At the moment I can't think of another Elmore Leonard novel that is as plot dominated as this one. Sure, he has some memorable villains in this one, but these are reprehensible bad guys.
There's no clever repartee between the main character and the bottom feeders who set him up to be blackmailed. These guys aren't heist artists operating a clever con, they're just ruthless urban desperadoes with just enough education and street smarts to think they've dreamed up the "perfect crime".
Highest possible recommendation.
Detroit businessman Harry Mitchell was having a mid-life crisis. He had an attractive wife at home. He had a voluptuous girlfriend on the side. And now he had a problem with porn movies.
He was in one.
A man with a stocking over his head and a .38 in his hand wanted a hundred grand to keep Harry's picture out of circulation. But the hoods behind this blackmail scam made a big mistake when they fingered Harry Mitchell for their pigeon...
With Elmore Leonard it's hard to say one novel is his best or maybe better than the rest.
You can say it but saying it doesn't make it true.
I will go this far: were it possible to honestly compile a Top 10 list drawing from every novel ever published by Elmore Leonard, this could easily place somewhere in the top 5.
At the moment I can't think of another Elmore Leonard novel that is as plot dominated as this one. Sure, he has some memorable villains in this one, but these are reprehensible bad guys.
There's no clever repartee between the main character and the bottom feeders who set him up to be blackmailed. These guys aren't heist artists operating a clever con, they're just ruthless urban desperadoes with just enough education and street smarts to think they've dreamed up the "perfect crime".
Highest possible recommendation.
January 11, 2012
It all started with Timothy Olyphant:
Timothy plays Raylan Givens in the FX series Justified. (He's also my latest mid-life crisis, as anyone who gets my updates will know. ) That series is based on characters created by Elmore Leonard, and specifically a short story called "Fire in the Hole".
So after watching 2 seasons of Justified (all in the course of 3 weeks, but who's counting?) I was curious. I vaguely remembered that the movies Get Shorty and Out of Sight were based on his books, but until I searched him here on GR I had no freaking idea how many books this dude has churned out. And how many Hollywood had adapted: 3:10 to Yuma,Hombre, The Big Bounce, Rum Punch (Jackie Brown), Stick, Be Cool, tons more plus a couple of tv shows. One title in particular stood out: 52 Pick Up.
Hey! I thought. I think that was the movie with Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret in it.
Have I mentioned that I've had a crush on Roy Scheider since "Jaws"?
And "Marathon Man"?
And "Blue Thunder"? 
And just generally?
Oh, somebody stop me.
Anyhoo, the memory of how much I liked Roy Scheider is what compelled me to pick this up, and am I ever glad I did.
This book was fabulous, for more than one reason.
Reason #1: It was written in 1974. I LOVE detective books written ages ago. They seem grittier, and a whole lot more entertaining to me for some reason. Perhaps it's just that I grew up in a house littered with Travis McGee and James Bond books in the 70s and it's nostalgia; perhaps it's just more fun to read about a crime being committed and/or solved without the benefit of computers and cell phones. There's a much bigger sense of urgency to the bad guys having your wife when all you can do is dial a rotary dial phone and listen to it ring, and ring, and ring... Strip clubs, rose wine being classy and afternoons at the club playing tennis seems so cool somehow. And having your kids in university and being considered middle-aged at 42 seems, I dunno, normal. Even the amount that Harry is being blackmailed for works and is where the name of the book comes from.
Reason #2: The writing. I think Elmore Leonard is famous for the dialogue in his books. If he's not, boy, he should be. I don't even know how to describe it - spare, tight, laconic, are words that come to mind. At times laugh out loud funny, and always, with every character, REAL. These are people you know. Leonard has a gift for giving his characters a voice and using turns of phrase that bring them to life.
Like this:
Reason #3: The story itself. I vaguely remembered it from the movie but not enough to ruin the way Leonard wound his way through the con, all the double-crosses and the fix. Brilliant. Throw in a brewing scrap with a union boss that includes firebombing a car (that would ONLY have been possible in the 70s) for good measure and you have a superbly entertaining, hard-boiled crime novel.
As a lazy skim-reader hooked on historical romances I'm accustomed to characters with verbal diarrhea, endless navel-gazing and wading through detailed descriptions of clothing, not to mention 10 page love scenes. This book was a tightly plotted, refreshing treat.
I don't know that I would want a steady diet of Leonard's work, but I sure enjoyed the bit that I've tasted.
