Get Shorty

Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard

My favorite thing about discovering an author that's been writing for awhile is the fact that there are a backlog of books already written that I can look forward to reading. Discovering Elmore Leonard a couple of years ago is the epitome of that experience. The man is in his mid-eighties and just released his 45th book - Raylan, which is near the top of my TBR stack.

Get Shorty is only the fourth book of his that I've read, and to be frank, it was a let down. With is other books, I came to appreciate his no-nonsense, right-to-the-point writing style, but with this one, I found myself getting restless, wondering when he was going to get to a point. The premise of the book was interesting, but the characters were atypically one dimensional and I didn't form any type of emotional attachment to any of them.

Chili Palmer is a loan shark whose collection activities take him from Miami to Hollywood. He's chasing a man who committed insurance fraud against the airline industry, collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from them, loses it gambling, and then tries to skip town before paying up. Once Chili arrives in Hollywood, he becomes enamored with the seedy underbelly of the movie-making industry and decides he wants to be a part of it. He decides that the story of the man he's actively chasing would make for a great movie, so he starts meeting with movie makers in an attempt to pitch the idea.

Both plot lines play out simultaneously throughout the book, but unfortunately, neither one of them was very entertaining. I'm still looking forward to reading many more books by Leonard, but will probably be a little more selective in choosing them going forward.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