Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch (Paperback, 2004, Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd ))
Paperback, 304 pages
Published Dec. 2, 2004 by Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd ).
Ordell "Whitebread" Robbie makes a fine living selling illegal high-powered weaponry to the wrong people. Jackie Burke couriers Ordell's profits from Freeport to Miami. But the feds are on to Jackie -- and now the aging, but still hot, flight attendant will have to do prison time or play ball, which makes her a prime "loose end" that Ordell needs to tie up permanently. Jackie, however, has other options. And with the help of Max Cherry -- an honest but disgruntled bail bondsman looking to get out -- she could even end up with a serious nest egg in the process.
I got like 5 pages into the book before I realized that this was the source material for "Jackie Brown". A fun read. About as hard-boiled as hard-boiled gets. I gotta say the movie version of this book doesn't add much. Every clever twist, every violent act, every deadpan line...anyway, Tarantino kinda blows is what I am trying to say. A hack of a director with Leonard's writing doing all of the heavy lifting.
