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Swag
The smallest of small-time criminals, Ernest Stickley Jr. figures his luck's about to change when Detroit used car salesman Frank Ryan catches him trying to boost a ride from Ryan's lot. Frank's got some surefire schemes for getting rich quick—all of them involving guns—and all Stickley has to do is follow "Ryan's Rules" to share the wealth. But sometimes rules need to be bent, maybe even broken, if one is to succeed in the world of crime, especially if the "brains" of the operation knows less than nothing.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1976
340 people are currently reading
3174 people want to read
About the author
Elmore Leonard
211 books3,700 followersElmore John Leonard lived in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Memphis before settling in Detroit in 1935. After serving in the navy, he studied English literature at the University of Detroit where he entered a short story competition. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.
Father of Peter Leonard.
Father of Peter Leonard.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 478 reviews
November 29, 2023
A delightful 'crime caper! A car salesman and a petty crook go on a crime spree in Detroit, that leads them to bigger (and badder?) things. Elmore slays it, with some great dialogue throughout. Is it just me, or is Leonard's work easy to put down, as it never fully engaged me? 6 out of 12, Three Star read.
2010 read
2010 read
October 14, 2021
Frank Ryan is working as a used car salesman when he catches Ernest Stickly, Jr.--"Stick"--boosting a car from the lot. Frank picks Stick out of a lineup, and the cops seem to have Stick dead to rights, but when the case comes to trial, Frank takes the stand and claims that he's no longer sure about his identification. Without Frank's testimony, the case collapses and Stick goes free.
Frank later catches up with Stick and says that he admires his talent and the only reason that he even called the cops was because he felt like Stick was punking him by stealing a car right under his nose. Frank is looking for a partner to go into the armed robbery business together. He's made a careful study of crime and has concluded that armed robbery provides the best returns with the least amount of risk. He's also compiled a list of ten rules that he believes will guarantee success in this endeavor. (This book was first published as Ryan's Rules.)
Stick signs on and the pair pull a string of successful robberies in the Detroit suburbs during a very profitable summer. The two are living large in an apartment complex where there are always nubile women around the pool and where there's always a party going on. But then Frank comes up with a grand scheme to knock over a department store. This would by a large step up from the liquor and grocery stores that have been their principal targets thus far. More important, it would require that they violate at least a couple of Ryan's Rules. Stick is reluctant, but Frank says that now they are experienced criminals they can adjust the rules to take advantage of new opportunities.
This may or may not be a good idea for Frank and Stick, but it's great fun for the reader. This is one of Leonard's earlier crime novels after a career of writing westerns, and it may not be quite the equal of some of the books that Leonard would write later, but it contains all the traits that one looks for in a book by EL, including great characters and dialogue that could only be written by Leonard.
Leonard was much more interested in writing about bad guys than good ones, at least until he created Raylan Givens, and he excelled at creating small-time crooks who lived on the margins and dreamed of making a big score. Frank Ryan and Ernest Stickly, Jr. are great examples, and this is a book that will appeal to virtually any fan of crime fiction.
Frank later catches up with Stick and says that he admires his talent and the only reason that he even called the cops was because he felt like Stick was punking him by stealing a car right under his nose. Frank is looking for a partner to go into the armed robbery business together. He's made a careful study of crime and has concluded that armed robbery provides the best returns with the least amount of risk. He's also compiled a list of ten rules that he believes will guarantee success in this endeavor. (This book was first published as Ryan's Rules.)
Stick signs on and the pair pull a string of successful robberies in the Detroit suburbs during a very profitable summer. The two are living large in an apartment complex where there are always nubile women around the pool and where there's always a party going on. But then Frank comes up with a grand scheme to knock over a department store. This would by a large step up from the liquor and grocery stores that have been their principal targets thus far. More important, it would require that they violate at least a couple of Ryan's Rules. Stick is reluctant, but Frank says that now they are experienced criminals they can adjust the rules to take advantage of new opportunities.
This may or may not be a good idea for Frank and Stick, but it's great fun for the reader. This is one of Leonard's earlier crime novels after a career of writing westerns, and it may not be quite the equal of some of the books that Leonard would write later, but it contains all the traits that one looks for in a book by EL, including great characters and dialogue that could only be written by Leonard.
Leonard was much more interested in writing about bad guys than good ones, at least until he created Raylan Givens, and he excelled at creating small-time crooks who lived on the margins and dreamed of making a big score. Frank Ryan and Ernest Stickly, Jr. are great examples, and this is a book that will appeal to virtually any fan of crime fiction.
August 30, 2020
I have a love/hate indifference relationship with the works of Elmore Leonard. I start his books with great enthusiasm, convinced that I'll be thoroughly entertained and amused. And, I am . . . for the most part, until about half to three quarters of the way through when I end up wishing that the book would just hurry up and end already. Swag, while perhaps better than most of my other Leonard experiences (his westerns excluded), was no exception.
