Pronto
Written by Elmore Leonard
Narrated by Alexander Adams
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
“Speedy, exhilarating, and smooth. Nobody does it better.”
—Washington Post
“The man knows how to grab you—and Pronto is one of the best grabbers in years.”
—Entertainment Weekly
Fans of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens of the hit TV series Justified are in for a major treat. The unstoppable manhunter with the very itchy trigger finger stars in Pronto, a crime fiction gem from the one and only Elmore Leonard, “the greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever” (New York Times Book Review). The Grand Master justifies the overwhelming acclaim he has received over the course of his remarkable career with an electrifying thriller that sends the indomitable Raylan racing to Italy on the trail of a fugitive bookie who’s hiding from the vengeful Miami mob. The legendary Leonard, whom the Seattle Times lauds as the “King Daddy of crime writers,” proves that all comparisons to American noir icons John D. MacDonald, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain are well deserved with this tale of very dirty doings and extremely dangerous men coming together in the birthplace of Puccini, Garibaldi, and La Cosa Nostra.
Elmore Leonard
Elmore Leonard wrote more than forty books during his long career, including the bestsellers Raylan, Tishomingo Blues, Be Cool, Get Shorty, and Rum Punch, as well as the acclaimed collection When the Women Come Out to Dance, which was a New York Times Notable Book. Many of his books have been made into movies, including Get Shorty and Out of Sight. The short story "Fire in the Hole," and three books, including Raylan, were the basis for the FX hit show Justified. Leonard received the Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN USA and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He died in 2013.
More audiobooks from Elmore Leonard
The Switch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5City Primeval Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cuba Libre Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Raylan: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Hunted Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRiding the Rap Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mr. Majestyk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bounty Hunters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Road Dogs Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Out of Sight: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Stand at Saber River Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cat Chaser Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hombre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freaky Deaky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Paradise: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gold Coast Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maximum Bob Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gunsights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Escape from Five Shadows Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Bandits Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Moonshine War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHot Kid Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Be Cool Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Forty Lashes Less One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Bounce Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Pronto
Related audiobooks
Stick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Low Desert: Gangster Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Big Maria Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inherit the Dead: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Night Agent: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Soul Circus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Riding the Rap Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mr. Majestyk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Raylan Goes to Detroit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Out of Sight: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gold Coast Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Swag Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killshot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Road Dogs Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Three-Ten to Yuma Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Maximum Bob Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Be Cool Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Bounty Hunters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bandits Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Djibouti: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Freaky Deaky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Law at Randado Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Escape from Five Shadows Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Cat Chaser Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hombre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Bounce Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHot Kid Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prince of Thieves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
General Fiction For You
It Ends with Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Thorns and Roses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Frost and Starlight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Omens: A Full Cast Production Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Mist and Fury Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunger Games Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Farseer: Assassin's Apprentice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Wings and Ruin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Return of the King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Pronto
271 ratings15 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It'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. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5NOT the Raylan Timothy Oliphant plays on Justified. A little duffier, a little less together; still very groovy.
This was fun. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's Elmore Leonard, so of course the writing is A-1. As far as the story goes, it was interesting, but I never like the Leonard books that travel outside the country as much as the books that all stay inside the USA. Just a personal idiosyncrasy.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Best Raylan novel yet but 4 typos and a little too much about Ezra Pound. Moved fast and provided good background for the start of the Justified series. He stayed well in character.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An incongruous story at best. A modern cowboy wanna-be, U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, has taken off for Italy in pursuit of Harry who is being sought by a number of felons who want to do him harm. I started reading the Raylan Givens series after reading an interview with Elmore Leonard who remarked that the writing and character of Givens in the TV series was spot-on. I watched a couple of the "Justified", liked them, and then have been reading the Givens books. Generally, they are pretty good, except for the idea of shoot-em-up happy U.S. Marshals wandering around. But Raylan in Italy, the quasi-hick from Kentucky, just didn't make it. Italy was irrelevant (and Italy should *never* be irrelevant. Had it been set in Montana, it would have worked better. It was certainly interesting to see how they pulled isolated incidents from the books and melded them into a coherent set of episodes on the TV show. The early scene in the pilot for example where Givens gives the bad guy 24 hours to leave town, is from Pronto, and Boyd's use of the rocket to wipe out the drug-dealing church, just after yelling "fire in the hole," is from the eponymous short story. Givens is an interesting invention, although I kept looking around for the horses.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My rating: 3 of 5 starsSource: Library CheckoutPronto tells the story of Harry Arno: he's a Miami bookie, is dating a topless dancer named Joyce and plans to retire to a villa in Italy within the next year. Harry has been skimming profits from his boss Jimmy 'Cap' for years but has so far remained undetected until the Feds decide to set him up in order to get to Jimmy thus forcing him to move up his retirement date and has him fleeing town immediately. I decided to pick Pronto as my first Elmore Leonard novel because of the fact that I love 'Justified' so much. While my love of the show centers around the character Raylan Givens (or, if I'm being quite honest, mainly because of Timothy Olyphant) he doesn't play the leading character as I would have expected. Pronto is a dialogue driven narrative with a large cast of engaging characters that are all given their share of the spotlight in this story. The mob bosses are hysterical and their simple mindedness is portrayed well and with good humor. Raylan Givens is a small-town cowboy that is much smarter than his persona would imply. Harry is a thief who uses and abuses anyone that can be a benefit to him but still manages to still be a character you care about. Pronto is an entertaining blend of western and crime fiction with a subtle dash of humor.This was enjoyable on audio with narrator Alexander Adams capable of using a multitude of different voices and even managed to make the occasional Italian dialogue sound authentic. Now that I've had my first experience reading an Elmore Leonard book I can safely say it won't be my last.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I picked up the book due to my recent obsession with the new show based on Raylan Givens, and it was interesting to think about the ways the character was changed for television. I don't know if the book's version of Raylan would work in a different medium.
