What do you think?
Rate this book
Billy Cunningham #1
Take Down
From Book 1:
Whoever says crime doesn’t pay isn’t doing it right.
There are hundreds of casinos in Las Vegas, and Billy Cunningham knows how to rip off every one. His scams are a thing of beauty—so perfectly orchestrated that onlookers believe he and his crew are winning fair and square. In a town where bosses will kill to protect their profits, Billy can’t afford to make mistakes, but even the best-laid plans can go wrong…
Desperate to keep his team out of jail, Billy agrees to help stop a legendary family of thieves from taking down a casino. But he has no intention of breaking the cheater’s code: never rat out your own kind. He’s running his own con on the casino’s psycho owner and his vicious, violent wife. Throw in a murderous drug dealer, a vengeful gaming agent, and the girl Billy’s never forgotten, and this scam artist is playing for sky-high stakes: a cool eight million, and the chance to live long enough to spend it.
430 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 10, 2015
620 people are currently reading
887 people want to read
About the author
James Swain
49 books352 followersJames Swain is the national best selling author of seventeen mystery novels, and has been published in twelve different languages. His books have been chosen as Mysteries of the Year by Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, and have received three Barry Award nominations, a Florida Book Award for Fiction, and France’s prestigious Prix Calibre .38 for Best American Crime Fiction. Born in Huntington, New York, he graduated from New York University and worked as a magazine editor before moving to Florida to run a successful advertising firm. When he isn’t writing, he enjoys researching casino scams and cons, a subject on which he’s considered an expert.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 166 reviews
February 3, 2019
I wanted to rank this story higher, but the excessive brutality and stereotyping prevents it. The story is interesting throughout and its a shame it lacks more positive energy. 6 of 10 stars
Re-read and no change from my previous assessment. 2/3/19
Re-read and no change from my previous assessment. 2/3/19
January 5, 2025
Кримка, която опитва да ни преведе увлекателно из живота на измамниците в Лас Вегас. Но серията за Тони Валънтайн от същия автор е по-добра според мен.
В един момент ми доскуча, твърде много врътки се натрупаха, за да изглежда Били Кънингам почти супергерой на измамата, а всички останали пълни балъци.
Моята оценка - 2,5*. Доста недостига, за да дам повече.
P.S. Крайно време е от издателство "Бард" да започнат да наемат коректори и редактори за книгите си! И не, Супермен не е никакъв Айрънмен...
В един момент ми доскуча, твърде много врътки се натрупаха, за да изглежда Били Кънингам почти супергерой на измамата, а всички останали пълни балъци.
Моята оценка - 2,5*. Доста недостига, за да дам повече.
P.S. Крайно време е от издателство "Бард" да започнат да наемат коректори и редактори за книгите си! И не, Супермен не е никакъв Айрънмен...
March 8, 2015
I enjoy novels that involve con games and con men. Casino cheats fit right in.
Swain, primarily known for his Tony Valentine novels switches to telling the story from the side of the casino cheat and his merry band. It's a fun read, even though I thought it was just a tad too long. Too many cons going on made for a busy story. Not only does our hero, Billy Cunningham, have to contend with some very bad characters, the casino manager, his wife, and drug kingpin casino owner, he has to deal with some bent Nevada Gaming Control agents.
Recommended for any James Swain fan.
Swain, primarily known for his Tony Valentine novels switches to telling the story from the side of the casino cheat and his merry band. It's a fun read, even though I thought it was just a tad too long. Too many cons going on made for a busy story. Not only does our hero, Billy Cunningham, have to contend with some very bad characters, the casino manager, his wife, and drug kingpin casino owner, he has to deal with some bent Nevada Gaming Control agents.
Recommended for any James Swain fan.
January 9, 2020
Conmen, card mechanics, sleight of hand thieves, and more. Long cons, short cons, ... If you enjoy reading about confidence men and want to read about them operating in the greatest gambling paradise ever invented, this is it.
Swain gives us Las Vegas as you've never experienced it before. Meet Billy Cunningham who knows every trick in the book and his swashbuckling crew as they separate casinos from dollars. The writing is sharp and it is an incredibly fast reading book. Great, enjoyable reading that will leave you feeling as if you are an insider
who knows every trick in the book.
There are a couple of over the top plot devices that may not feel authentic but they work in terms of setting up the plot and the climatic action. But, overall, just a terrific, fun thriller. Could really see this as a hit movie.
Swain gives us Las Vegas as you've never experienced it before. Meet Billy Cunningham who knows every trick in the book and his swashbuckling crew as they separate casinos from dollars. The writing is sharp and it is an incredibly fast reading book. Great, enjoyable reading that will leave you feeling as if you are an insider
who knows every trick in the book.
