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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780060082185
ISBN number: 0060082186
Label: HarperTorch
Manufacturer: HarperTorch
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 352
Printing Date: June 01, 2002
Publishing house: HarperTorch
Release Date: June 04, 2002
Sale Popularity Level: 515034
Studio: HarperTorch
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Product Description:
Now that his mom's gravy train has derailed, gambling, debt-ridden Palm Beach playboy Warren 'Chip' Ganz has decided to take somebody rich hostage -- with the help of a Bahamian ex-con, a psycho gardener/enforcer, and the beautiful, if underfed, psychic Reverend Dawn. The trouble is they choose bookmaker Harry Arno as their victim, and Harry can scam with the best. The BIG trouble is ace manhunter U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens is sleeping with Harry's ex-exotic dancer ex-girlfriend, and Joyce wants Harry found. And since nearly everyone has guns, locating and springing the captive bookie most probably can't happen without some measure of lethal difficulty.
Amazon.com Review:
In this sequel to Pronto, Harry Arno has retired from bookmaking but is still closing out some of his outstanding debts. But then his collection agent, an ex-con by the name of Bobby Deo, goes to pick up $1,800 from Chip Ganz and ends up getting hired for a hostage-taking operation (like kidnapping 'in a way,' Chip tells him, 'only different. A lot different.') When Harry's taken by his own man, it's up to United States Marshal Raylan Givens to track him down, in the same methodically relentless fashion he tracked Harry that time he ran off to Italy. Throw in a henchman named Louis Lewis with plans of his own and an attractive young psychic named Reverend Dawn, and you've got yet another crime story that'll keep you on the edge of your seat--occasionally chuckling to yourself--straight through to the finish. (And bonus points to loyal Leonard fans who can spot the crossover elements from Rum Punch and Maximum Bob.) --Ron Hogan
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Rated by buyers 
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Ellmore Leonard can't be beat for character development and pacing, but he's asleep at the wheel on this one. Good to see Raylan Givens in action again. He's even more confident in this book. The bad guy, Chip Ganz, wasn't completely believable, but his no good sidekicks were. Lots of cross/double cross action. I'm ambiguous about the psychic character (which is probably how the author meant her to be).
Rated by buyers 
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If someone was to write a full-length parody of Elmore Leonard's series of South Florida crime novels, echoing the rap some give about his tough-guy patois, cardboard characterization, and violently lurching plot shifts, they could ding him up hardly as much as Leonard's own 1995 novel "Riding The Rap".
It's another day for U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens when his girlfriend Joyce asks him to look into the disappearance of her friend, a bookie named Harry Arno. Turns out Arno's kidnapped by some scuzzy reefer toker named Chip with the help of two ex-cons. Their plan: Break Arno into giving up some loot he has stashed offshore. Can Givens find Arno before the crooks get the goods or kill Arno trying?
"Riding The Rap" gets off to a promising if somewhat under-revved start, developing the main setting of Chip's rundown Miami mansion (he lives there while his mother rots in a nursing home) and a female friend named Reverend Dawn who reads fortunes at a cafe. She's the one spark of early life character-wise, as Chip and his buds come off like dim retreads from other Leonard books, especially "Rum Punch" but also "The Hidden" and "Glitz". They idle away a lot of time talking tough and turning nasty as Raylan moves in and turns up the heat.
As psychics go, Dawn is pretty good. So is Raylan, who like many Leonard protagonists is always a move or two ahead of everyone else and ready with a dry wisecrack. Usually, though, the plots are better and the dialogue sharper for you not to mind that so.
"What you'll have to do now is ride the rap, as they say," Raylan says early on to some carjackers who fail to get the drop on him. "It's all anybody has to do." I don't know what that means either, but it certainly sounds tough, don't it?
Actually, Raylan's banter plays better than that of the villains. After one of them blows another away, he has the nerve to tell someone else he "fired" the guy.
