PRONTO by ELMORE LEONARD (1993; Weidenfeld & Nicolson; 226pp) ***½
Blurb: Harry Arno runs a South Miami Beach gambling operation. To protect his position, he was forced to cut a deal with the local muscle, Jimmy Capotorto (Jumbo Jimmy Cap), an even fifty-fifty split. For years Harry had been padding his own stake by skimming off the top. Now a couple of local detectives – wise to sticky fingers – try to bag Jimmy by putting the squeeze on Harry. U.S. Marshals deliver Harry to court to testify at Jimmy’s trial. Even though he’s a step slower than he used to be, Harry’s no fool – he slips out of the country pronto. With Jimmy Cap’s men following and the Feds close behind, the three sides end up in Italy, watching their own backs while keeping abreast of Harry’s. But it’s not until the chase leads back to Miami that the real winners and losers are revealed …
Being a huge fan of the TV series Justified, which ran from 2010-15 featuring Timothy Olyphant as Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens, I thought I’d go back to the source of his creation with this 1993 novel by Elmore Leonard. All the facets of Raylan’s character are set out here in this slight tale of a fugitive being hunted down by both the law and the gangsters he has been skimming from. Most of the action takes place in Italy, where Harry Arno has fled with his girlfriend, Joyce. All the characters here are well drawn and typical of Leonard’s crime novels – the sharp-talking small-time crook, the over-confident hit-man, the crime boss past his sell-buy date, the girls that skirt and scheme around these characters getting what they can for themselves. Whilst there in no real deep message or social commentary in this tale, what it lacks in depth it makes up for with its witty dialogue and fast-moving plot. Raylan, here, is slightly older than he is portrayed in Justified and has two kids from his failed marriage to Winona. Otherwise his character is in sync with that essayed so well by Olyphant. In fact, the last scene of the book is the first scene of the TV series creating a nice link to the show. Pronto was also adapted for the small screen as a TV movie in 1997 with James Le Gros the first actor to portray Raylan Givens and Peter Falk taking on the role of Harry Arno.
Raylan Givens books by Elmore Leonard:
Pronto (1993) ***½
Riding the Rap (1995)
Fire in the Hole (short story) (2002) – the basis for Justified.
Raylan (2012) ***½