4 stars
Timothy plays Raylan Givens in the FX series Justified. (He's also my latest mid-life crisis, as anyone who gets my updates will know. ) That series is based on characters created by Elmore Leonard, and specifically a short story called "Fire in the Hole".
So after watching 2 seasons of Justified (all in the course of 3 weeks, but who's counting?) I was curious. I vaguely remembered that the movies Get Shorty and Out of Sight were based on his books, but until I searched him here on GR I had no freaking idea how many books this dude has churned out. And how many Hollywood had adapted: 3:10 to Yuma,Hombre, The Big Bounce, Rum Punch (Jackie Brown), Stick, Be Cool, tons more plus a couple of tv shows. One title in particular stood out: 52 Pick Up.
Hey! I thought. I think that was the movie with Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret in it.
Have I mentioned that I've had a crush on Roy Scheider since "Jaws"?
And "Marathon Man"?
And "Blue Thunder"? And just generally?
Oh, somebody stop me.
Anyhoo, the memory of how much I liked Roy Scheider is what compelled me to pick this up, and am I ever glad I did.
This book was fabulous, for more than one reason.
Reason #1: It was written in 1974. I LOVE detective books written ages ago. They seem grittier, and a whole lot more entertaining to me for some reason. Perhaps it's just that I grew up in a house littered with Travis McGee and James Bond books in the 70s and it's nostalgia; perhaps it's just more fun to read about a crime being committed and/or solved without the benefit of computers and cell phones. There's a much bigger sense of urgency to the bad guys having your wife when all you can do is dial a rotary dial phone and listen to it ring, and ring, and ring... Strip clubs, rose wine being classy and afternoons at the club playing tennis seems so cool somehow. And having your kids in university and being considered middle-aged at 42 seems, I dunno, normal. Even the amount that Harry is being blackmailed for works and is where the name of the book comes from.
Reason #2: The writing. I think Elmore Leonard is famous for the dialogue in his books. If he's not, boy, he should be. I don't even know how to describe it - spare, tight, laconic, are words that come to mind. At times laugh out loud funny, and always, with every character, REAL. These are people you know. Leonard has a gift for giving his characters a voice and using turns of phrase that bring them to life.
Like this:
"But," Alan was saying, "we do have a problem. Somebody got killed. He saw it. At the time he didn't know about us, but now he does."
Bobby Shy spoke for the first time. He said, "He knows about you two. He don't know about me."
Alan looked at him. "That's right. That's why you're going to have to do it. You can walk up to him, shake hands and blow him away. Man won't even know what hit him."
"For what?" Bobby Shy said. "What do I get out of it?"
"Peace of mind," Alan said.
"I look nervous to you?"
Reason #3: The story itself. I vaguely remembered it from the movie but not enough to ruin the way Leonard wound his way through the con, all the double-crosses and the fix. Brilliant. Throw in a brewing scrap with a union boss that includes firebombing a car (that would ONLY have been possible in the 70s) for good measure and you have a superbly entertaining, hard-boiled crime novel.
As a lazy skim-reader hooked on historical romances I'm accustomed to characters with verbal diarrhea, endless navel-gazing and wading through detailed descriptions of clothing, not to mention 10 page love scenes. This book was a tightly plotted, refreshing treat.
I don't know that I would want a steady diet of Leonard's work, but I sure enjoyed the bit that I've tasted.
4 stars
December 24, 2013
52 Pick Up is the late Elmore Leonard’s tale of one Detroit businessman’s dealings with a trio of blackmailing thugs. When his adulterous affair is caught on tape by the three men, Harry Mitchell is forced to either pay up one hundred thousand dollars or deal with the consequences. If you know Elmore Leonard novels, then you know that there is only one choice for Mitchell. As the blurb on the back cover divulges “Harry Mitchell doesn’t get mad…he gets even.”
For some reason, I found this book to be sort of underwhelming and a bit disappointing. I found the protagonist/villain confrontations to be a little cliché, the dialogue sort of forced, and the plot slow-moving. It seemed to stall quite often with irrelevant scenes that didn’t move the story forward (Mitchell’s dealings within his company, the spats between Mitchell and his wife, for example). Also, the ending was a letdown and abrupt.
Still, I’d be interested to check out some other Leonard novels in this genre.
For some reason, I found this book to be sort of underwhelming and a bit disappointing. I found the protagonist/villain confrontations to be a little cliché, the dialogue sort of forced, and the plot slow-moving. It seemed to stall quite often with irrelevant scenes that didn’t move the story forward (Mitchell’s dealings within his company, the spats between Mitchell and his wife, for example). Also, the ending was a letdown and abrupt.