There are a couple of over the top plot devices that may not feel authentic but they work in terms of setting up the plot and the climatic action. But, overall, just a terrific, fun thriller. Could really see this as a hit movie.
March 1, 2015
Another version of "Ocean 11".
Vegas, gambling, cheating. Murderous drug dealers, money laundering, vengeful gaming agent after cheaters. Psycho owner of casino and his vicious wife. Some excitement but not much thrill.
Vegas, gambling, cheating. Murderous drug dealers, money laundering, vengeful gaming agent after cheaters. Psycho owner of casino and his vicious wife. Some excitement but not much thrill.
July 1, 2020
It's a fairly entertaining romp. Way too dark though; there is pretty much nothing redeeming about any character. A lot of the characters are fairly thin though and the ending wraps up a little too clean. Also pretty vulgar too.
October 25, 2015
I enjoyed the Tony Valentine series of the retired detective who assists casinos in determining how they are getting ripped off and by whom. This character, Billy Cunningham, relates the tales from the other side as one who rips off the casinos. I had a chance to meet James Swain at a signing and was extremely impressed with his card mechanic skills - I think his website has some demos from TV interviews - and he pretty much convinced me that playing cards with strangers is probably not a good idea and if you are visiting casinos be prepared to write off the losses as entertainment. At any rate, he is a nice guy and a talented writer so I am going to kick this 3.5 star effort up to a 4. The content regarding casino rip offs is interesting and well done but the writing is a bit "thin" in dialogue and characterization. Great way to pass the time with a bit of "mind candy" for the beach or plane flight.
May 12, 2015
Following Swain's success with the Tony Valentine series, he has a new character, Billy Cunningham, who runs a crew set up to steal from casinos. Billy lives by a criminal credo to never sell out his fellow scammers, and to defend his crew but is himself dragged into a bad situation by his primary mentor to help a casino avoid being ripped off. Swain has a great set of supporting characters, villains, psychos, rubes, crooked enforcement agents, etc. and his in-depth knowledge of the gaming business shines through. This was fun, and much better than his dark magic series. Hopefully more to follow.
December 15, 2015
From 2001 to 2010, magician and card-carrying card trick wizard James Swain wrote a series of delightful novels about an ex-cop named Tony Valentine who had been in charge of policing casinos in Atlantic City and now, retired to Florida, offered himself as a private consultant to catch cheaters. Swain's books sometimes had loopy and outlandish plots but they were worth reading because along the way he offered a series of fascinating anecdotes about all the ways people have tried, and sometimes succeeded, at cheating the casinos that are so adept at fleecing everyone else. While the cons were fun to read about, you never had to worry about Tony slipping over to the dark side -- he always held himself apart, refusing to so much as place a bet on anything because he'd seen what it could do.
This new book, "Take Down," features the anti-Tony Valentine, a hustler so sneaky and devious that even his name is a tipoff to his greatest asset: Billy Cunningham. Cunningham and his crew make a good living ripping off casinos, with never a Tony Valentine in sight to take them down. In this case, though, Billy has gotten trapped by one of his old mentors into a deal with the devil. The drug dealer who owns a new casino in Vegas wants him to catch a team of Gypsies who are going to pull some sort of a scam that nets them millions. If Billy fails, he's likely to be killed, and his crew will all be ratted out to the gaming commission.
Billy is cunning enough to not only solve the mystery of what the Gypsies are going to do but to figure out a way to rip off the casino himself. Along the way, the narrator educates us in a variety of cons, scams and grifts, providing just as much edu-tainment as the Valentine books did.
But I had a hard time rooting for Billy, who is a compulsive liar and cheater and always has been. What made it even more difficult to like this novel is that for some reason Swain has lined up as the villains people who are African-American, gay and Hispanic, while Billy and his crew are all white so they're all right. The only minority character who's on Billy's side is the Vietnamese girlfriend of a friend of his, and she's presented as sex-crazed and overly demanding and not too bright.
So while I let myself get carried away by the breakneck pace of the plot, I couldn't stop wishing that Tony Valentine would suddenly pop up at the end and bust everyone in the joint, and maybe toss Billy on the ground with one of his old-school ju-jitsu moves.
This new book, "Take Down," features the anti-Tony Valentine, a hustler so sneaky and devious that even his name is a tipoff to his greatest asset: Billy Cunningham. Cunningham and his crew make a good living ripping off casinos, with never a Tony Valentine in sight to take them down. In this case, though, Billy has gotten trapped by one of his old mentors into a deal with the devil. The drug dealer who owns a new casino in Vegas wants him to catch a team of Gypsies who are going to pull some sort of a scam that nets them millions. If Billy fails, he's likely to be killed, and his crew will all be ratted out to the gaming commission.
