Pronto - Hardcover

Elmore Leonard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385308469 ISBN 13: 9780385308465

Publisher: Delacorte Press, 1993

Synopsis

Harry Arno was grossing six to seven thousand dollars a week running a South Miami Beach gambling operation. To protect his position, he was forced to cut a deal with the local muscle, Jimmy Capotorto (Jimmy Cap to the likes of Harry), an even fifty-fifty split. For years Harry had been padding his own stake by skimming a grand a week off the top. A couple of local detectives wise to sticky fingers try to bag Jimmy the Cap by putting the squeeze on Harry. Now, the dicks suggest, would be a good time for Harry to rat the mobster out.

U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens has his own agenda. He has to deliver Harry to a Federal grand jury to testify at Jimmy's drug-running trial. Even though he's a step slower that he used to be, Harry's no fool. When Jimmy Cap's men are a hair too slow gunning him down and Raylan's surveillance slips, Harry's already two steps ahead of them. Years of preparation pay off and Harry slips out of the country pronto. Being on the lam is no time to get soft, but Harry didn't plan on missing his companion Joyce so much. Sneaking her to his hideout could save him from loneliness but Joyce's quick departure tips off his trackers. Jimmy Cap's men follow Joyce while Raylan stays close behind. The three sides end up in Rapallo, 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. Pronto is classic Elmore Leonard
From the Trade Paperback edition.

About this title

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

From the Publisher:

Well-known South Miami Beach bookie Harry Arno was grossing seven thousand aweek running sports bets. He split fifty-fifty with local wiseguy JimmyCapotorto, aka Jimmy Cap, but by skimming off the top for twenty years, Harryhad stashed away enough to retire. Everything was set for his name-change andvanishing act to the Italian Riviera with his girlfirend, Joyce (Joy, when shewas a topless dancer), right after the Super Bowl. Harry Arno felt like alucky man.

He felt wrong. An FBI assault on organized crime had targeted Jimmy Cap, andHarry was set up as the fall guy to help them do it. Now "Zip," a Sicilian ina classic black suit, had a reason to want Harry dead. Raylan Givens, aStetson-wearing U.S. marshal, had the job of keeping him alive. And from Miamito Rapallo, Italy, Harry Arno had plans of his own to clean up the past,guarantee his future...and let drawling Raylan Givens go one-on-one across twocontinents with the mob.

About this edition

• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0385308469
• ISBN 13: 9780385308465
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 265