Here we have Frank and Stick, two small time criminals who've had an extraordinarily good run of uneventful robberies, mainly because they follow a set of rules for success and happiness laid out by Frank. They dress well for their "jobs," donning coveralls, or snazzy safari jackets with epaulets, and they are unfailingly polite to those they are robbing, once even going so far as to tell a store manager they were holding up that another customer was stealing a magazine. It's only when they try for a bigger score, and start breaking the rules that they get in trouble. That's also about the point in the book where I hit the doldrums, and started hungrily eyeing all the other titles in my to-read stack.
Most people seem to have enjoyed this one more than I did, and there is some great repartee between the two male leads, so I'd probably recommend giving it a go.
From what I can glean from an internet search, this book has never been turned into a film. My inner casting director had a bit of a hard time deciding who to picture in the main roles. If a movie has been made when the book was released in 1976, it would have undoubtedly starred these two box-office winners:
Right now, I'm guessing these two boys would do the job nicely.
Hollywood . . . what are you waiting for?
Oh, right. That Covid thing.
Dang.
Here we have Frank and Stick, two small time criminals who've had an extraordinarily good run of uneventful robberies, mainly because they follow a set of rules for success and happiness laid out by Frank. They dress well for their "jobs," donning coveralls, or snazzy safari jackets with epaulets, and they are unfailingly polite to those they are robbing, once even going so far as to tell a store manager they were holding up that another customer was stealing a magazine. It's only when they try for a bigger score, and start breaking the rules that they get in trouble. That's also about the point in the book where I hit the doldrums, and started hungrily eyeing all the other titles in my to-read stack.
Most people seem to have enjoyed this one more than I did, and there is some great repartee between the two male leads, so I'd probably recommend giving it a go.
From what I can glean from an internet search, this book has never been turned into a film. My inner casting director had a bit of a hard time deciding who to picture in the main roles. If a movie has been made when the book was released in 1976, it would have undoubtedly starred these two box-office winners:
Right now, I'm guessing these two boys would do the job nicely.
Hollywood . . . what are you waiting for?
Oh, right. That Covid thing.
Dang.
April 24, 2021
Dialogue can really make or break a novel for me. Good thing Elmore Leonard could write it so well I'd imagine even Tarantino gets jealous occasionally. In fact, this novel as a whole reminded me of 90s-era Tarantino, to the point where I was actually picturing Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs characters while reading.
The setup is pretty basic. We follow two charismatic, low-level hoods in Detroit who decide to team-up, knocking off liquor stores, bars, grocery stores, etc, taking more risks the better and more experienced they get. Of course they eventually get in over their heads when they plan to move on up to the big time with a department store heist that involves bringing a few other criminals into the mix. Things maybe don't go as smoothly as they'd hoped.
So, somewhat typical, plotwise, but what elevates it all is the well-drawn characters and the aforementioned dialogue, which makes you feel as if you're there. The characters talk and act like real people, which allowed me to connect with them even though we the reader are not given much backstory or setup at all. We're sort of just dropped right in, but I got a good feel for Stick and his partner Frank after only a handful of pages.
There are plenty of tense moments -- virtually every "job" they go on is riddled with them -- and I found it amusing that I'd get scared for their safety even though they're pretty much scumbags (nice, charming scumbags overall, but still scumbags). It's also a good "hangout novel," in that the pages in between all the action and double-crosses are almost as much fun, just hanging out with Stick and Frank and their various friends and associates. This is my first Elmore Leonard novel since reading Killshot back in the day, but I'll definitely be checking out more after this one.
4.5 Stars.
The setup is pretty basic. We follow two charismatic, low-level hoods in Detroit who decide to team-up, knocking off liquor stores, bars, grocery stores, etc, taking more risks the better and more experienced they get. Of course they eventually get in over their heads when they plan to move on up to the big time with a department store heist that involves bringing a few other criminals into the mix. Things maybe don't go as smoothly as they'd hoped.
So, somewhat typical, plotwise, but what elevates it all is the well-drawn characters and the aforementioned dialogue, which makes you feel as if you're there. The characters talk and act like real people, which allowed me to connect with them even though we the reader are not given much backstory or setup at all. We're sort of just dropped right in, but I got a good feel for Stick and his partner Frank after only a handful of pages.
There are plenty of tense moments -- virtually every "job" they go on is riddled with them -- and I found it amusing that I'd get scared for their safety even though they're pretty much scumbags (nice, charming scumbags overall, but still scumbags). It's also a good "hangout novel," in that the pages in between all the action and double-crosses are almost as much fun, just hanging out with Stick and Frank and their various friends and associates. This is my first Elmore Leonard novel since reading Killshot back in the day, but I'll definitely be checking out more after this one.
4.5 Stars.
January 30, 2012
When used car salesman Frank Ryan catches Ernest Stickley stealing a car off his lot, ideas start going through his head. Soon, Ryan and Stickley are armed robbers and damn good ones. Things go smoothly until someone offers them a crack at even bigger money...
Like many Elmore Leonard books, Swag is a fast-moving crime story. The two main characters, Ryan and Stick, are cast from one of Leonard' standard molds: the criminals who aren't as smart as they think they are. They're a bit of an odd couple. Stick's nervous and not all that confident while Ryan is overconfident and thinks he knows everything. They were pretty likeable as far as armed robbers go but I kept thinking about how Richard Stark's Parker would mop the floor with them.