Still, I’d be interested to check out some other Leonard novels in this genre.
March 9, 2020
52 Pick-Up is the kind of slim, propulsive, small-focus crime novel that hardly ever gets written anymore, and Leonard handles it masterfully. In his hands, the story of one man's midlife crisis and the blackmailers who latch onto him is tense, exciting, and surprising.
On the surface, Mitchell looks like an easy mark for the three men--willing killer Bobby Shy, skittish peepshow-runner Leo Frank, and sleazy porn theater operator Alan Raimy--to target for a cool, carefully chosen $105,000 a year. He can pay up what they estimate to be the whole of his disposable income, or he can take his chances when footage of his affair (with a woman only a year older than his daughter) is leaked, potentially spoiling both his marriage and his clean-cut public image. But right from the start, Mitchell isn't the pushover his blackmailers imagine. Faced with this ultimatum, he confesses to his wife, Barbara, deciding to let the chips fall where they may. The gradual rekindling of his marriage, based partly on the couple's partnership in trying to solve this problem, is one of the novel's great pleasures.
Mitchell turns down the initial blackmail proposal and is faced with a shocking part two: the men kill Cini, his former girlfriend, and frame him for her murder. (The killing is described with a cold specificity that's creepy without being graphic: there's a detail about some plywood that makes for a haunting visual.) Now he can pay up or deal with the police.
But Mitchell, as Barbara explains via a telling sample of his war record, has a steely toughness and can only be pushed so far. Instead of caving, he begins working the blackmailers on his own, poking and prodding at them until first their secrets and then their conspiracy begins to unravel. Soon he not only knows who they all are, he's making pointed counter-offers that they might have to accept, and he has them turning against each other. Leonard never over-explains Mitchell's scheming, instead letting it play out with delightful verve. Just when the fun is heating up, however, the violence escalates to match it, raising the novel's stakes and further darkening its mood.
It's not a perfect novel. A subplot involving a troublesome loose cannon union organizer seems mostly thrown in to provide a few key delays and misdirections, and it's handled so lightly--even as it escalates to fire-bombs--that it feels tonally off. And the strength of Barbara's characterization in the first half slacks off as she Still, despite some missteps, this is a tightly-written, tightly-wound crime novel, and Mitchell has an appealing blend of toughness and Everyman likability.
On the surface, Mitchell looks like an easy mark for the three men--willing killer Bobby Shy, skittish peepshow-runner Leo Frank, and sleazy porn theater operator Alan Raimy--to target for a cool, carefully chosen $105,000 a year. He can pay up what they estimate to be the whole of his disposable income, or he can take his chances when footage of his affair (with a woman only a year older than his daughter) is leaked, potentially spoiling both his marriage and his clean-cut public image. But right from the start, Mitchell isn't the pushover his blackmailers imagine. Faced with this ultimatum, he confesses to his wife, Barbara, deciding to let the chips fall where they may. The gradual rekindling of his marriage, based partly on the couple's partnership in trying to solve this problem, is one of the novel's great pleasures.
Mitchell turns down the initial blackmail proposal and is faced with a shocking part two: the men kill Cini, his former girlfriend, and frame him for her murder. (The killing is described with a cold specificity that's creepy without being graphic: there's a detail about some plywood that makes for a haunting visual.) Now he can pay up or deal with the police.
But Mitchell, as Barbara explains via a telling sample of his war record, has a steely toughness and can only be pushed so far. Instead of caving, he begins working the blackmailers on his own, poking and prodding at them until first their secrets and then their conspiracy begins to unravel. Soon he not only knows who they all are, he's making pointed counter-offers that they might have to accept, and he has them turning against each other. Leonard never over-explains Mitchell's scheming, instead letting it play out with delightful verve. Just when the fun is heating up, however, the violence escalates to match it, raising the novel's stakes and further darkening its mood.
It's not a perfect novel. A subplot involving a troublesome loose cannon union organizer seems mostly thrown in to provide a few key delays and misdirections, and it's handled so lightly--even as it escalates to fire-bombs--that it feels tonally off. And the strength of Barbara's characterization in the first half slacks off as she Still, despite some missteps, this is a tightly-written, tightly-wound crime novel, and Mitchell has an appealing blend of toughness and Everyman likability.