Billy is cunning enough to not only solve the mystery of what the Gypsies are going to do but to figure out a way to rip off the casino himself. Along the way, the narrator educates us in a variety of cons, scams and grifts, providing just as much edu-tainment as the Valentine books did.
But I had a hard time rooting for Billy, who is a compulsive liar and cheater and always has been. What made it even more difficult to like this novel is that for some reason Swain has lined up as the villains people who are African-American, gay and Hispanic, while Billy and his crew are all white so they're all right. The only minority character who's on Billy's side is the Vietnamese girlfriend of a friend of his, and she's presented as sex-crazed and overly demanding and not too bright.
So while I let myself get carried away by the breakneck pace of the plot, I couldn't stop wishing that Tony Valentine would suddenly pop up at the end and bust everyone in the joint, and maybe toss Billy on the ground with one of his old-school ju-jitsu moves.
June 4, 2017
(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)
There are hundreds of casinos in Las Vegas, and Billy Cunningham knows how to rip off every one. His scams are a thing of beauty—so perfectly orchestrated that onlookers believe he and his crew are winning fair and square. In a town where bosses will kill to protect their profits, Billy can’t afford to make mistakes, but even the best-laid plans can go wrong…
Desperate to keep his team out of jail, Billy agrees to help stop a legendary family of thieves from taking down a casino. But he has no intention of breaking the cheater’s code: never rat out your own kind. He’s running his own con on the casino’s psycho owner and his vicious, violent wife. Throw in a murderous drug dealer, a vengeful gaming agent, and the girl Billy’s never forgotten, and this scam artist is playing for sky-high stakes: a cool eight million, and the chance to live long enough to spend it.
I have been a fan of James Swain's Tony Valentine character for a while...and have always enjoyed the characterisation in his novels. This book was quite different and I don't know if I am ambivalent to it purely on its merits or because it ISN'T a Valentine book...
Let me start by saying that this is a very good story - as far as the story-telling goes. I appreciated the action sequences and the dialogue was also pretty well done. I was able to connect with the characters in this way.
However, what was disappointing to me was that Billy was kinda the opposite of what I loved about Tony Valentine - he is a cheat, a hustler and not a particular sympathetic character. I was, at times, actually hoping he would get done in...is that bad?
Also, I wasn't particularly impressed with all the bad guys being minorities, yet Billy's gang were as white as the pure driven snow...just a bit disappointing...
Paul
ARH
There are hundreds of casinos in Las Vegas, and Billy Cunningham knows how to rip off every one. His scams are a thing of beauty—so perfectly orchestrated that onlookers believe he and his crew are winning fair and square. In a town where bosses will kill to protect their profits, Billy can’t afford to make mistakes, but even the best-laid plans can go wrong…
Desperate to keep his team out of jail, Billy agrees to help stop a legendary family of thieves from taking down a casino. But he has no intention of breaking the cheater’s code: never rat out your own kind. He’s running his own con on the casino’s psycho owner and his vicious, violent wife. Throw in a murderous drug dealer, a vengeful gaming agent, and the girl Billy’s never forgotten, and this scam artist is playing for sky-high stakes: a cool eight million, and the chance to live long enough to spend it.
I have been a fan of James Swain's Tony Valentine character for a while...and have always enjoyed the characterisation in his novels. This book was quite different and I don't know if I am ambivalent to it purely on its merits or because it ISN'T a Valentine book...
Let me start by saying that this is a very good story - as far as the story-telling goes. I appreciated the action sequences and the dialogue was also pretty well done. I was able to connect with the characters in this way.
However, what was disappointing to me was that Billy was kinda the opposite of what I loved about Tony Valentine - he is a cheat, a hustler and not a particular sympathetic character. I was, at times, actually hoping he would get done in...is that bad?
Also, I wasn't particularly impressed with all the bad guys being minorities, yet Billy's gang were as white as the pure driven snow...just a bit disappointing...
Paul
ARH
December 12, 2021
"No one in the world does this stuff better than Jim Swain." - Lee Child
Really? This is... it?
Not that Jim Swain, sitting on his piles of money, cares what I think, but I wish he would write a non-fiction book about cons and cheats in Vegas. He knows this stuff inside and out and I bet that book would be fascinating to read. Tell the real stories of the cons that worked, the ones that didn't, and what distinguishes a successful cheat from a failed one (my guess is partly what separates them is more money and fewer broken bones).