The bad guys were suitably bad, both Sportree and the cops. As he does a lot of the time, Leonard makes the antagonists almost as interesting as the protagonists. Once complications start surfacing, they come in droves, The ending was surprising but was also perfect.
Leonard's smooth-flowing dialogue and twisting plot were the stars of the show, as they normally are in one of his books. I loved that Frank Ryan had his rules of robbery, just like Elmore Leonard has his rules of writing.
It wasn't perfect but I liked it quite a bit. It was a good way to spend a Sunday evening.
Like many Elmore Leonard books, Swag is a fast-moving crime story. The two main characters, Ryan and Stick, are cast from one of Leonard' standard molds: the criminals who aren't as smart as they think they are. They're a bit of an odd couple. Stick's nervous and not all that confident while Ryan is overconfident and thinks he knows everything. They were pretty likeable as far as armed robbers go but I kept thinking about how Richard Stark's Parker would mop the floor with them.
The bad guys were suitably bad, both Sportree and the cops. As he does a lot of the time, Leonard makes the antagonists almost as interesting as the protagonists. Once complications start surfacing, they come in droves, The ending was surprising but was also perfect.
Leonard's smooth-flowing dialogue and twisting plot were the stars of the show, as they normally are in one of his books. I loved that Frank Ryan had his rules of robbery, just like Elmore Leonard has his rules of writing.
It wasn't perfect but I liked it quite a bit. It was a good way to spend a Sunday evening.
November 20, 2017
If you're looking for fast reads and entertainment, Leonard is your man. I was shocked by how quickly I finished Swag. For entertainment alone I'd give it five stars, the reason I am only giving it four is that it didn't have any emotional draw for me. It's not like I felt a connection with any of the characters, including during the at the end.
The plot rapidly progresses from moment of meeting between the two characters to the peak of their success to their ultimate undoing.
So I'll say it again, if you're looking for a beach read during your getaway winter vacation, Leonard is a good place to start looking.
RIP buddy
The plot rapidly progresses from moment of meeting between the two characters to the peak of their success to their ultimate undoing.
So I'll say it again, if you're looking for a beach read during your getaway winter vacation, Leonard is a good place to start looking.
RIP buddy
August 31, 2020
Meet Frank and Ernest, two small-time stick-up artists who are occasionally aware of - and even mildly amused by - their violations of Frank's 10 rules for criminal success. This is one of Elmore "The Dickens of Detroit" Leonard's earlier crime novels, originally published in 1976 as his marriage was beginning to deteriorate, and it clearly owes a debt to George V. Higgins's The Friends of Eddie Coyle. Leonard's trademark snappy dialogue and wry humor are on full display throughout the book, and the memorable Ernest "Stick" Stickley, Jr., would later star in Stick.
July 7, 2014
We're so used to Elmore Leonard being an icon of modern crime fiction that it's hard to remember that back in the 1960s and 1970s he was just another genre author, more known for his Westerns than the crime novels he began turning out in 1969. It's even harder to remember that he didn't spring out of the ground fully-formed; he had to learn how to be Elmore Leonard. Swag, the third of his Detroit-based crime stories, is an example of Leonard in progress but not yet the king.
Ernest "Stick" Stickley is a career petty criminal from Kentucky eking out a living in pre-apocalyptic Detroit. When he's caught boosting a car and the victim -- scumbag used-car salesman Frank Ryan -- gets him off the hook, the two decide to launch into a life of armed robbery following a set of "rules for success" Frank has worked up in one bar or another. It turns out Frank doesn't have a clue and manages to get the two of them wrapped up with some real criminals. Things go downhill in a hurry.
By the time this book came out, Leonard had developed his trademark spare prose, though it's not as arid here as it will be later on. He shows a feel for the low-life life, the rhythms of the chronically underemployed, their vices and their attitudes. And his dialog has that sense of being reported rather than invented, as if the author had simply recorded these characters talking among themselves and was transcribing their own words. This much is the Leonard we now take for granted, and is the best part of this novel.
Unfortunately, there are significant chunks of the Elmore Leonard style missing from Swag.
For instance, we don't get the memorable characters. Stick, the closest thing to a protagonist in this tale, is a thin reed on which to hang this story; he's neither likable enough to be good company nor interesting enough to make up for it. While he's somewhat smarter than Frank, that's not much of an accomplishment, and he doesn't have an especially compelling backstory or set of goals for the future. Chili Palmer and Jack Foley, he ain't.
There's not a whole lot to the plot, either. The whole middle of the book chronicles Stick's and Frank's adventures with armed robbery, which rapidly become repetitive. In that their favorite victims are grocery and liquor stores, and that it appears Detroit PD was no better in the '70s than it is today, the stakes are decidedly low. In between heists, they drink, toke, squabble and chase women. It's not until the last quarter that we get the kind of double-triple-crossing criminal stew we came to expect from Leonard, by which time it's almost beside the point.
The novel is a product of its time. Nearly all the women are almost-interchangeable bed buddies for the stray men around Stick's and Frank's apartment complex, and all the white characters use more epithets for the black characters than many readers may have known existed (none of them complimentary). If you're younger than, say, me, you may not get the music and TV references. In many ways, reading Swag is like watching a 1970s cop movie, complete with low production values, faded colors and dust specks on the film.