April 25, 2017
4-star Review:
52 Pickup Elmore Leonard
DISCLAIMER: My first mystery read in a long long time warrants a biased review at that.
Set in the crime scene of Detroit, this mystery/noir novel chronicles the life of Harry Mitchell, a happy matrimony man/businessman, who's had a slip-up of sorts for the first time in his life in the form of a secret affair. He encounters trouble with a few blackmailers who threaten to expose his dalliance if he doesn't pay up the ransom they demand. The rest of the novel depicts an intelligently woven series of bluff, negotiations, betrayal, and ultimately, redemption.
This novel screams quintessential Hollywood mystery flick - to an extent that I could literally visualise the scenes playing out in my mind (crisply directed and all that). It gave me the typical Fight Club vibes from the word go. The dialogues were also hardcore American, see for yourself:
You start accusing me, calling me a liar—let’s see you prove I done anything.
Keep your head on, man. Everything will be cool. Go west to Seventy-five. We going downtown.
Try us one more time. I think you going to dig this trip.
Shit, you know as well as I do who done it.
(Source)
I especially enjoyed the pace of the novel, it kept me on my toes at all times. Couple that with a gripping mystery and you have a fan in me. I gather from other reviews that this isn't the author's best works, so I'm sure to pick up more of his novels to get an occasional American respite from all that conventional (Old) English I immerse myself in.
52 Pickup Elmore Leonard
DISCLAIMER: My first mystery read in a long long time warrants a biased review at that.
Set in the crime scene of Detroit, this mystery/noir novel chronicles the life of Harry Mitchell, a happy matrimony man/businessman, who's had a slip-up of sorts for the first time in his life in the form of a secret affair. He encounters trouble with a few blackmailers who threaten to expose his dalliance if he doesn't pay up the ransom they demand. The rest of the novel depicts an intelligently woven series of bluff, negotiations, betrayal, and ultimately, redemption.
This novel screams quintessential Hollywood mystery flick - to an extent that I could literally visualise the scenes playing out in my mind (crisply directed and all that). It gave me the typical Fight Club vibes from the word go. The dialogues were also hardcore American, see for yourself:
You start accusing me, calling me a liar—let’s see you prove I done anything.
Keep your head on, man. Everything will be cool. Go west to Seventy-five. We going downtown.
Try us one more time. I think you going to dig this trip.
Shit, you know as well as I do who done it.
(Source)
I especially enjoyed the pace of the novel, it kept me on my toes at all times. Couple that with a gripping mystery and you have a fan in me. I gather from other reviews that this isn't the author's best works, so I'm sure to pick up more of his novels to get an occasional American respite from all that conventional (Old) English I immerse myself in.
May 10, 2021
Read this as part of Elmore Leonard: Four Novels of the 1970s: Fifty-Two Pickup / Swag / Unknown Man No. 89 / The Switch: but I think I also have it on Kindle standalone, so I figured I'd mark it as this as I make my way through the other three books.
I don't know, man. This is pretty good. The set-up is great: group of three half-assed thugs try to scam a presumed rich man out of six-figures through blackmail, and then ramp it up with a murder charge when he calls their bluff. You got an adult theater owner with plans to make it big but no real motivation, a guy who rents out a space for folks to take nude photos, and an armed-robber who sees himself as a center of a calm but is usually walking the line towards full-blown rage. Toss in the main character, a mishmash of everyman and Randian industrialist—the kind of self-made ex-mil who runs a company with thought and a kind smile and a no-non-sense attitude backed by his patents—and you have something that is pretty much a perfect Fiasco set-up, a downward spiral dance in which everyone distrusts everyone else and greed and lust break apart perfect plans.
The dialogue shines, the characters are a fitting mix, the criminals are hot-cold and play well off one another, and the sense of the street is like a gritty, modern-day Dickens. All this is good.
The problem is that it also has a sense of meanness about it that lacks Leonard's easy-going charm. Leonard is usually a lot better at bringing people in who deserve to brought in, of having the haves and have-nots mingle better, of finding the line between tension and relaxation. He rarely dwells upon the suffering on his characters, as he does here with at least one victim who is almost entirely out of the situation but gets drugged up and raped (or another who is murdered though the level of involvement is left unspoken). Especially when some of the easy-going-meets-violent-crime aspects are trimmed down and a generally unnecessary anti-union plot is woven in [a lot more could have come out of it, surely].
