Get Shorty

Product Information

Chili Palmer is a small time loan shark in Miami who once got into a beef with another gangster, Ray Barboni, who has held a grudge against him.

Mafioso Ernesto “Chili” Palmer is a character right out of mobster central casting except he is the real deal, that is, a character in ‘Get Shorty’ who is a fictional ‘real’ loan shark living in Florida. Unexpectedly Chili discovers Leo is alive and living in Las Vegas, with the insurance money, having deserted Fay.The dialogue is excellent and Leonard really has a way of creating colourful characters that are even better than an already good plot. The coat incident earns Chili a visit from Bones, who takes a couple of shots at him before Chili creases the dumbbell's skull with a bullet from his . Chasing a bad debt leads him to the bright lights of Hollywood - and to a true story that would make a great movie.

Heading the group is a Miami loan shark named Chili Palmer who winds up in Hollywood while chasing down a guy who owes him money and who has done a great disappearing act.His style of intimidation is quiet, making the victim imagine bad things will happen if he doesn’t pay. In Hollywood, home of movies, gorgeous women, players and fast operators - every move you make is a potential scene. Meanwhile, one of Chili's old adversaries from Miami now shows up in California, further complicating matters.

There are more subplots that you can shake a stick at, and more than a few obstacles / distractions for Chili to handle.Get Shorty is a heck of a lot of fun and I’m glad that I decided to get it when I saw it on my local Waterstones shelf because it’s not often that they have anything by Leonard.

At the time he wrote Get Shorty, nine of Leonard’s novels had been adapted for film, and those adaptations, save for two westerns, ran the gamut from pedestrian to abysmal. Chili senses something wrong, signs out a nearby locker as a test and is taken for questioning by DEA agents. Chili does not really enjoy having to show respect to those fully connected because he often saw them be and talk idiotic, but he is content with his permanent lower status with the mafia. He and his ex-wife Debbie liked the benefits that came with the respect locals and business people had for him when they were aware of who Chili worked for - at least until Debbie got pregnant. Here we are mid-lock down and I thought why not since my days are a mixture of working from home, reading or watch the TV.

He can’t be completely part of the Mafia because he is Puerto Rican on his father’s side, but on his mother’s side he has uncles connected to a Brooklyn crew. There were times I was engaged with it, then I would grow bored and skim pages, only to get to a better section that would again hold my attention. Featuring a fascinating introduction by Val McDermid and new illustrations by Juan Esteban Rodríguez, each copy has been signed by both the introducer and the illustrator.