What he doesn't know is characters. He paints them all so broadly that they are caricatures. They speak and act in cliches, as if Swain is trying to rewrite the pulp novels of the 1940s and 50s.
He sets characters up to be the victims of a sweet revenge and then kills the characters off as an afterthought. If I need to read about someone's horrible behavior, with the promise of a "they are really going to get what's coming to them" revenge, then please give me that revenge. Not, in one case, an off-screen death.
As I wrote about Grift Sense, the other Swain book that I read, his characters act so inconsistently and often against their best interests. One of the best cheats in Vegas does four incredibly dumb things that get himself into trouble? I don't buy it. The owners of a casino being basically street-level drug dealers? Nope. And if they're not street-level dealers, then why do they act like it?
It is very frustrating to read a book about a cool heist and hate everyone who is involved in it.
Really? This is... it?
Not that Jim Swain, sitting on his piles of money, cares what I think, but I wish he would write a non-fiction book about cons and cheats in Vegas. He knows this stuff inside and out and I bet that book would be fascinating to read. Tell the real stories of the cons that worked, the ones that didn't, and what distinguishes a successful cheat from a failed one (my guess is partly what separates them is more money and fewer broken bones).
What he doesn't know is characters. He paints them all so broadly that they are caricatures. They speak and act in cliches, as if Swain is trying to rewrite the pulp novels of the 1940s and 50s.
He sets characters up to be the victims of a sweet revenge and then kills the characters off as an afterthought. If I need to read about someone's horrible behavior, with the promise of a "they are really going to get what's coming to them" revenge, then please give me that revenge. Not, in one case, an off-screen death.
As I wrote about Grift Sense, the other Swain book that I read, his characters act so inconsistently and often against their best interests. One of the best cheats in Vegas does four incredibly dumb things that get himself into trouble? I don't buy it. The owners of a casino being basically street-level drug dealers? Nope. And if they're not street-level dealers, then why do they act like it?
It is very frustrating to read a book about a cool heist and hate everyone who is involved in it.
October 15, 2019
While I like this writer, I tried but I didn’t like this one.
I didn’t think the Billy character was likable & wasn’t able to connect to him.It was too dark for me. Also, all the characters are cheaters (essentially crooks) which happens in stories sometimes but I couldn’t find redeeming characteristics to make them appealing as people.
I’ll stick w/the other 2 series by this writer which I prefer. (Tony Valentine, Lancaster &Daniels series)
I didn’t think the Billy character was likable & wasn’t able to connect to him.It was too dark for me. Also, all the characters are cheaters (essentially crooks) which happens in stories sometimes but I couldn’t find redeeming characteristics to make them appealing as people.
I’ll stick w/the other 2 series by this writer which I prefer. (Tony Valentine, Lancaster &Daniels series)
March 1, 2018
Good reaf
Took a while to get it no but a good easy read. Will consider reading more from the series for sure
Took a while to get it no but a good easy read. Will consider reading more from the series for sure
October 23, 2018
Excellent book! I learned a lot about gambling and betting at casinos!
October 13, 2015
I had never heard of author James Swain until just recently when I saw a review of one of his other books posted by one of my Goodreads friends, James Thane, and it got me quite interested in his work.
'Take Down' is, I believe, Swain's latest novel and in it we are introduced to the main protagonist Billy Cunningham, who is a 'cheater'. Along with his assorted crew, they rip off casinos in Vegas using different types of scams. Also while doing this they are also trying to elude officers of the Gaming Board, whose job it is to get rid of guys like Billy. In this novel Billy is conned into trying to rip off the Galaxy casino but it's a set up and the owners blackmail Billy into trying to foil a heist that they know is going to take place in their casino and they need Billy's expertise to identify the culprits and the con.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel as I've never been to Las Vegas and don't really know much about gambling. However after reading this novel I certainly know a lot more than I did but if anything it has put me off even more of wanting to visit the place, whose sole purpose seems to be to part the visitors from their cash, by any means possible !
The novel is littered with great characters and I especially liked Ike and T Bird, the two ex-ballers, turned bouncers whose job it is to guard Billy. They are all brawn and not much brain and are easily turned when they get the sniff of a big score. Billy himself is also a very likeable character although maybe a wee bit cliched in that all the women that he meets seem to want to go to bed with him. Another small negative I found was that there sometimes seemed to be too much going on all at once and although most of the sub plots had to do with the main storyline, there were one or two that led nowhere.
On the strength of this novel however, I will be exploring more of James Swain's back catalogue and hopefully finding out more of what goes on in the dark underbelly of Vegas, hidden away from the bright flashing neon lights.