This is with hindsight, mind, and it shows a snapshot between some of his earlier westerns and western-infused crime novels and his later stuff that for which he is perhaps better known, today. If you have read other Leonard books, I'd say this makes for an interesting variation on some of his themes even while it hits several deja vu pockets. If you have not read any of his books, I'd say start with something like Out of Sight first.
I don't know, man. This is pretty good. The set-up is great: group of three half-assed thugs try to scam a presumed rich man out of six-figures through blackmail, and then ramp it up with a murder charge when he calls their bluff. You got an adult theater owner with plans to make it big but no real motivation, a guy who rents out a space for folks to take nude photos, and an armed-robber who sees himself as a center of a calm but is usually walking the line towards full-blown rage. Toss in the main character, a mishmash of everyman and Randian industrialist—the kind of self-made ex-mil who runs a company with thought and a kind smile and a no-non-sense attitude backed by his patents—and you have something that is pretty much a perfect Fiasco set-up, a downward spiral dance in which everyone distrusts everyone else and greed and lust break apart perfect plans.
The dialogue shines, the characters are a fitting mix, the criminals are hot-cold and play well off one another, and the sense of the street is like a gritty, modern-day Dickens. All this is good.
The problem is that it also has a sense of meanness about it that lacks Leonard's easy-going charm. Leonard is usually a lot better at bringing people in who deserve to brought in, of having the haves and have-nots mingle better, of finding the line between tension and relaxation. He rarely dwells upon the suffering on his characters, as he does here with at least one victim who is almost entirely out of the situation but gets drugged up and raped (or another who is murdered though the level of involvement is left unspoken). Especially when some of the easy-going-meets-violent-crime aspects are trimmed down and a generally unnecessary anti-union plot is woven in [a lot more could have come out of it, surely].
This is with hindsight, mind, and it shows a snapshot between some of his earlier westerns and western-infused crime novels and his later stuff that for which he is perhaps better known, today. If you have read other Leonard books, I'd say this makes for an interesting variation on some of his themes even while it hits several deja vu pockets. If you have not read any of his books, I'd say start with something like Out of Sight first.
November 1, 2020
I think that I’ve said this before, but I need an Elmore Leonard book to cleanse my pallet after reading about a half dozen thrillers or crime novels that just don’t satisfy the itch. I’ve noticed a lot of recent noir writing has to sound like it was written in 1946 and be filled with dark similes. Many of this new generation of crime novels are often so loaded with violence that there’s no room for a story, which makes about as much sense as not having enough room in the getaway car for the whole crew.
Perhaps not among his best novels, but it’s still better than most of what I’ve read lately, and by lately, I mean the past few years. It has everything I want in an Elmore Leonard novel: a tight plot, strong characters, two-bit crooks, and the best dialogue you’re going to get anywhere.
Perhaps not among his best novels, but it’s still better than most of what I’ve read lately, and by lately, I mean the past few years. It has everything I want in an Elmore Leonard novel: a tight plot, strong characters, two-bit crooks, and the best dialogue you’re going to get anywhere.
February 7, 2017
I thought my first Elmore Leonard novel should be one that A) Had an impact on his career and B) Was set in Detroit. You could add to that, maybe, a book of his that was made into a movie. This book doesn't disappoint. Not as tightly plotted as, say a Westlake book, but moves along. I liked it.
October 31, 2025
Sadly no..
August 31, 2025
52 Pickup by Elmore Leonard
10 out of 10
Having been exuberant after reading Get Shorty - http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/04/g... - there was a lot to expect from another novel by the brilliant mastermind, Elmore Leonard, but we can say that he exceeds already high expectations, with a rather short, but intense, action packed crime story that seems to have been alas less successful in its big screen adaptation than the glamorous, popular, wonderful feature with a John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Renee Russo, Danny DeVito, all in top form made based on the Get Shorty chef d’oeuvre http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/02/g...
Harry Mitchell is the main character of the fabulous thriller, a man in his forties, entrepreneur, owner of a plant, married for over twenty years to Barbara Mitchell, with whom he has a married daughter, aged twenty one, but he has been recently – for the past few months – involved in an affair with a girl, Cynthia aka Cini, who is only one year older than his own daughter, a young woman he has met in a bar, where the first one to be approached had been her friend, Doreen, sitting as she was at the bar, when the protagonist had walked in with a client, or was it a friend, that engaged the black woman in conversation.
