Swag: A Novel

This odd couple pulls heists, parties and bickers about who they rob, when they do it and how they avoid getting popped by the Detroit PD. Human nature artfully probed and revealed by a giant of the hardboiled genre.

Elmore Leonard was always one of my favorites but I haven't read one in 30 or 40 years. So I read Swag, a really bad book. We go through a series of holdups one after the other and then the big job. But it's like Ground Hog Day the some thing over and over. Some romance to attempt to humanize the main character then Leonard's ironic ending., which is not ironic, clever or surprising. I don't want to be spoiler about the ending but if you read the book Elmore will spoil it for you long before you finish if you bother to read that far.

Swag was a turning point in Elmore Leonard's writing. The plot was a bit more complicated than his past books. There were more characters. The language and violence was a bit rougher. The book had a more complex middle than any of his works with a suitable number of twists and turns.The story follows two men that form an armed robbery duo. They rob a number of businesses without ever hurting anyone. When they become mixed up in a big score, they discover that they are being conned by the others they brought in to help them.What this novel has in common with other Leonard novels is that we don't get to find out what happens to the characters at the end. The story ends before their fate with the law is determined. Leonard does have a crossover character from a previous work, Leon Woody. Strangely enough, Woody was a companion to Jack Ryan in an earlier book and Frank Ryan in this book. Leonard even points out the earlier Ryan character and states that they are not related. This is an interesting piece of information considering that his next novel revives the Jack Ryan character.Overall, this was a good read.

Frank, a used-car salesman, decides Earnest; who likes to be called Stick; might be useful to know, so rather than ID-ing him in court, helps get an auto-theft case thrown out.Frank and Earnest. A meeting ensues. Agreement that they can make a comfortable living by sticking to Frank's ten rules; and they do just that.They stick-up bottle-shops, liquor stores, convenience stores, etc, small stuff with low risk that gives them the few thou's they need to live comfortably in a decent apartment block. And the fact that half a dozen of the local denizens happen to be young women who like to decorate the pool only helps pass the time..Then Frank hears of a major department store robbery going down, something worth twenty times the small, penny-anti stuff they've been dealing with and, against Stick's better judgement, they make plans with a wily night club owner, Sportree.With plans too loosely made and the odd double-cross, not to mention shooting some bad characters, it looks like Frank and Stick might get away with it.All they need is the help of Stick's new girl friend...

Elmore Leonard's great gift is for voice - you can instantly recognize each character as soon as s/he "speaks." But sometimes he gets lost - doesn't really appear to know where he's going. In SWAG, the setup is that here are two guys with a plan, and that they are going somewhere. But they aren't - they bumble through holdup after holdup, making it by the skin of their teeth, and seemingly unconscious of the realities of life. It just doesn't ring true - if Stick and Frank were derelicts, maybe. But Stick is smart and tough - to walk away from major bad guys, not only alive and intact, but with the swag, argues that he - and Frank - aren't just living a pipe dream - to survive like that, they have to be genuinely aware. And they are not. So, not entirely believable, but an OK read. Leonard does a better job with OUT OF SIGHT, where the main character, though charming, IS just getting by on luck - much of it bad.

This was a good book. At first I thought it was like a bunch of small stories about two newbie stick-up men. How they went about thinking on how to stick-up grocery stores, bars, etc... and then actually pulling them off. But then, as the book went on, every thing started to get really well tied together in this great plot. This is one of my favourite Elmore Leonard books. The characters were great as what the plot. This is also the introduction to the Stick character who after you read this book, you wanted more of. (He then later followed it up with the book...Stick) SWAG is classic Leonard at its best.I've read about 20 of his books and this is within the top 5.

I'm ashamed to admit that this was my first Elmore Leonard novel, but of course shan't be my last. It's a great crime caper, and didn't feel dated despite being 40 years old. The dialogue was brilliant and the final act was well done. If I may be permitted a few criticisms, the protagonists, Frank and Earnest, were just shy of compelling and the middle of the book sagged a little as the dysfunctional duo knocked over yet another liquor store. But hey, even if this isn't his best, it's still damned good.

Leonard is an American master and this book is one of the jewels of his crown. Few have written with such clarity, eschewing the sideshows and set pieces that lesser writers confuse with the essential virtues of storytelling. I think the scene in the parking lot between Stick and two thieves is a subtle, perfectly orchestrated episode that lingered with me long afterward. The characters are sketched, the reader is given the important details, but they aren't belabored.Highly recommended for fans of crime/mystery fiction and literary fiction alike. At his best, Leonard rises above all the labels and crafts something unique, full of color and, most important, -true-.

Well, here's another book that it's taken me so long to getting around to reviewing that they've changed the cover art since I bought it!I'm a big fan of Elmore Leonard and must have well over thirty of his books on the shelf, plus a few in e-book form."Swag" was first published in 1976 and tells the tale of two armed robbers, used car salesman Frank Ryan and car thief Ernest Stickley, Jnr., who go on a very successful spree........until they get greedy.....Great, tight story telling and low-life characters seemingly effortlessly brought to life by Leonard's fantastic dialogue.

This the first book I read by Elmore Leonard and while it appears that some characters appear regularly, the book seems to work well without reading any of his other work. In the book he follows a couple of small time crooks, who decide to specialise in the armed robbery department, holding up small stores and bars. Understandably success brings both an exciting life, as well as the desire for larger things. For the rest of the story, you will just need to read and find out for yourself - not that it should be a chore at all - if there is a type of book to be had in one sitting, this is most certainly a prime specimen. To top it off, there is a pretty amusing ending - it may not be a complete surprise but it works very well.I will be hard pressed to judge how authentic the slang and description of the times is (neither having been alive, much less in the US or Detroit at the time). Be that as it may, the writing really flows and the book makes for a perfect bedside / commuting companion.I also found the characters very well drawn - not excessively analysed but with enough detail to add some depth and credibility to them.As said in another review, the only thing that can be levelled against the book is that it might make the life of crime look appealing, apart from that a perfect bullseye hit.

It's a book that delivers exactly what you'd expect, well developed characters and a thoroughly interesting plot centred around two lads who indulge in a little robbing. It's witty, well written and wonderfully told.As far as the plot is concerned I'm happy with my purchase, the book itself on the other hand is a disappointment, there appears to be a printing error on several pages that has caused an alignment issue with the wording, Its a minor complaint as it didn't put me off much, but when you pay a certain amount of money for a book I don't think its unreasonable to expect the printing to be perfect. This is the reason I have deducted one star.

Elmore Leonard never disappoints, a mad but plausible plot and dialogue that only he can deliver. How does he create such characters, where does he get them from? Only he can do it. A great read.

For me, the characters and events are totally convincing, like they could have actually been out there doing that stuff, back then, and the dialogue rattles along, pitch perfect. I can't ask for any more than that. It's the one and only Elmore Leonard.PS: Swag is a word that has become way overused among today's youth but is totally applicable to Elmore Leonard - the dude has swag.