'Take Down' is, I believe, Swain's latest novel and in it we are introduced to the main protagonist Billy Cunningham, who is a 'cheater'. Along with his assorted crew, they rip off casinos in Vegas using different types of scams. Also while doing this they are also trying to elude officers of the Gaming Board, whose job it is to get rid of guys like Billy. In this novel Billy is conned into trying to rip off the Galaxy casino but it's a set up and the owners blackmail Billy into trying to foil a heist that they know is going to take place in their casino and they need Billy's expertise to identify the culprits and the con.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel as I've never been to Las Vegas and don't really know much about gambling. However after reading this novel I certainly know a lot more than I did but if anything it has put me off even more of wanting to visit the place, whose sole purpose seems to be to part the visitors from their cash, by any means possible !
The novel is littered with great characters and I especially liked Ike and T Bird, the two ex-ballers, turned bouncers whose job it is to guard Billy. They are all brawn and not much brain and are easily turned when they get the sniff of a big score. Billy himself is also a very likeable character although maybe a wee bit cliched in that all the women that he meets seem to want to go to bed with him. Another small negative I found was that there sometimes seemed to be too much going on all at once and although most of the sub plots had to do with the main storyline, there were one or two that led nowhere.
On the strength of this novel however, I will be exploring more of James Swain's back catalogue and hopefully finding out more of what goes on in the dark underbelly of Vegas, hidden away from the bright flashing neon lights.
August 3, 2015
LOVED this. It was an impulse pick-up at the library that paid off big-time, to stick with the theme.
It was a little Ocean’s 11-y (sorry, the comparison has to be made; I’m sure it’s not a very original observation but that’s the way it is) but grittier, more violent, and less stylized. I would imagine that Take Down is more “accurate” than Ocean’s 11 is, anyway. Apparently Mr. Swain is an expert on Vegas and heists/scams/crime in casinos, and it shows; the scams all seemed very plausible even if the plot in general was a little out-there.
The circumstances surrounding Billy Cunningham, grifter extraordinaire, heist mastermind, and criminal crew chief, kept growing exponentially in craziness and scope until you just could not believe a human being could defeat the enormous odds against him. I mean, I expected Billy to triumph in the end – it’s a novel – but it was hard to see how Swain would engineer Billy’s success in pulling off every single angle. I was impressed. The characters were also great; the supporting characters were just as fun as Billy if not more so.
The book was a lot of fun to read and I enjoyed every minute of the ride. I hope Mr. Swain writes another Billy Cunningham story, and in the meantime I’ll be investigating his other works.
It was a little Ocean’s 11-y (sorry, the comparison has to be made; I’m sure it’s not a very original observation but that’s the way it is) but grittier, more violent, and less stylized. I would imagine that Take Down is more “accurate” than Ocean’s 11 is, anyway. Apparently Mr. Swain is an expert on Vegas and heists/scams/crime in casinos, and it shows; the scams all seemed very plausible even if the plot in general was a little out-there.
The circumstances surrounding Billy Cunningham, grifter extraordinaire, heist mastermind, and criminal crew chief, kept growing exponentially in craziness and scope until you just could not believe a human being could defeat the enormous odds against him. I mean, I expected Billy to triumph in the end – it’s a novel – but it was hard to see how Swain would engineer Billy’s success in pulling off every single angle. I was impressed. The characters were also great; the supporting characters were just as fun as Billy if not more so.
The book was a lot of fun to read and I enjoyed every minute of the ride. I hope Mr. Swain writes another Billy Cunningham story, and in the meantime I’ll be investigating his other works.
March 2, 2015
James Swain is a new author to me so I was surprised to see that this is his seventeenth book - and pleased because having read this one I will definitely be seeking out his other work.
What's not to like? It is set in Las Vegas and Billy Cunningham runs a team of people that know how to scam each and every casino on the Strip. He may be a crook but he has rules and everything is always done by the book. Just as he is about to perform one of the biggest take-downs of his career he realises that he has been set up and he is suddenly in the midst of the dark underbelly of Vegas and it is all to play for.
Wonderful characters, great setting and a real page turner. Its quite a beefy book at 432 pages but once you start reading this you'll find that you can't put it down.
Supplied by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
What's not to like? It is set in Las Vegas and Billy Cunningham runs a team of people that know how to scam each and every casino on the Strip. He may be a crook but he has rules and everything is always done by the book. Just as he is about to perform one of the biggest take-downs of his career he realises that he has been set up and he is suddenly in the midst of the dark underbelly of Vegas and it is all to play for.