The hero has had a more than satisfying relationship with this girl – on the virtue, the moral aspect of which we are not to dwell, though we would be thinking about this as issues start presenting themselves and then as trouble is on the horizon, we may begin to wonder why on earth has he been doing this thing, when his wife is more than attractive, she is better in bed than Cini, according to the cheating man’s own assessment, they had had such a great marital bliss and as events progress we can see that the spouse is brave, loyal, forgiving, kind, intrepid, calm and in short has all the qualities one may desire in a partner or indeed, in anyone…
However, when he arrives at the flat he has provided the young woman with, right there in the first few lines of the story, he calls for her, but there is no answer and the silence appears absolute, until he hears a faint noise, that of an engine, coming from the den…once he is there, a black man talks to him – the protagonist knows the stranger is black although he has a nylon stocking over the head and I think we can assume this is not a hint at racism, which seems to be absent from the narrative, Alhamdulillah.
Harry is shown a film that has him and Cini in the leading roles, covering their shenanigans, the shared experiences they have had together, with a voice over from an individual with long hair and skinny body, who appears rather amused at various antics, albeit the conclusion could not be more serious and threatening…we have looked at your activity and know that you make one hundred fifty thousand dollars per year and we ask that you give us one hundred and five thousand…you see, we are not greedy, we do not ask for the whole income, because we know you have overheads, expenses…
When the hero asks what happens if he does not pay, the answer is that the film will be given to his wife, the clients and all those who see it will change their opinion and thus his business, private life will be affected…in other words, it will be better to pay, have the film and enjoy his future life without trouble- when he consults a professional – he was warned about the police and the protagonist will not see them, at least to begin with, even if his adviser sees this as the only apparent choice, alternative to paying the exorbitant sum, for 105k would mean over one million dollars in the currency of the present – Harry Mitchell does not get too many hopes over finding who these thugs are…
To add insult to injury, this is not the only trouble that the hero has to deal with, for machines at the plant are not working properly and he has to explain to a team leader that when that happens, he could shut the firm down, if the leader does not see to it that the workers take care of issues, the owner would not go and talk to each and every one, but he would simply close, trying to recuperate what he can, before such incidents cause him to lose money…furthermore, there is a rather rude, aggressive union envoy who tries to come in without invitation and press for more advantages, infuriating the manager – owner to the point where he sends the envoy packing and calls the union office to change tactics…
Seeing that their potential victim has not been in a hurry to pay them, the scoundrels decide to take another route and blackmail their target with more serious, vicious tactics, having the black member of the trio take him to a place where they present another movie, with the same vile voice over, who is talking about Cini, who is tied in this new movie, they have his gun with his fingerprints on it, his coat that will be used to incriminate him by having blood on it – when Barbara Mitchell returned home one day, she saw in the house a stranger who claimed he is selling some services from the Silver Accounting company, but when she would check, there was no such company, so husband and wife would deduce that the visitor was one of the gang…
This is what it is called a snuff movie, for the villains kill the young woman and there is no doubt about it, for aware that their target might think that is not blood and the whole thing is staged, they present evidence, they put a mirror to the lips, they keep their focus then on the eyes and Harry Mitchell will see that there is no doubt and he has never seen anything like those lifeless eyes of the poor victim of heartless killers, who use a different, more dangerous, already deadly type of blackmail and tell their victim that is he does not pay 105k Every year – they repeat and insist on the change from their last offer – they will inform the police – a call is what it takes, anonymous, they do not have to expose their identities – and provide them with irrefutable evidence that it is Mr. Mitchell who had killed the woman.
They have his gun, with fingerprints, the coat which will have the dead woman’s blood on it and everything will be stacked against the man, unless he cooperates…which he would do to some extent, first trying to explain that he does not have the 106k, but will pay the 52k from the title and he invites the supposed ring leader, mastermind to check his books and see that he does not have the means to put up more…he will take his wife into confidence, albeit he initially tried to keep her out of this…paradoxically, this trauma serves a purpose, they experience PTG as opposed to PTSD, that is they have Post Traumatic Growth in their marital bond and they get closer than ever maybe, once they have to go through this together…this keeps readers Breathless from one point on and it is magic, stupefying entertainment
10 out of 10
Having been exuberant after reading Get Shorty - http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/04/g... - there was a lot to expect from another novel by the brilliant mastermind, Elmore Leonard, but we can say that he exceeds already high expectations, with a rather short, but intense, action packed crime story that seems to have been alas less successful in its big screen adaptation than the glamorous, popular, wonderful feature with a John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Renee Russo, Danny DeVito, all in top form made based on the Get Shorty chef d’oeuvre http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/02/g...