If you're new to Leonard, bypass this book and start with his post-Glitz products from the late 1980s and 1990s, when he was at the top of his game. If you've exhausted those and can't live without seeing the primordial Leonard, then come back here. If you never make it back to Swag, you'll not have missed much.
Ernest "Stick" Stickley is a career petty criminal from Kentucky eking out a living in pre-apocalyptic Detroit. When he's caught boosting a car and the victim -- scumbag used-car salesman Frank Ryan -- gets him off the hook, the two decide to launch into a life of armed robbery following a set of "rules for success" Frank has worked up in one bar or another. It turns out Frank doesn't have a clue and manages to get the two of them wrapped up with some real criminals. Things go downhill in a hurry.
By the time this book came out, Leonard had developed his trademark spare prose, though it's not as arid here as it will be later on. He shows a feel for the low-life life, the rhythms of the chronically underemployed, their vices and their attitudes. And his dialog has that sense of being reported rather than invented, as if the author had simply recorded these characters talking among themselves and was transcribing their own words. This much is the Leonard we now take for granted, and is the best part of this novel.
Unfortunately, there are significant chunks of the Elmore Leonard style missing from Swag.
For instance, we don't get the memorable characters. Stick, the closest thing to a protagonist in this tale, is a thin reed on which to hang this story; he's neither likable enough to be good company nor interesting enough to make up for it. While he's somewhat smarter than Frank, that's not much of an accomplishment, and he doesn't have an especially compelling backstory or set of goals for the future. Chili Palmer and Jack Foley, he ain't.
There's not a whole lot to the plot, either. The whole middle of the book chronicles Stick's and Frank's adventures with armed robbery, which rapidly become repetitive. In that their favorite victims are grocery and liquor stores, and that it appears Detroit PD was no better in the '70s than it is today, the stakes are decidedly low. In between heists, they drink, toke, squabble and chase women. It's not until the last quarter that we get the kind of double-triple-crossing criminal stew we came to expect from Leonard, by which time it's almost beside the point.
The novel is a product of its time. Nearly all the women are almost-interchangeable bed buddies for the stray men around Stick's and Frank's apartment complex, and all the white characters use more epithets for the black characters than many readers may have known existed (none of them complimentary). If you're younger than, say, me, you may not get the music and TV references. In many ways, reading Swag is like watching a 1970s cop movie, complete with low production values, faded colors and dust specks on the film.
If you're new to Leonard, bypass this book and start with his post-Glitz products from the late 1980s and 1990s, when he was at the top of his game. If you've exhausted those and can't live without seeing the primordial Leonard, then come back here. If you never make it back to Swag, you'll not have missed much.
March 10, 2016
"After the first few weeks he began to take it in stride. They were pros, that's why it was easy. They knew exactly what they were doing."
- Elmore Leonard, Swag
I've read several of Leonard's 90s crime novels (Get Shorty, Out of Sight, etc) but I was given Elmore Leonard's Four Novels of the 1970s for my birthday (thanks Keith) and decided to start with 'Swag'. It was great, gritty Detroit crime fiction. So, in honor of this novel, here are ten rules for Detroit hardboiled fiction:
1. There needs to be a list of rules.
2. There has to be multiple women.
3. There has to be some racial tension.
4. The book can't be longer than 250 pages
5. Dialogue must be both funny and sharp.
6. There needs to be several twists.
7. Drugs and alcohol must be consumed or discussed.
8. There has to be several exit ramps that are missed.
9. Cars have to play a role, even if minor.
10. All rules must eventually be broken.
- Elmore Leonard, Swag
I've read several of Leonard's 90s crime novels (Get Shorty, Out of Sight, etc) but I was given Elmore Leonard's Four Novels of the 1970s for my birthday (thanks Keith) and decided to start with 'Swag'. It was great, gritty Detroit crime fiction. So, in honor of this novel, here are ten rules for Detroit hardboiled fiction:
1. There needs to be a list of rules.
2. There has to be multiple women.
3. There has to be some racial tension.
4. The book can't be longer than 250 pages
5. Dialogue must be both funny and sharp.
6. There needs to be several twists.
7. Drugs and alcohol must be consumed or discussed.
8. There has to be several exit ramps that are missed.
9. Cars have to play a role, even if minor.
10. All rules must eventually be broken.
October 22, 2019
Swag by Elmore Leonard, first published 1976.
Quirky with loads of black humour and dialogue to die for, all the things you’d expect from Elmore Leonard.
There are no good guys here, their all bad; it’s just that some are more endearingly bad than the rest of them.
Frank has a ten rule plan on how to be a successful hold up expert there is just one thing missing, a partner. Enter Stick, who’s real name is Ernest. So now we have Frank and Ernest and that is how they intend to treat their victims, by being frank & ernest with them. That will give you an idea of the humour found inside.
Everything goes great for some time until Frank decides it’s time to get bigger but getting bigger means more people and greater risks. Stick’s not real enamoured with the plan but goes along anyway. Frank, the one with the big ideas, invites some of his nefarious friends to get involved, so now the partnership is five strong.