Wonderful characters, great setting and a real page turner. Its quite a beefy book at 432 pages but once you start reading this you'll find that you can't put it down.
Supplied by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
June 19, 2016
For me this was a rare occasion when the term 'couldn't put it down' is not an exaggeration. We have far too many heroes who are morally incorruptible. Billy is the ultimate bad boy all the ladies want to love and the men want to emulate. He steals from casinos for a living , using his brains and guile to outwit all the safeguards. He doesn't rob from the rich to give to the poor. Everyone has to eat and it beats a nine to five job. Having said that, Billy has a heart and is generous to those in need who are loyal to him.
The book opens with Billy having been collared for his latest heist and I didn't know until the last page if he would get away with it. And no, I'm not telling you if he did. Read it for yourself. I defy you not to root for him.
The book opens with Billy having been collared for his latest heist and I didn't know until the last page if he would get away with it. And no, I'm not telling you if he did. Read it for yourself. I defy you not to root for him.
August 19, 2015
James Swain is a great author for these casino scam type of novels. He really seems to know his stuff and his portrayals of Las Vegas are really spot on. This book has all kinds of twists and turns when a con man gets caught up in his own scam. Now he has to double scam his way out to attempt to save his own skin. Swain really paints up the law enforcement of Vegas as some really ugly ogres in this book and cannot seem to take a break from continuously portraying them as some really incompetent assholes. This did seem to get a bit tiring but I still was able to enjoy the story contained within.
May 10, 2016
The side of Las Vegas you have never seen with a cast of characters that would make Damon Runyon proud. Billy Cunningham is a brilliant cheater with a team of assistants worse than a group of children. Billy's brilliant scheme to take down a new casino meets with stupidity, treachery, love, and unkind fate. The characters are truly portrayed and their actions bring never-ending entertainment to the reader. There are no good guys or bad guys. There are just people with dark sides trying to get ahead. Definitely a book that is hard to put down. It stays in your head even when you are not reading it.
February 22, 2015
It hurts to give this only 2 stars. I'm a huge James Swain fan. His Tony Valentine and Jack Carpenter books are great. This book was very disappointing. Primarily, I didn't like the main character at all. There was nothing even remotely likeable about Billy Cunningham. I hear he's going to make this a series. I hope not.
February 17, 2015
I use to read Swain before his "kindle" days. I was so glad to see an old fashioned paperback from him. The story was great. I did not want it to end. It was the best book I have read in a long time. I would give it more stars if I could. I just hope I don't have to wait another 5 years before he writes another one(on paper)!!!
May 1, 2016
A great story with amazing and very believable characters. Anyone who enjoys spending time in Vegas would enjoy this story. It's wrought with information about the world of casino cheats and is fascinating. I'm a little disappointed there are no more Billy Cunningham stories - he's a great character.
May 3, 2015
Grew up in Vegas and loved this book!
This was my first book by James Swain and read it due to the endorsement by Lee Child, who I adore. I couldn't put it down once I started. Will be reading more of this author now that I know I enjoy his writing style. Very entertaining!
This was my first book by James Swain and read it due to the endorsement by Lee Child, who I adore. I couldn't put it down once I started. Will be reading more of this author now that I know I enjoy his writing style. Very entertaining!
June 25, 2015
Swain's books are so much fun to read. This one is different that the bad guy is actually a the good guy. The main character can be hard to root for but in this case you have no choice. The story reminds me of Ocean's 11.
July 31, 2015
OMG!! Loved it! Took me two days .. . but that's because I had to go to work. smile. It's like Clooney from Ocean's 11 and Olyphant (Raylan) from Justified.
The only thing I don't like is the sleazy, outdated cover. That's just wrong.
The only thing I don't like is the sleazy, outdated cover. That's just wrong.
June 6, 2015
First book by James swain
Completely enjoyable. I read this in one day. Didn't want to put it down. Will definitely read another of his books.
Completely enjoyable. I read this in one day. Didn't want to put it down. Will definitely read another of his books.
June 25, 2015
Loved the heist. Didn't love the pointless subplots, the poorly written women, or the fact that it just. Wouldn't. End.
October 24, 2017
Everyone knows that, when it comes to casino gambling, you can’t beat the house. After all, the house makes the rules and knows the odds, which are always stacked in its favor. But, as the eye-opening novel Take Down by James Swain demonstrates, you can cheat the house if you’re good enough and bold enough to try. And the trying, in this case, makes for an entertaining thriller that blends old-fashioned con artistry with some deft sleight of hand.
