Author Language English Publication date 1992 | Country US Publisher Delacorte Press Media type Print (hardcover) | |
Rum Punch is a 1992 novel written by Elmore Leonard. The novel was adapted into the film Jackie Brown (1997) by director Quentin Tarantino, although the movie changed the setting to Los Angeles.
The characters Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara first appeared in Leonard's novel, The Switch, which itself has also been adapted as a film, Life of Crime, first shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, with Robbie played by Mos Def and Gara portrayed by John Hawkes.
Plot summary
Set in both West Palm Beach and Miami, Rum Punch follows Jackie Burke, a 44-year-old stewardess for a bottom-rung airline, who has been smuggling illegal cash into the US from Jamaica for small-time gunrunner/wannabe crime boss Ordell Robbie. When US police arrest Jackie after catching her smuggling this 'dirty money', they use the threat of prison and job loss to pressure her into acting as bait in their plan to catch Ordell. Upon learning of this, Ordell pressures Jackie into intentionally misleading and stalling the police long enough for her to smuggle the remainder of his 'retirement score' money into the US. Hopelessly caught between two no-win scenarios, both dooming her to life-long poverty as she's too old to start over again, a desperate Jackie devises a secret, risky plan of her own to double-cross Ordell and the police, save herself, and secure her future. To execute this plan, Jackie must enlist the help of Max Cherry - the same bail bondsman Ordell hired to get Jackie out of jail.