Harry Mitchell is the main character of the fabulous thriller, a man in his forties, entrepreneur, owner of a plant, married for over twenty years to Barbara Mitchell, with whom he has a married daughter, aged twenty one, but he has been recently – for the past few months – involved in an affair with a girl, Cynthia aka Cini, who is only one year older than his own daughter, a young woman he has met in a bar, where the first one to be approached had been her friend, Doreen, sitting as she was at the bar, when the protagonist had walked in with a client, or was it a friend, that engaged the black woman in conversation.
The hero has had a more than satisfying relationship with this girl – on the virtue, the moral aspect of which we are not to dwell, though we would be thinking about this as issues start presenting themselves and then as trouble is on the horizon, we may begin to wonder why on earth has he been doing this thing, when his wife is more than attractive, she is better in bed than Cini, according to the cheating man’s own assessment, they had had such a great marital bliss and as events progress we can see that the spouse is brave, loyal, forgiving, kind, intrepid, calm and in short has all the qualities one may desire in a partner or indeed, in anyone…
However, when he arrives at the flat he has provided the young woman with, right there in the first few lines of the story, he calls for her, but there is no answer and the silence appears absolute, until he hears a faint noise, that of an engine, coming from the den…once he is there, a black man talks to him – the protagonist knows the stranger is black although he has a nylon stocking over the head and I think we can assume this is not a hint at racism, which seems to be absent from the narrative, Alhamdulillah.
Harry is shown a film that has him and Cini in the leading roles, covering their shenanigans, the shared experiences they have had together, with a voice over from an individual with long hair and skinny body, who appears rather amused at various antics, albeit the conclusion could not be more serious and threatening…we have looked at your activity and know that you make one hundred fifty thousand dollars per year and we ask that you give us one hundred and five thousand…you see, we are not greedy, we do not ask for the whole income, because we know you have overheads, expenses…
When the hero asks what happens if he does not pay, the answer is that the film will be given to his wife, the clients and all those who see it will change their opinion and thus his business, private life will be affected…in other words, it will be better to pay, have the film and enjoy his future life without trouble- when he consults a professional – he was warned about the police and the protagonist will not see them, at least to begin with, even if his adviser sees this as the only apparent choice, alternative to paying the exorbitant sum, for 105k would mean over one million dollars in the currency of the present – Harry Mitchell does not get too many hopes over finding who these thugs are…
To add insult to injury, this is not the only trouble that the hero has to deal with, for machines at the plant are not working properly and he has to explain to a team leader that when that happens, he could shut the firm down, if the leader does not see to it that the workers take care of issues, the owner would not go and talk to each and every one, but he would simply close, trying to recuperate what he can, before such incidents cause him to lose money…furthermore, there is a rather rude, aggressive union envoy who tries to come in without invitation and press for more advantages, infuriating the manager – owner to the point where he sends the envoy packing and calls the union office to change tactics…
Seeing that their potential victim has not been in a hurry to pay them, the scoundrels decide to take another route and blackmail their target with more serious, vicious tactics, having the black member of the trio take him to a place where they present another movie, with the same vile voice over, who is talking about Cini, who is tied in this new movie, they have his gun with his fingerprints on it, his coat that will be used to incriminate him by having blood on it – when Barbara Mitchell returned home one day, she saw in the house a stranger who claimed he is selling some services from the Silver Accounting company, but when she would check, there was no such company, so husband and wife would deduce that the visitor was one of the gang…
This is what it is called a snuff movie, for the villains kill the young woman and there is no doubt about it, for aware that their target might think that is not blood and the whole thing is staged, they present evidence, they put a mirror to the lips, they keep their focus then on the eyes and Harry Mitchell will see that there is no doubt and he has never seen anything like those lifeless eyes of the poor victim of heartless killers, who use a different, more dangerous, already deadly type of blackmail and tell their victim that is he does not pay 105k Every year – they repeat and insist on the change from their last offer – they will inform the police – a call is what it takes, anonymous, they do not have to expose their identities – and provide them with irrefutable evidence that it is Mr. Mitchell who had killed the woman.