The hero of Take Down is Billy Cunningham, a young grafter who makes a nice living scamming casinos using a variety of mostly illegal gimmicks including marked cards, loaded dice, and counterfeit casino chips. Unfortunately, as good as Cunningham is, he gets caught dead to rights scamming a new casino that’s run by some gangsters who are just as dishonest as Billy, but far deadlier. They give Billy a choice: either help them catch a group of gypsy scam artists preparing to pay the casino a visit or suffer the consequences, legal or otherwise. Billy agrees, but he hatches a scheme to use the gypsies’ planned theft as cover for a much larger heist of his own.
Author Swain is a magician himself who has researched the subject of casino scams extensively, so he knows what he is talking about in Take Down. During the course of the book, he lays out over a dozen ways of cheating casinos that Billy or the other crooks in the book employ. Although these methods usually involve some sort of mechanical means of getting the edge on the casino, they rely primarily on the human elements of distraction and misdirection to defeat the casinos’ elaborate security measures. It’s a cat-and-mouse game between the casinos and the grifters, one that plays out over and over in the novel, and never grows stale.
Take Down isn’t just a primer on how to cheat casinos. Instead, the plot is much bigger and more intricate with an array of colorful (and often dangerous) characters, including Billy’s fellow grifters, who, for the most part operate under a code of honor not to betray or harm each other, and also the out-and-out drug dealers, enforcers, money launderers, and all-around thugs Billy and his crew are trying to outwit. Not surprisingly, Billy’s scheme doesn’t go as planned, and he is forced to do some fast improvising and changing directions when that happens. Of course, no book like this would be complete without a couple of plot twists that the author throws in as the suspense builds in anticipation of the big heist.
Unfortunately, when Swain strays from the details of the book’s intricate plot and the description of all the various scams on displat, Take Down isn’t quite as interesting. Swain tries to make Billy a sort of benevolent Robin Hood-style CEO looking out for his crew, but the author doesn’t make the characters realistic enough to make that type of drama work. One subplot involves one member of Billy’s crew who is heavily indebted to a bookie. Billy’s efforts to even the score by hustling the bookie make for very interesting reading; his efforts to persuade his crew member to go to Gamblers Anonymous do not. Also, Swain uses an annoying and overdone narrative technique in the book, beginning the book in the aftermath of the big heist, while Billy is being interrogated by the authorities. That technique spoils some of the suspense and comes across as more of a gimmick than a boost to the plot.
I can’t recall having a book like Take Down before. It’s unlike traditional con artist books, because there’s a science as well as an art to stealing from casinos, one that’s new and very entertaining for me and probably most other readers as well. The more human elements of Swain’s book aren’t all that special, but when it comes to describing the casino action and the various plots and scams, Take Down is in a league of its own. Take Down is one book you’ll want to take with you for a vacation read or any time you’re in the mood for a crime thriller.
The hero of Take Down is Billy Cunningham, a young grafter who makes a nice living scamming casinos using a variety of mostly illegal gimmicks including marked cards, loaded dice, and counterfeit casino chips. Unfortunately, as good as Cunningham is, he gets caught dead to rights scamming a new casino that’s run by some gangsters who are just as dishonest as Billy, but far deadlier. They give Billy a choice: either help them catch a group of gypsy scam artists preparing to pay the casino a visit or suffer the consequences, legal or otherwise. Billy agrees, but he hatches a scheme to use the gypsies’ planned theft as cover for a much larger heist of his own.
Author Swain is a magician himself who has researched the subject of casino scams extensively, so he knows what he is talking about in Take Down. During the course of the book, he lays out over a dozen ways of cheating casinos that Billy or the other crooks in the book employ. Although these methods usually involve some sort of mechanical means of getting the edge on the casino, they rely primarily on the human elements of distraction and misdirection to defeat the casinos’ elaborate security measures. It’s a cat-and-mouse game between the casinos and the grifters, one that plays out over and over in the novel, and never grows stale.
Take Down isn’t just a primer on how to cheat casinos. Instead, the plot is much bigger and more intricate with an array of colorful (and often dangerous) characters, including Billy’s fellow grifters, who, for the most part operate under a code of honor not to betray or harm each other, and also the out-and-out drug dealers, enforcers, money launderers, and all-around thugs Billy and his crew are trying to outwit. Not surprisingly, Billy’s scheme doesn’t go as planned, and he is forced to do some fast improvising and changing directions when that happens. Of course, no book like this would be complete without a couple of plot twists that the author throws in as the suspense builds in anticipation of the big heist.
