Pronto

Elmore Leonard (1925-2013) wrote hardboiled noir that made movie producers drool. His stories, driven by acerbic dialogue, conflict, and suspense, feature cool, iconic protagonists and bad guys just as cool. Pronto (1993) introduced U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, who was featured in FX’s Justified (2010) and Justified: City Primeval (2023). Leonard got his start writing westerns, and Raylan is an urbanite who would fit right in with Clint Eastwood in Joe Kidd, for which Leonard wrote the screenplay. Raylan even wears a western Stetson. When a gangster asks him why he doesn’t take his hat off in the house, he says, “Being in your house has nothing to do with it. My hat stays on ’cause I won’t take it off to you or anybody like show more you.” John Wayne could not have said it better.

Talking about suspense, Alfred Hitchcock once said that if you put a bomb under a table, the characters at the table can talk about anything as long as they want while the audience waits for the bomb to go off. Thus, in Pronto, Raylan and a Miami bookie can sit in an Italian villa and talk about Ezra Pound while they wait for a gang of assassins. Not to worry. Their conversations will never appear in an academic journal. show less

I really miss Justified, the brilliant TV show based on the shenanigans of Elmore Leonard’s character Raylan Givens. So when I saw ‘Pronto’ on the library shelf I grabbed it, as this is the novel which introduces him. I get the impression that Leonard wasn’t sure where he was going with the character at this point, which is fair enough. Compared to the much later [b:Raylan|12037108|Raylan|Elmore Leonard|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1326486289s/12037108.jpg|17003686], here the writing seems less assured and the one-liners don’t flow so well. Nonetheless, Leonard is great at capturing the incredible disorganisation of so-called organised crime. His characters never know exactly what is going on, although they vary in their show more ability to roll with the chaos.

The central character of ‘Pronto’ is an alcoholic Miami Beach bookie in his late sixties, whose decades of skimming have finally caught up with him. At times he cuts a pathetic figure, especially while drinking, yet he can also be cunning and ruthless. My main impression, though, was of a deeply annoying person. Just very, very irritating. I found his Ezra Pound digressions especially tedious. This made Raylan’s slide into essentially becoming his bodyguard somewhat bewildering. It was interesting to learn the circumstances that led Raylan to shoot Tommy Bucks, the event which precipitates Justified. Said circumstances were much more dubious than I expected and Raylan’s armed trip to Italy certainly merited some raised eyebrows. Raylan is nonetheless an appealing fellow from the start: laconic and cool, while also intermittently ridiculous and foolhardy. His fondness for ice-cream and hat-wearing are present and correct, although his laconic wit is limited by being out of his element throughout.

Although I enjoyed ‘Pronto’ and found it very funny at times, it didn’t assuage my yearning for more episodes of Justified. It also lacks the level of confidence and incredibly tight plotting I expect from Leonard’s work, as well as suffering from an insufferable protagonist. Overall, fun but flawed. show less

Elmore Leonard is in a class of his own, and this quirky tale is something only he could have written. It’s full of strange characters and snappy dialogue, with humor, wit, and plenty of action. Oh yes, and let’s not forget the poet Ezra Pound, with whom gambling bookie Harry Arno is obsessed. Harry saw old Ezra in Italy way back in World War II, and has long dreamed of returning to Pound’s old neighborhood to spend his years of retirement.

So the story: The Feds have tried to use Harry as bait to take down the mob boss he works for. However, with his life in danger, Harry takes off for Italy, pursued by hitmen for the mob, and by his girlfriend Joyce (a topless dancer). US Marshall Raylan Givens joins the chase in an attempt to show more save Harry from the killers. Raylan is of course the main character in the television series Justified, which is partly based on this book. (Thus, while reading the book, I couldn’t get the TV character out of my mind). The plot is absorbing, there’s plenty of offbeat humor and oddball characters, and the bad guys meet deserved fates in ways both memorable and unexpected.

I'm not too fussy when it comes to before-bed fiction, but I loved this one. show less

Why did I love this book? Two words: Raylan Givens, my favorite kick ass modern day cowboy with a fondness for ice cream.

Pronto, however, is not exclusively Raylan's story, though he figures as a prominent character once he does arrive on the scene. This is actually the story of Harry Arno, a bookie who has decided that in one more year he's going to retire and go to Italy. Italy holds a special place in Harry's heart because he once shot a deserter there during World War II and it was there that he saw Ezra Pound (not once, but twice!). This leads to a peculiar obsession for a man like Harry--he's an expert on Ezra Pound (the English teacher in me loved this quirky little twist), can quote lines and reads Pound biographies despite the show more fact that he doesn't really understand his poetry (does anyone, really? And if you thought to yourself, "Why, yes, yes I do", then I think you're a damn liar). It's also amusing how his fixation on Pound affects those around him (his girlfriend, Joyce, memorizes all of the terrible things about ol' Ezra and even Raylan, after being assigned to escort Harry, goes to the library and checks out some of Pound's poetry, though he's puzzled by everything he reads and soon gives up). But I digress.

