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Pronto: A Novel

Author: Visit Amazon's Elmore Leonard Page | Language: English | ISBN: 0062120336 | Format: PDF

Pronto: A Novel Description

Amazon.com Review

In the world of Elmore Leonard novels, cops and criminals get by with a grudging respect for each other's capabilities: Harry had been arrested by Buck Torres a half-dozen times or so; they knew each other pretty well and were friends. Not socially, Harry had never met Buck's wife, but friends in the way they trusted one another and always had time to talk about other things than what they did for a living. Right now, 66-year-old Harry Arno's in trouble. In order to get at his boss, Jimmy Cap, the feds told Jimmy that Harry's skimming off the sports book he runs, the idea being that Harry will testify in exchange for protection from Tommy Bucks (a.k.a. the Zip), Jimmy's enforcer. But Harry's got a few tricks up his sleeve. Then when a straight-shooting U.S. Marshall decides to spend his vacation tracking Harry down, all hell breaks loose. Set in Miami, Florida, and Rapallo, Italy, Pronto is another brilliantly executed combination of suspense and black humor from the master of crime fiction. --Ron Hogan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

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

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Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (January 3, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0062120336
ISBN-13: 978-0062120335
Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

PRONTO by Elmore Leonard is a joyride of a story about Harry Arno, an over the hills Miami bookmaker. Harry plans to retire in Italy on money he skimmed from his corpulent mob boss, Jimmy "Cap" Capotorto. The feds want Jimmy Cap so they set up Harry to give information about Cap's activities by putting out the word about his skimming activities. An assassin is sent to get Harry but he's faster with a gun. In a final jab at the law, before he skips town, Harry gives the slip to U. S. Marshal Raylan Givens for the second time since they first met six years ago. In addition, "Zip", another mob affiliate, wants to take over Harry's action, so he tells Cap that he'll take out Harry in Italy. Consequently, Harry has so many people following him that the small village of Rapallo, Italy, becomes inundated with U. S. mobsters and federal agents plus Harry's old girlfriend, ex-stripper, Joyce. During all of these events, the sixty-six year old Harry starts drinking seriously again which causes the situation to deteriorate fast. Harry is in real danger of losing his life, as are several of the other players.
Leonard wrote twenty-three books before being discovered by the bestseller market in l983, the year LA BRAVA was published and won the Edgar Award. In l953, his first novel, THE BOUNTY HUNTERS, was published, but the market for westerns began to dry up. Leonard is best known for his crime novels.
All of the characters in PRONTO are drawn with clarity and colors so vivid the reader would know each one if he or she ran into them on the street. U. S. Marshal Raylan Givens is a fast-draw cowboy of the Old West variety. His cream cowboy hat bobbing aloft alerts readers to his entry in any combat zone.

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

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