โ Scribed by Elmore Leonard
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Readers who come to Rum Punch after having seen Quentin Tarantino's 1997 film adaptation, Jackie Brown, are in for a few surprises. Mainly, Jackie Burke is a 44-year-old white woman (but just as hard-boiled as Pam Grier), bail bondsman Max Cherry has a much more prominent role in the proceedings, and the novel takes place in Miami--not Los Angeles. The core of the story, however, remains the same: when the cops try to use Jackie to get at Ordell Robbie, the gunrunner she's been bringing cash into the country for, she hatches a plan--with help from Max--to keep the money for herself. It all comes together in the traditional Elmore Leonard style, where the conversations are as crisply written and suspenseful as the action scenes. --Ron Hogan
Like a pulled punch, the author's latest evocation of lives on the periphery has a somewhat restrained quality, although the characters here, especially the women, are vintage Leonard ( Get Shorty ), and the dialogue is as authentic as conversations overheard in a mall restaurant. A combination of coincidence and choice connects the fates of Jackie Burke, a 44-year-old, thrice-married stewardess, bail bondsman Max Cherry, overweight and in his 50s, and brash young gun dealer Ordell Robbie, in Miami. When Jackie is caught bringing cash into the U.S. from the Bahamas for Ordell, she agrees to cooperate with federal and state agents to catch him in a sting operation. Max, who has posted Jackie's bond and is drawn to her, becomes her sounding board as she contemplates a sting of her own. The appealing and utterly amoral Ordell involves an unreliable ex-con pal, a crew of jackboys and his three women--sweet young Sheronda; amply endowed, untrustworthy Melanie; older "aunty" Simone, whose appetites are unabated--in his last-ditch effort to make a killing. Chances offered, taken and passed up are the leitmotif in this bittersweet slice of south Florida life. BOMC featured alternate; QPB selection; author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
๐ SIMILAR VOLUMES
Pretty working-girl Jackie Burke is in a tight spot.She's just been picked up at Palm Beach International with fifty grand and some blow stashed in her flight bag.Lucky for her, the Feds want something Jackie's got:the inside track to Ordell Robbie, the notoriusly slick arms dealer.And they're ready
When the feds arrest her for running machine guns for gun dealer Ordell Robbie, former flight attendant Jackie Burke must decide whether to keep quiet about her boss or spill the beans and face his wrath
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**Winner of the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing** **Finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-fiction and the** **Trillium Book Award** **A Globe and Mail, National Post****, Toronto Life****, Walrus****, CBC Books, Chatelaine****, Hill Times****, 49th Shelf and Writ