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Get Shorty (Paperback)

by Elmore Leonard (Author) "When Chili first came to Miami Beach twelve years ago they were having one of their off-and-on cold winters: thirty-four degrees the day he met..." (more)
4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; New edition edition (1 April 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140139567
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140139563
  • Product Dimensions: 18.4 x 11.3 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 124,425 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #14 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > L > Leonard, Elmore

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Product Description

Product Description
Fear is a man’s best friend. Chili Palmer is a debt collector for the mob in Miami. But when one of his clients skips to Hollywood he decides to take a short working holiday on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Compared to the movie people, Chili is a small-time low-life. But, as the fat cats are about to discover, he is also tired of showing respect to people he thinks are scum. ‘Compellingly readable … Extremely funny, bursting with sustained passages of black comedy … a major American novel’ Guardian.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
When Chili first came to Miami Beach twelve years ago they were having one of their off-and-on cold winters: thirty-four degrees the day he met Tommy Carlo for lunch at Vesuvio's on South Collins and had his leather jacket ripped off. Read the first page
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Meet Chili Palmer: The Connoisseur of Cool., 13 Jul 2003
Miami based loanshark Chili Palmer is in Hollywood tracking down a defaulting customer and like everyone else in that town he wants to be in the movies. As well as the outstanding thousands of dollars owed to Chili, the customer in question, Leo Devoe, fakes his own death in an airplane crash then runs off with the 300 grand in compensation that his wife receives from the airline. Chili's on Leo's tail and real life being stranger than fiction he can't help but feel the case has all the makings of a blockbuster movie. Inconveniently, incompetent Mafia hood, Ray Bones, also knows about the 300 grand and he's not far behind the shylock, plus he's still smarting from an altercation twelve years earlier when Chili took him out of the game with one punch over a jacket; add to that the fact that Bones still displays the scar where Chili shot him in the head not long after the coat incident.

While in Hollywood, Chili comes into contact with a host of interesting characters: Harry Zimm, a failing budget-movie-producer who wants Chili to come on board to help persuade A-list actor Michael Weir to star in a new project (Chili has his own burgeoning movie idea of course) that he thinks will be a big winner. Karen Flores - failed actress but still sexy and a premier league screamer, always a handy quality to have in budget horror flicks. Bo Catlett, drug-running gangster who, despite his wealth, is desperate for a piece of a movie - any piece - as long as his name is included in the credits at the end of the film. Catlett has absolutely no problem whatsoever with disposing of Chili Palmer if it enables him to get closer to Harry Zimm's side and realise his dream of seeing his name lit up in bright lights.

As with all Leonard novels that I've been fortunate enough to read, "Get Shorty" is awash with attitude; also the way the author presents dialogue between the different characters you feel as if you are actually present in the scene. The book fairly zips along, it's very entertaining and with regards to the main man, Chili, I wouldn't say there's the same level of moral ambiguity that you sometimes find with Elmore's characters: yes, he is a loanshark but he's trying to extricate himself from the business and he's not really a bad lad.

I wouldn't quite rank "Get Shorty" up alongside my favourite Leonard novel to date, "City Primeval" but Chili Palmer is a wonderful creation and it's no surprise that he appears again in a sequel, "Be Cool".

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Elmore Leonard at his best, 19 April 2003
By A Customer
Having bought this book as part of my english degree course, I was not overly enamoured at the prospect of reading it. However I have to admit to being very pleasantly surprised. It is very well written, in a reader friendly manner and the characters are both endearing and believable. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a book to provide some escapism and light entertainment.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Leonard Gets Shorty, 20 Feb 2002
By A Customer
This is the first Elmore Leonard book I read, and as with most people I read following his list of book-to-film conversions.(Get Shorty, Out of Sight and Rum Punch/Jackie Brown) It's easy to see why so many of his books are made into films because they are written in a contemporary, quick witted and easy to convert to a screenplay style.
This book is no different. It's slick, fast paced and the character dialogue is almost straight off the silver screen.
I've since gone on to read most of his books and I found Get Shorty to be one of his best. The only problem is if you've seen the film the main character, Chili Palmer comes across as the ageing and slightly fat John Travolta.
I highly recommend any of Elmore Leonard's books.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book!!!!
Once I started this book i just could not put it down1 It had me gripped from start to finish with memorable charcters and the coolest dialogue i think i have ever read! Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2005

4.0 out of 5 stars The New Raymond Chandler
Although this book is slow to get going it really take of about half way through with all the characters really coming out. Read more
Published on 27 April 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars Del Boy meets the God Father
This is the first Elmore Leonard I stumbled across and it is a gem. There is a character in this for everyone to identify with. Read more
Published on 11 April 1999

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