Actually, I'm not entirely sure he works in this one, because I spent most of the book scratching my head over why Raylan is so invested in helping Harry. I can understand why he'd want to protect him, but Harry's such a loathsome character that his relationship with Raylan serves primarily to diminish the man.
Nevertheless, aside from this one quibble, I enjoyed the book. Leonard seems to have a talent for seamlessly blending genres, as Pronto jumps between comedy, drama, suspense, and action as easily as its characters seem to jump between Miami and Italy. It's a slight read, but enjoyable. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Harry Arno runs a sports book in Miami for Jimmy Cap. The Feds want to take down Harry's boss so use him as bait by letting it be known that Harry is skimming off the top. Jimmy tells his enforcer, Tommy Bucks aka The Zip, to take care of it. When Harry manages to kill the guy who they send after him is when the story starts to get interesting. Harry is arrested but manages to make bail and is being looked after by a US Marshal who goes by the name of Raylan Givens. Harry, for the second time in their lives, manages to give Raylan the skip and flies off to Italy to escape from it all having a fondness for the place due to an incident in his past. Raylan is none too happy about Harry doing a runner so uses some personal time to go after him. However, he's not the only one following the trail that Harry leaves and soon all the major players are in Rapallo and it's only a matter of time before things come together.This is the first appearance of the US Marshal with a cowboy hat and a fondness for ice cream that has now become more famous for the TV show Justified starring Timothy Olyphant. It's pretty much a typical [[Elmore Leonard]] book with a few twists and turns in the story that keep you guessing and reading until the last page. He does throw in a few clunkers every now and then but I'm glad to say this isn't one of them. I've yet to watch the TV show but after reading this I definitely want to and I will also be reading the next book in the series at some point too.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A satisfying good bounce around story that gets you thinking ahead what may and may not happen
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I’m trying to get caught up with Elmore Leonard’s novels. This one is a lean mean tale featuring U.S. Marshall Raylen Givens and bookie Harry Arno. The feds make trouble for Arno and his boss wants him dead. Arno runs to Italy in Ezra Pound’s old neigborhood and Givens decides to go after him. A satisifying story.Published in paperback by Dell.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elmore is the man
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved how Nicky finally got up the nerve to kill someone, and it was completely meaningless.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stephen King has written a monthly column for Entertainment Weekly for years now. Every so often he writes about his love for audiobooks and recommends some great ones. One name that he has mentioned frequently is Elmore Leonard. He says Leonard writing is even better in audio than on the page. So for my first book by Leonard I just had to try the audio version. Harry is a bookie in Miami when his shady mafia boss decides to have him whacked. He heads to Italy to escape and is pursued by his girlfriend, the hit man and a US Marshal. Interestingly Harry quickly becomes a supporting character in his own story. He’s a self-centered jerk and as a reader you don’t really care if he makes it or not. Raylan Givens, on the other hand, is the US Marshal searching for Harry and he steals the show. He’s a cowboy with perfect manners and he seems to be a bit slow at first. Soon his determination and resourcefulness surprise everyone and you realize there’s more to him than meets the eye. If you like Sue Grafton’s alphabet mysteries I think you’d like Pronto. It has the same kind of rapid pace, funny quips and quirky characters. I’ll be listening to more from Mr. Leonard. Side Note: I didn’t find out that the FX series Justified is based on the character of Raylan until I’d already finished the book. I would think a show about him would make a great TV series.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why 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 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.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fast, sharp - his books are the best movies you can read. A depiction of florida gangsters running around in Italy.