Harry's plan seems simple and obtainable, but, in true Leonard fashion, things go caddiwompas. The police want to bring down Harry's boss, Jimmy Cap, a 350 lbs. mob boss with a penchant for butterflies and sun tanning. So what do they do? They indirectly inform Jimmy that Harry's been skimming from him. The problem is that Harry has been skimming--for years, in fact. Jimmy Cap puts out a hit on Harry and, ciao, baby, Harry decides to move up his retirement date and leave the country. Raylan Givens is the U.S. Marshal who decides to go to Italy and try to save Harry from himself and from the hitman he knows has followed Harry.

I will readily admit to knowing nothing about the character of Raylan until watching Justified on FX. On the series, Raylan is a BAMF in a Stetson. That's played down a bit in the book, but I enjoyed it just the same. In the novel Raylan comes off as being a few bricks shy of a load, a good ol' boy in over his head, until you begin to realize that's the persona he's trying to project. It catches people off-guard and gives him an edge. No one knows exactly how to take him, but, make no mistake, Raylan is smarter than your average bear and is capable of extreme violence if necessary. If Raylan has a flaw it's that his sense of justice is so old school black and white that it creates a type of naiveté. In a world where words mean little, Raylan still expects a promise to mean something (after all, it's his willingness to take Harry Arno's word that allows Harry to elude Raylan's grasp twice and thwart his hopes of a promotion with the Marshals service). With his Old West code of ethics and hardscrabble Kentucky coal mining background, Raylan is a complex and entertaining character who makes for an intriguing juxtaposition with the world of Miami's crime syndicate. I'll definitely be reading Riding the Rap and tracking down the Raylan Givens' short stories to sustain me until the next season of Justified. show less

Got the series from my husband for Christmas. I was very excited because I LOVED Justified and the character of Raylan in particular. There are others too, but they're not in this particular book. This book ends where the FX show begins, with a shooting of a Miami mobster.

I will start with this disclaimer, having never read anything by Elmore Leonard prior to this, his "voice" and writing style took a little bit for me to get used to. It's not bad, but the way he writes some of the verbiage in the dialogue threw me a little bit at first.

Anyway, I was a little disappointed. This book was far more about Harry Arno, one of the biggest bookies in Miami, from the sounds of things, than it was about our favorite US Marshall. That being said, show more it was still a pretty good story with Raylan following Arno to Italy because that's where Harry decided would be a good idea to hide from the Mob. (No one ever said this guy was bright). He been set up by someone trying to make a RICO case against his boss, the enormous Jimmy Cap, who now thinks Harry has been skimming (more than is generally considered "normal"). This mob boss sends in Tommy,"The Zip", an old school, Sicilian hitman, to make an example of Harry. Obviously Raylan throws a wrench in things and the end result is very different, ending in a close quarters, quick draw back in Miami.

I was a little disappointed in the last chapter as it felt very anti-climactic and almost a little blasé after all the gun play, but considering it's a series, I'd rather that than ending on a cliffhanger.

Now, when it comes to the Justified Raylan compared to the book Raylan, there are some small differences and some that are a little harder for me, personally, to overlook. Easy stuff: he's got 2 little boys, he and Wynona are NOT getting back together even briefly, he's an ex-Marine, and his hat is described as being a "businessman's stetson" with a smaller brim. There are a few things that just don't sit right though. For example, Raylan comes across, in the book, as not really that smart. Heck, he let Harry give him the slip TWICE and he often comes across as a simpleton. Also, while he's still a good shot, he is not as confident in his shot, despite what he says to those staring down the barrel. Finally, he almost seems to hate his ex-wife. I know he goes through stints of it in the series as well, but it feels different here. There is an undercurrent of loathing and "what was I thinking" that was not present on TV and, I'll be honest, it is a bit off-putting at times. Otherwise, Raylan is the same wise-cracking, polite, coal town, southern gentleman we've all come to love. show less

It's probably a disservice to the book coming at it backwards from the series. Raylan is like a sidekick in this first outing, and even if the familiar stoic cowboy is there in outline, the show is a different, better, beast.
It's still an enjoyable read and Leonard's snappy dialogue has a very evocative noir sense. Be prepared for a Sopranos episode's worth of italian mobsters and slang.

Deputy United States Marshal Raylan Givens is a bit of an old-timey Marshal somehow cast in modern Miami chasing Italian thugs. This is the first of the books that the "Justified" TV series is based on -- there are four books now, and two seasons of the show -- and it's all worth reading & watching. Raylan's story is excellent fun without being pulpy and irritating. Leonard is a master craftsman with language, and this novel is just brilliantly written.

I'm going to read the second in the series now. And then possibly everything else Leonard has ever written.