The plan is to rob a department store with the prospects of getting their hand on $100,000. It was a good plan but for one small problem, everybody had their own agenda. This was never going to be a share and share alike event.
What follows is farcical but I couldn’t keep the smile off my face at the antics of all these desperate thieves.
As for the end, well it was perfect.
A highly entertaining, darkly humorous 4 star read.
Quirky with loads of black humour and dialogue to die for, all the things you’d expect from Elmore Leonard.
There are no good guys here, their all bad; it’s just that some are more endearingly bad than the rest of them.
Frank has a ten rule plan on how to be a successful hold up expert there is just one thing missing, a partner. Enter Stick, who’s real name is Ernest. So now we have Frank and Ernest and that is how they intend to treat their victims, by being frank & ernest with them. That will give you an idea of the humour found inside.
Everything goes great for some time until Frank decides it’s time to get bigger but getting bigger means more people and greater risks. Stick’s not real enamoured with the plan but goes along anyway. Frank, the one with the big ideas, invites some of his nefarious friends to get involved, so now the partnership is five strong.
The plan is to rob a department store with the prospects of getting their hand on $100,000. It was a good plan but for one small problem, everybody had their own agenda. This was never going to be a share and share alike event.
What follows is farcical but I couldn’t keep the smile off my face at the antics of all these desperate thieves.
As for the end, well it was perfect.
A highly entertaining, darkly humorous 4 star read.
April 7, 2024
05/2023
This is the first review I discovered where the review itself was gone. My boyfriend was reading this and I said that I had read it, and looked to see what I said, I know I wrote a review (I remember saying this novel and me are the same age, so I think it's from 1976).
This is the first review I discovered where the review itself was gone. My boyfriend was reading this and I said that I had read it, and looked to see what I said, I know I wrote a review (I remember saying this novel and me are the same age, so I think it's from 1976).
March 24, 2024
Frank is an armed-robbery theoretician, but execution is everything. His partner Stick is along for the ride. It was too easy, they got too cocky, and they drank too many salty dogs. The absence of any weak spots in the plot, pacing, characters, and dialog is remarkable.
September 25, 2019
What do I think?
I think it's absolutely brilliant.
I'll write more when I'm sober.
Oh Christ - I have to write more words.
I have a lot to say about this novel.
Just ...hell... not tonight.
I'm already off on the 2nd "Frank Ryan" novel:
which is not the cover of the edition I'm reading.
Spoiler: Frank Ryan isn't the same Frank Ryan as appears in this novel. He's "Jack Ryan" again from
.
But that's all in the future.
More later.
Here's my dashed off review:
This is supposedly the second entry in the "Frank Ryan" series by Elmore Leonard. The first entry (allegedly) is The Big Bounce -except the lead character's name in that novel is "Jack", not "Frank".
This book also marks the 1st appearance of Ernest Stickley, Jr aka Stick
To quote "Leon Woody", a B & E expert who is referenced often in THE BIG BOUNCE and plays a principle part in this novel, RYAN'S RULES aka SWAG:
Now, the above conversation appears in the last third of the novel. After a heist has been pulled. Frank Ryan, Leon Woody, a former boxer Billy Ruiz all go into rob the cashiers offices of a huge department store with Frank's partner Ernest Stickley, Jr. performing his assigned duties on the outside.
The heist goes to hell because this is an Elmore Leonard crime thriller.
When we first meet Frank Ryan, he's leaving the car lot where he sells new and used cars when he spots one of the lots' newest and more expensive acquisitions. He approaches the driver and they engage in a little light-hearted banter. "Hey, man- you pay for that car?" Guy says nope and peels out of the lot. Doesn't bother Frank much. The cops will probably recover the stolen vehicle before the night's over.
That's how Frank Ryan meets Ernest Stickley and they enter into a partnership robbing liquor stores, afterhours bars, gas stations, grocery stores... if a joint has a cash register both thieves are game.
This is one of Leonard's better early non-Western novels.
Recommended to all crime-thriller enthusiasts and a must for Elmore Leonard addicts.
Action packed, exciting, with funny dialogue throughout.
I think it's absolutely brilliant.
I'll write more when I'm sober.
Oh Christ - I have to write more words.
I have a lot to say about this novel.
Just ...hell... not tonight.
I'm already off on the 2nd "Frank Ryan" novel:
which is not the cover of the edition I'm reading.Spoiler: Frank Ryan isn't the same Frank Ryan as appears in this novel. He's "Jack Ryan" again from
.But that's all in the future.
Here's my dashed off review:
This is supposedly the second entry in the "Frank Ryan" series by Elmore Leonard. The first entry (allegedly) is The Big Bounce -except the lead character's name in that novel is "Jack", not "Frank".
This book also marks the 1st appearance of Ernest Stickley, Jr aka Stick
To quote "Leon Woody", a B & E expert who is referenced often in THE BIG BOUNCE and plays a principle part in this novel, RYAN'S RULES aka SWAG:
"This other Ryan, man used to work with me a long time ago," Leon Woody said. "His name was Jack Ryan. We work for this man was in the carpet cleaning business? Get in a house, we see some things we like, we leave a window unlocked, come back at night. He was a nice boy, Jack Ryan."