Like I say, Leonard critics can have a field day with this novel, crammed with Leonard's literary offenses and almost none of his strengths. Arno is introduced at some length as an alcoholic, as if that will be a plot point or a source of drama later. But it never comes up again. Chip's partners hold up a convenience store, which gets Raylan's notice, but that strand too is left dangling in the breeze.
The plot does move, mostly because Leonard keeps having his characters do sudden things with no explanation. It makes for an interesting read, but leaves a few unanswered questions. Why, if Dawn is so psychic, does she hang out with a bunch of homicidal losers? Why would anyone take Chip's side in a crackpot scheme like this? Why does Raylan put his life on the line for any of these people he sees right through?
Look, it's Leonard, so you're going to have fun reading it. Just not a lot, and it doesn't come close to coming together at the end. Maybe he was playing with his critics on this one, a possibility suggested by the title. Whatever his motive, Leonard was typing more than writing here, and the result is dispiriting.
Rated by buyers -
"Riding the Rap" by Elmore Leonard is the sequel to his novel "Pronto" which I think it easily Leonard's funniest novel out of the ones that I have read. "Riding the Rap"
is not as funny as it's predecessor, but it's just as entertaining. We pick up with Harry Arno. Harry is an ex-bookie who has now retired from the business but is going around collecting outstanding debts with help from gardener turned gangster Bobby Deo. When Bobby goes to pick up a debt from a man named Chip Ganz, Chip gives Bobby a proposition (kidnap Harry and steal his three million dollar fortune) Bobby obliges. With the help of one of Chips "henchmen" whose name is Louis Lewis and a beautiful fortune teller named Dawn Navarro, Chip kidnaps Harry and puts him in his attic. They don't think anyone will care that Harry is missing, but they end up being wrong.
Harry's ex-girlfriend Joyce (Joy, when she was a topless dancer) misses him and asks her current boyfriend, cowboy hat wearing US Marshall Raylan Givens.
Raylan doesn't really care that Harry is missing but agrees to Joyce's request and begins to try to track down Harry. Now, Riding the Rap, is equipped with all of Leonard's spectacular dialouge, plot twists, and offbeat characters and it is just as good as "Pronto" but I just think "Pronto" was funnier. Due to the fact that the characters
Tommy Bucks and Nicky Testa (who hilariously critisized each other in "Pronto" are absent for reasons you'll discover after reading "Pronto"). But still a great read...
B+.
Rated by buyers 
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This is my favorite of the six Elmore Leonard books I have read. The dialogue is pure genius, the best I've ever read in any crime book.
Rated by buyers -
If any of you have read an Elmore Leonard novel, you know that he has a talent for being able to draw you in, but doesn't use writing formulas. He also uses REALLY realistic dialogue, stuff people would actually say.
Riding the Rap is a crime novel, through and through, about three deadbeats, Chip Ganz, a real sleaze who will go to huggers gatherings, pick up a teenager and call their parents for a ransom, Louis Lewis, an average criminal who is smarter that he lets on, and Bobby Deo, a bounty hunter who carries garden pruners instead of a gun. They kidnap a rich retired bookie, Harry Arno, who just so happens to be the pampered friend/ ex-lover of Joyce, the current love interest of Raylan Givens, a U.S. marshal, who disfavors Harry. When Harry disappears, Joyce convinces Raylan to look around for Harry and try to find him. Raylan's trail leads to Reverend Dawn Navarro, a certified medium and spiritualist (psychic), who has a suspicious role in the kidnapping. As Raylan comes closer and closer to solving the mystery and finding Harry, the three thugs argue and scheme behind each others' backs and generally have trouble doing anything.
The story finds has a thrilling and unexpected climax and a good pace, and has its fair share of twists and turns along the way. I think that most people my age (13) will enjoy it, although it is an adult book, so it does contain some adult content, which may not be appropriate for some. Other than that it's a good quality book, but not classic literature by any means.
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