Unfortunately, when Swain strays from the details of the book’s intricate plot and the description of all the various scams on displat, Take Down isn’t quite as interesting. Swain tries to make Billy a sort of benevolent Robin Hood-style CEO looking out for his crew, but the author doesn’t make the characters realistic enough to make that type of drama work. One subplot involves one member of Billy’s crew who is heavily indebted to a bookie. Billy’s efforts to even the score by hustling the bookie make for very interesting reading; his efforts to persuade his crew member to go to Gamblers Anonymous do not. Also, Swain uses an annoying and overdone narrative technique in the book, beginning the book in the aftermath of the big heist, while Billy is being interrogated by the authorities. That technique spoils some of the suspense and comes across as more of a gimmick than a boost to the plot.
I can’t recall having a book like Take Down before. It’s unlike traditional con artist books, because there’s a science as well as an art to stealing from casinos, one that’s new and very entertaining for me and probably most other readers as well. The more human elements of Swain’s book aren’t all that special, but when it comes to describing the casino action and the various plots and scams, Take Down is in a league of its own. Take Down is one book you’ll want to take with you for a vacation read or any time you’re in the mood for a crime thriller.
July 30, 2021
James Swain I imagine to be partial to the holiday Thanksgiving because here comes another turkey.
*Takes a bow*
I'm feeling a little bitter, haha. Look, the champion of this novel is the editor. This book moved. It never became truly boring, yet it lacked anything engaging. And either Swain is a terrible armchair detective aren't we all detectives to some degree after all these years of cop TV? I don't mean in real life. Certainly I think many of us raised on TV have what TV cops might call 'cop sense.'. James Swain doesn't seem to have it.
I say that because the main crook leading a team of crooks in this story is a dummy. I'm not getting into the issues this book has, but one thing. If you find someone in your crew owes money for his gambling problem to somebody scary, do you kill the guy bc what he knows about your operation or shut him out with best wishes? Neither! You argue about his ging to a support group, which he clearly isn't going to do, and then give him an important role in the next caper -- the most money one ever scene.
I didn't finish reading the whole book. I used to follow the bad ones to the bitter nub. There's no ending that w justify or redeem the lead up to even remotely the degree it w have needed.
Again,I admire Swain's momentum. I can see how some people might even realize how inauthetic the characters are or how bad the writing given the way the sentences flow. But we're not children just falling asleep to the music in our mother's voice.
That what it felt like reading this. Like a folder stuffed of ideas Swain liked from years of rewatching Rockford File, flipped around to the "bad guy" scoring Steve Guttenburg on the likeability index, and then surprising us w some actual craftsmanship in the book's inner rhythm.
Instead of trying to come off like Michael Mann's THIEF, this story might have come off better if presented like with barn animals or a planet of children in that hot YA style adults like so much now.
It's that Swain presents his story as if a rare look inside Las Vegas' underworld that kind of made me feel vaguely insulted. But there's not too much intelligence here for me to get all that butt hurt, right? S'all good.
*Takes a bow*
I'm feeling a little bitter, haha. Look, the champion of this novel is the editor. This book moved. It never became truly boring, yet it lacked anything engaging. And either Swain is a terrible armchair detective aren't we all detectives to some degree after all these years of cop TV? I don't mean in real life. Certainly I think many of us raised on TV have what TV cops might call 'cop sense.'. James Swain doesn't seem to have it.
I say that because the main crook leading a team of crooks in this story is a dummy. I'm not getting into the issues this book has, but one thing. If you find someone in your crew owes money for his gambling problem to somebody scary, do you kill the guy bc what he knows about your operation or shut him out with best wishes? Neither! You argue about his ging to a support group, which he clearly isn't going to do, and then give him an important role in the next caper -- the most money one ever scene.
I didn't finish reading the whole book. I used to follow the bad ones to the bitter nub. There's no ending that w justify or redeem the lead up to even remotely the degree it w have needed.
Again,I admire Swain's momentum. I can see how some people might even realize how inauthetic the characters are or how bad the writing given the way the sentences flow. But we're not children just falling asleep to the music in our mother's voice.
That what it felt like reading this. Like a folder stuffed of ideas Swain liked from years of rewatching Rockford File, flipped around to the "bad guy" scoring Steve Guttenburg on the likeability index, and then surprising us w some actual craftsmanship in the book's inner rhythm.
Instead of trying to come off like Michael Mann's THIEF, this story might have come off better if presented like with barn animals or a planet of children in that hot YA style adults like so much now.
It's that Swain presents his story as if a rare look inside Las Vegas' underworld that kind of made me feel vaguely insulted. But there's not too much intelligence here for me to get all that butt hurt, right? S'all good.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 166 reviews