Sportree came in from the kitchen with a drink in each hand. Frank Ryan thanked him as he took his and waited as Sportree handed the other drink to Leon Woody and went out again.
"No, I don't think I ever heard of him," Frank said.
"He wanted to be a baseball player."
"Is that right?"
"Play in the major leagues. Nice boy but he couldn't hit a curve ball for shit."
Now, the above conversation appears in the last third of the novel. After a heist has been pulled. Frank Ryan, Leon Woody, a former boxer Billy Ruiz all go into rob the cashiers offices of a huge department store with Frank's partner Ernest Stickley, Jr. performing his assigned duties on the outside.
The heist goes to hell because this is an Elmore Leonard crime thriller.
When we first meet Frank Ryan, he's leaving the car lot where he sells new and used cars when he spots one of the lots' newest and more expensive acquisitions. He approaches the driver and they engage in a little light-hearted banter. "Hey, man- you pay for that car?" Guy says nope and peels out of the lot. Doesn't bother Frank much. The cops will probably recover the stolen vehicle before the night's over.
That's how Frank Ryan meets Ernest Stickley and they enter into a partnership robbing liquor stores, afterhours bars, gas stations, grocery stores... if a joint has a cash register both thieves are game.
This is one of Leonard's better early non-Western novels.
Recommended to all crime-thriller enthusiasts and a must for Elmore Leonard addicts.
Action packed, exciting, with funny dialogue throughout.
April 10, 2019
Typical Elmore Leonard: quirky characters, a farcical plot, and a satisfactory ending.
A used car salesman teams up with a fumbling car thief, and after drawing up 10 rules, claims to have a formula for foolproof robberies. The first rule is "Always be polite on the job and say please and thank you."
But then, after a spell of knocking over liquor stores and supermarkets, they get greedy, and gradually the rules are abandoned. From then on, the reader is caught up in the suspense of finding out what's in store for our two goofy characters.
Breezy pace, criminal shenanigans, sharp dialogue - what's not to like?
Not a genre crime novel, not a gumshoe story, not a police procedural, just Elmore.
A used car salesman teams up with a fumbling car thief, and after drawing up 10 rules, claims to have a formula for foolproof robberies. The first rule is "Always be polite on the job and say please and thank you."
But then, after a spell of knocking over liquor stores and supermarkets, they get greedy, and gradually the rules are abandoned. From then on, the reader is caught up in the suspense of finding out what's in store for our two goofy characters.
Breezy pace, criminal shenanigans, sharp dialogue - what's not to like?
Not a genre crime novel, not a gumshoe story, not a police procedural, just Elmore.
April 7, 2020
Four and a half stars. This is one of four stories included in Four Novels of the 1970's. One characteristic that Leonard's stories all share is that they are clever. Frank, shady car salesman intercepts, a man casually stealing one his dealership's cars. The thief, Stick, is caught and Frank recognizes him in a line up but fails to identify him. They meetup and Frank offers Stick a partnership in armed robbery. Through this romp, you wonder where is this going to go??? Highly recommended.
January 22, 2014
This was my first Elmore Leonard -- I wasn't expecting too much..., since he's so popular/successful, you mainly hear a lot of criticism about how lousy he is..., and the comparisons with James Ellroy worried me, since Ellroy - though I liked the two books I read - is, after all, more than a little artificial. But this was just a straightforward great read -- characters, plot-twists, utterly believable... It was a good book to start with.
January 21, 2016
3.5. This one had great characterization but some of the hold-ups don't really, erm, hold-up nowadays; actually, I don't see how some of them would have held-up even at the time this was published in the mid-70s. They never covered their faces. I know most stores didn't have big time surveillance, but the employees and shop owners did have eyes.
I picked this particular book to try out Leonard's work because out of all of his, and he has a lot, this one seemed to be a fan favorite. From a character point of view, I can see why. All the characters were uniquely themselves, but were still relatable. The problems arose w/ the plot. Still, I think I'll be checking out more of his work. Believe there's a novel called Stick that assuming gives us a further look at Ed Stickley. Not a bad idea, Mr. Leonard.
I picked this particular book to try out Leonard's work because out of all of his, and he has a lot, this one seemed to be a fan favorite. From a character point of view, I can see why. All the characters were uniquely themselves, but were still relatable. The problems arose w/ the plot. Still, I think I'll be checking out more of his work. Believe there's a novel called Stick that assuming gives us a further look at Ed Stickley. Not a bad idea, Mr. Leonard.
April 15, 2014
I’m blown away by my first Elmore Leonard and must soon read another. On the face of it ‘Swag’ is a smallish story, sparely told, about two small-time crooks in 1970s Detroit, but Leonard’s subtle art makes it so much more. He trusts the reader to know what isn’t written – the laughs, the plot implications, the dilemmas, the deepening psychology. I found myself caring a lot for I-won’t-say-whom without once being told to care, Leonard’s methods are so unobtrusive. The characters are real, flawed, funny. The dialogue is to die for. The plot is clever but unforced. It had me gripped to the last, very satisfying line. As tight as a Greek tragedy. Bravo—and shucks! Elmore Leonard was my Facebook friend – I wish it wasn't too late to be the millionth to tell him what a master craftsman he is.