They have his gun, with fingerprints, the coat which will have the dead woman’s blood on it and everything will be stacked against the man, unless he cooperates…which he would do to some extent, first trying to explain that he does not have the 106k, but will pay the 52k from the title and he invites the supposed ring leader, mastermind to check his books and see that he does not have the means to put up more…he will take his wife into confidence, albeit he initially tried to keep her out of this…paradoxically, this trauma serves a purpose, they experience PTG as opposed to PTSD, that is they have Post Traumatic Growth in their marital bond and they get closer than ever maybe, once they have to go through this together…this keeps readers Breathless from one point on and it is magic, stupefying entertainment
October 30, 2010
This was a 5 star thriller that fell apart at the end. 52 Pickup was written in the early 70s, so you have Leonard just as things are really starting to roll for him. Great dialogue, great characters, with crime, adultery, and porn spicing the stew. It's also one of Leonard's most brutal novels. There is one murder that is just shocking, but there is also the suggestion of sodomized rape as part of a kidnapping. You really hate the bad guys in this one. The hero, Harry Mitchell, is standard flawed good guy stuff. He's doing a slow burn while dealing with his problem -- which is his own doing, a twist for Leonard fans. The ramifications of this problem, Harry's adultery, and how it touches (and ends!) so many lives is the effective subtext of the novel. The exchanges between Harry and Barbara, Mitchell's wife, are a good showcase for those that appreciate Leonard's mastery of dialogue. But what makes them a bit different than other Leonard exchanges, is that the topic is adultery, and how a married couple tries to deal with betrayal and damaged love.
The downside: the ending. It's not just that it's something of a disappointing demise for the main bad guy. (You'd like to see Harry do something with drills and blowtorches.) No, the ending is just clumsy and from a writing view point, not well executed. And, perhaps worse, just not believable. The exchange (or the obviously ironic "pickup" or payoff), is so clunky, that no bad guy, especially a Leonard bad guy, would of been fooled. But maybe that's the point, there is no neat package of an ending, since Harry's "mistake" was the first domino. He will have to live with the damage he has caused, especially to his wife and his dead lover the rest of his life.
The downside: the ending. It's not just that it's something of a disappointing demise for the main bad guy. (You'd like to see Harry do something with drills and blowtorches.) No, the ending is just clumsy and from a writing view point, not well executed. And, perhaps worse, just not believable. The exchange (or the obviously ironic "pickup" or payoff), is so clunky, that no bad guy, especially a Leonard bad guy, would of been fooled. But maybe that's the point, there is no neat package of an ending, since Harry's "mistake" was the first domino. He will have to live with the damage he has caused, especially to his wife and his dead lover the rest of his life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 5, 2021
This was an interesting read, but it was hard to really like any of the characters. And the ending seemed to come abruptly, with some loose ends unless I missed something.
October 15, 2009
My reading of an Elmore Leonard book was a long time coming. And what a nice one to start with. The story is straight out of a film noir movie, man gets caught cheating on his wife by three hoodlums who blackmail him for $100,000 ... things get out of hand and revenge is taken. While the subplots do get in the way of the main story ("wife deals with husband's infidelity" and "union manager uses thug before contract talks" add very little in comparison to what they subtract from the book), this worked wonderfully for a quick read.
And yes, Leonard does know how to write natural dialogue without dialect. While it may not be as artsy as Hubert Selby Jr (who really works hard on his dialogue) or as comical as Chuck Palahniuk, Elmore Leonard's dialogue is a must for any aspiring writer. First off, it's simple. No unnecessary tricks. Second, the tricks that are used (dropping a word to demonstrate a person's education level, but no need to misspell any words) are used economically and effectively. Truly, read any dialogue heavy section in this book and you will have a bachelor's in finding voice for characters, correct use of the word "said", writing dialect without dialect, subtext, and so much more.
No doubt there are other books of his that have better stories, better examples of dialogue or are more entertaining, but if you don't know where to start, 52 Pickup is a great choice.
And yes, Leonard does know how to write natural dialogue without dialect. While it may not be as artsy as Hubert Selby Jr (who really works hard on his dialogue) or as comical as Chuck Palahniuk, Elmore Leonard's dialogue is a must for any aspiring writer. First off, it's simple. No unnecessary tricks. Second, the tricks that are used (dropping a word to demonstrate a person's education level, but no need to misspell any words) are used economically and effectively. Truly, read any dialogue heavy section in this book and you will have a bachelor's in finding voice for characters, correct use of the word "said", writing dialect without dialect, subtext, and so much more.
No doubt there are other books of his that have better stories, better examples of dialogue or are more entertaining, but if you don't know where to start, 52 Pickup is a great choice.
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