Pronto is a 1993 crime novel by Elmore Leonard. It is notable for being the first appearance of Raylan Givens, a character who recurred across Leonard's work and was the leading character in Justified.
Harry Arno is an over-the-hill Miami bookie and World War II veteran working for Mafia boss Jimmy "Jimmy Cap" Caporno. Harboring dreams of retiring in Capallo, Italy, Harry finds his life upended when the Justice Department puts out evidence of Harry skimming in an effort to force him to testify against Cap. Jimmy puts a hit out on Harry in response, and Harry attempts to flee to Rapallo - all the while pursued by Mafia hitman Tommy "the Zip" Bucks and U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens.
he book was adapted into a Made-for-TV Movie starring Peter Falk. It received two sequels, Riding The Rap and the short story "Fire in the Hole". The book's climax was also adapted into the pilot of Justified.
List of tropes applying to this novel:
- Amoral Afrikaner: Robert Gee mentions he worked in a mercenary outfit consisting of these types, who he hated namely because he himself is a black man.
- Awful Wedded Life: Harry and Teresa Ianello's marriage fell apart because both of them hated each other, and Teresa constantly verbally abused Harry.
- Boom, Headshot!: Jimmy Cap dies this way, courtesy of Nicky Testa.
- Canon Welding: Jimmy Cap, who was The Ghost in Cat Chaser, shows up in person as one of the villains.
- Co-Dragons: Jimmy Cap's two main henchmen are notorious hitman Tommy Bucks and his incompetent right-hand man Nicky "Joe Macho" Testa. Both of them hate each other despite having to work together, Tommy because Nicky is an idiot who doesn't know Italian and Nicky because Tommy constantly insults him.
- Conspicuously Public Assassination: Tommy Bucks lampshades the fact that he can walk into a crowded restaurant, shoot his target in the head and then walk out without any witnesses being able to fully identify him. It is implied that he killed people like this in the past but the one time he tries to do so in the book he is instead met by US Marshal Raylan Givens. Raylan plays out his own version of this trope since he is perfectly willing to gun down Tommy in a public place even if Tommy does not draw his gun first. Tommy murdered a man right in front of Raylan and was not charged with the crime so Raylan is determined to prove to Tommy that ultimately one cannot get away with committing a murder in front of a US Marshal.
- Crime of Self-Defense: Harry shoots Earl Crowe in self-defense when Crowe tries to shoot him, but the police falsely claim Earl was unarmed to force Harry to testify against Jimmy Cap.
- Fat Bastard: Jimmy Cap is a corpulent crime boss who's over 300 pounds and just as ruthless as he is overweight.
- Fat Slob: Jimmy is a semi-literate slob who relies mainly on his subordinates to do his work.
- Framing the Guilty Party: McCormick frames Harry for skimming in order to force him to testify, correctly predicting Jimmy Capmwould try to kill him for it. Ironically, Harry actually had been skimming Jimmy's money.
- Friendly Enemy: Police officer Sgt. Buck Torres is on fairly good terms with Harry. He even alerts Harry to McCormick's plans despite the trouble it could get him in.
- From Camouflage to Criminal:
- Harry served in World War II before becoming a bookie.
- Robert Gee was a Vietnam veteran who became a mercenary and con artist working for whoever paid him enough.
- Good Is Not Soft: Tommy Bucks considers Americans to be soft and prides himself on being a hard man who can kill someone in cold blood without a second thought. US Marshal Raylan Givens is an honest American police officer and thus Tommy assumes that Raylan is ultimately soft. He holds unto this belief until the very end when he finally realizes that Raylan is quite willing and capable of just shooting Tommy dead in the middle of a crowded restaurant.
- Henpecked Husband: Harry's ex-wife Teresa constantly berated him, which led to their marriage falling apart and him divorcing her.
- Honor Before Reason: Raylan, whose sense of chivalry doesn't blend with modern-day Miami as much as it would the Wild West. His Establishing Character Moment is revealing he had been charged with escorting Harry to a grand jury hearing six years prior to the novel - and had inadvertently let him escape because he let Harry use the men's bathroom without supervision because he gave his word he wouldn't escape.
- I Gave My Word: Raylan is a firm believer in this. Harry escapes him twice because Raylan trusts him to keep his word not to escape.
- Jerkass: Harry isn't exactly evil, but he's not a nice guy either. He's racist, ungrateful, selfish, and whiny; Raylan only bothers trying to help him because Joyce cares about him.
- Karma Houdini: Nicky murders Jimmy Cap and successfully takes over his organization - though Buck Torres speculates he'll probably run it into the ground.
- Knight Templar: McCormick is willing to let Jimmy murder Harry for the sake of being able to finally convict Cap, or force him to testify against his will. He and the police have no problem with framing him for skimming and obscuring evidence to help the process along either.
- Lazy Bum: Jimmy Cap is notorious for his laziness. Both Tommy and Harry note that he could probably be much more successful if he'd try to branch out into different forms of crime, but he's too lazy to do it.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Nicky Testa is genuinely stupid and incompetent, but that doesn't stop him from being dangerous. This actually turns out well for the protagonists. Nicky gets fed up with his superiors treating him like shit and murders his boss Jimmy Cap to take over his operation, and leaves the main characters alone so long as they leave him be.
- Politically Incorrect Villain:
- Harry rather casually uses racial slurs against black people.
- Tommy casually uses racial and homophobic slurs, and is quite xenophobic towards Americans, viewing Italians as having the superior culture.
- Pretender Diss: Nicky is a mobster wannabe who bluffed his way into a job with a small-time Miami mob boss. When he and Tommy Bucks go to Italy, Tommy and the Italian mafiosi quickly realize how big a poser Nicky is and insult him to his face. Since Nicky does not know Italian, it takes him days to understand that he is being insulted.
- Sacrificial Lion: Robert Gee is murdered by Tommy simply to intimidate Raylan.
- Stupid Crooks: Nicky Testa is an incompetent moron who frequently needs to be intrstuctedmto do basic tasks by Tommy.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Earl Crowe says a Pre-Mortem One-Liner just before drawing his gun on Harry. Harry's response is to shoot Earl on the spot before he can even pull out the gun.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Jimmy Cap's Co-Dragons Nicky Testa and Tommy Bucks despise each other, but are forced to work together to track down Harry.
- Underestimating Badassery: Tommy and his Italian mafiosi failto realize how ruthless Raylan is and how willing he is to play by their rules. It costs Tommy his life when he fails to realize Raylan absolutely means it when he says he'll shoot Tommy if he doesn't leave town.