January 6, 2016
#17 in my Top 20 Books I Read in 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIWkw...
This is how you write a thriller: gritty, brutally real, fun fun fun, and SHORT by God, the kind of book you can read during an afternoon on the beach and still have time for a swim and a game of beach volley. Leonard's up there with the very best.
This is how you write a thriller: gritty, brutally real, fun fun fun, and SHORT by God, the kind of book you can read during an afternoon on the beach and still have time for a swim and a game of beach volley. Leonard's up there with the very best.
September 19, 2025
Easy-going start, sharp and tense finish. Not the most memorable leads, but Leonard's slick dialogue is a treat and the whole thing turned into an outright page-turner when an unforeseen shooting takes place. Pretty sure there's always something for me in an Elmore Leonard crime novel.
August 29, 2016
Very few have done "Noir" better than the late Elmore Leonard...He ranks right up there with the greats, Chandler, Hammett, etc....this one has an unlikely, mixed-race paring of a car salesman & small-time criminal who enter the criminal world of armed robbery & stub their toes when seeking the "big one!"...good read as always
April 16, 2023
audio not bad...Leonard writes another interesting story from the criminal's POV without glorifying the life choice. This is written in his typical lean form so that the minimum time investment for the reader is a fair balance.
Amazing how people who live off of victims naively become a victim themselves.
Amazing how people who live off of victims naively become a victim themselves.
July 19, 2013
My daughters were horrified to see that I had a book entitled "Swag." A quick Google for current usage will explain.
Leonard's "Swag" is a highly enjoyable crime buddy story, with snappy odd-couple dialog, and a few twists that carry on right to the last page.
Leonard's "Swag" is a highly enjoyable crime buddy story, with snappy odd-couple dialog, and a few twists that carry on right to the last page.
August 10, 2023
I really enjoyed this early novel by Elmore Leonard. This was my first Leonard novel in 6 months after not thinking much of “The Switch”. This one however was excellent.
Two good characters, cracking dialogue and a more thought out plot than some other Leonard books.
Two good characters, cracking dialogue and a more thought out plot than some other Leonard books.
October 16, 2022
Earnest “Stick” Stickley Jr. and his partner in how to achieve success and happiness in armed robbery, Frank Ryan? Yes, please.
June 6, 2024
Leonard’s writing is all about the dialogue and this is a good example of him at his best.
An unlikely couple team up as business partners, car salesman Frank Ryan and Ernest Stickley, Junior, (‘Stick’), an unemployed cement-truck driver who had the temerity to rip him off right on his lot. Their new venture is armed robbery, to knock off supermarkets and liquor stores, which will give them plenty of time to sip cocktails in the sun and entertain women in their bachelor apartment.
Even though they are living the high life, Stick is edgy; two guys living together, working together and playing together, inevitably get on each other’s nerves.
After their 31st robbery, Frank decides to break some of his previously strict ten rules in order to rob the biggest department store in Detroit. This involves them working with other criminals who are more professional and more ruthless. It seems bound to end in tears.
Leonard invests much more time with his characters than the plot, which makes this different and a stand-out in its very large field. Another aspect is that it’s a crime novel, told from the perspective of the criminal, a rare thing.
An unlikely couple team up as business partners, car salesman Frank Ryan and Ernest Stickley, Junior, (‘Stick’), an unemployed cement-truck driver who had the temerity to rip him off right on his lot. Their new venture is armed robbery, to knock off supermarkets and liquor stores, which will give them plenty of time to sip cocktails in the sun and entertain women in their bachelor apartment.
Even though they are living the high life, Stick is edgy; two guys living together, working together and playing together, inevitably get on each other’s nerves.
After their 31st robbery, Frank decides to break some of his previously strict ten rules in order to rob the biggest department store in Detroit. This involves them working with other criminals who are more professional and more ruthless. It seems bound to end in tears.
Leonard invests much more time with his characters than the plot, which makes this different and a stand-out in its very large field. Another aspect is that it’s a crime novel, told from the perspective of the criminal, a rare thing.
August 9, 2021
The best twist ending, as usual.
August 5, 2020
Isn't it fun to read novels that take place in cities you've lived in? If the author makes an effort to include topical references, those who've lived there get an extra strong sense of place. "Swag" takes place in Detroit in 1976. Elmore Leonard knew Detroit and made it the setting of many of his crime novels, and peppered them with local landmarks. I had the pleasure of hearing old familiar place names - Telegraph Road, the Lodge Freeway (just "The Lodge" to locals, I-94), Grand River Avenue, Greektown, the River Rouge Plant, Woodward Avenue, Eight Mile Road, and Farmer Jack grocery store.
