Pronto
by Elmore Leonard
Stephen 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.
5 comments:
It must be all about the voice reading the story that makes it better than reading it yourself. Who read the audiobook version of this one?
Sounds like a good book! I have never listened to an audio book before. Maybe I will try now. Thanks for sharing :)
Teacher/Learner - This one was read by Alexander Adams, who I haven't heard before, but he did a great job.
Vaishnavi - I would definitely recommend audiobooks. I've been listening to them for a decade now and I love it.
oooh - I like Elmore Leonard, but I haven't read this one. I just requested it from the library (not the audio version because it was some kind of weird download that needs special software so I skipped that and went for the old fashioned hard back.) Thanks!
Emily - Let me know if you have any favorites of his. This is my one and only Leonard I've read and I'd like to know what to try next.
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