One of Leonard's likeable recurring characters, Stick (Ernest Stickley, Jr.) makes his first appearance in "Swag". He steals a car out from under the nose of Frank Ryan, who's doing honest work as a used car salesman. Frank fingers him in the line-up, but after giving it some more thought, decides that he likes Stick's style, and helps him beat the rap. The two join forces to commit a long string of 31 armed robberies without a hitch. As the jobs become routine and predictable, Frank starts to get sloppy and break some of his "Ten Rules for Success and Happiness", and Stick gets worried. Then Frank finds out from an acquaintance about a dream job. The idea is to knock over the huge downtown Hudson's Department Store for the evening cash take. Frank tell's Stick "...make enough to be happy for a year... it's no more trouble than a supermarket..." The reader wonders that if that's the case, why hasn't someone else already done it?
Leonard at this time was already a pro at writing dialogue. One thing that I love about the duo is that they're so different that I didn't have to keep track of who was saying what during their conversations - I could tell from their personalities. Frank is aggressive and has an impulsive side. Stick is more careful and analytic. It was fun to hear someone at a party ask "Are you into TA?" Transactional Analysis was big at that time, after the publication of the hugely successful lay psychology book "I'm OK, You're OK".
What wasn't fun to hear were the other conversations during the party scenes. In my opinion, the two most boring and inane types of dialogue to have to read through (or God forbid, have to hear in real life) are:
1. Drunk people talking.
2. Men coming on to women who aren't interested.
Obviously, the two are not mutually exclusive!
One of Leonard's likeable recurring characters, Stick (Ernest Stickley, Jr.) makes his first appearance in "Swag". He steals a car out from under the nose of Frank Ryan, who's doing honest work as a used car salesman. Frank fingers him in the line-up, but after giving it some more thought, decides that he likes Stick's style, and helps him beat the rap. The two join forces to commit a long string of 31 armed robberies without a hitch. As the jobs become routine and predictable, Frank starts to get sloppy and break some of his "Ten Rules for Success and Happiness", and Stick gets worried. Then Frank finds out from an acquaintance about a dream job. The idea is to knock over the huge downtown Hudson's Department Store for the evening cash take. Frank tell's Stick "...make enough to be happy for a year... it's no more trouble than a supermarket..." The reader wonders that if that's the case, why hasn't someone else already done it?
Leonard at this time was already a pro at writing dialogue. One thing that I love about the duo is that they're so different that I didn't have to keep track of who was saying what during their conversations - I could tell from their personalities. Frank is aggressive and has an impulsive side. Stick is more careful and analytic. It was fun to hear someone at a party ask "Are you into TA?" Transactional Analysis was big at that time, after the publication of the hugely successful lay psychology book "I'm OK, You're OK".
What wasn't fun to hear were the other conversations during the party scenes. In my opinion, the two most boring and inane types of dialogue to have to read through (or God forbid, have to hear in real life) are:
1. Drunk people talking.
2. Men coming on to women who aren't interested.
Obviously, the two are not mutually exclusive!
April 3, 2024
A csillagozás inkább 3.5, sajnos nehezen haladtam a könyvvel, sokszor akadós, unalmas. Leonard általában jó figurákat talál ki, vannak ötletek, de más regényeinél is azt érzem, nem tudja jól megírni.
Nem véletlen, hogy több művéből film készült, annak remek alapanyag, külön írt forgatókönyveket is
Hollywoodban.
A Szóljatok a köpcösnek! regénye, valamint a Tishomingo Blues tetszett, könyvben is.
Nem véletlen, hogy több művéből film készült, annak remek alapanyag, külön írt forgatókönyveket is
Hollywoodban.
A Szóljatok a köpcösnek! regénye, valamint a Tishomingo Blues tetszett, könyvben is.
July 25, 2009
I may be on a Leonard kick for the rest of the Summer. It started with his most recent book, Road Dogs, which led me -- probably via an Amazon.com recommendation, to one of his first published crime stories. Set in Detroit, Swag is the first of what becomes a series of stories about a car thief turned armed robber named Stick. Stick is a cool guy and like most of Leonard's work, this story just moves.
In fact, I was late to work one day this week because I got caught up in the last 3rd of the book and had to finish. That's usually a behavior I only reserve for Harry Potter and Fables trades. It's the dialogue and the shifting points of view that I enjoy the most. These are not characters filled to the brim with smarts or complex motivations. They are caught up in situations they don't want to be in or think they can control but they are never in control.
They just don't know it until it's too late.
When I return this to the library on Sunday, I believe I'll be replacing it with what I think is the next in the "Stick" stories, the appropriately titled—Stick. It was also a film starring Burt Reynolds.
Swag is highly recommended but you knew that. Who doesn't like Elmore Leonard novels?
In fact, I was late to work one day this week because I got caught up in the last 3rd of the book and had to finish. That's usually a behavior I only reserve for Harry Potter and Fables trades. It's the dialogue and the shifting points of view that I enjoy the most. These are not characters filled to the brim with smarts or complex motivations. They are caught up in situations they don't want to be in or think they can control but they are never in control.
They just don't know it until it's too late.
When I return this to the library on Sunday, I believe I'll be replacing it with what I think is the next in the "Stick" stories, the appropriately titled—Stick. It was also a film starring Burt Reynolds.
Swag is highly recommended but you knew that. Who doesn't like Elmore Leonard novels?
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