Product Description

There aren't any textbooks on armed robbery. The only way to learn is through experience, and small-time crooks Frank and Stick are determined to do as much learning on the job as possible. In 1970s' Detroit they embark on a crime spree, holding up liquor stores and supermarkets. They invent their 'Ten Golden Rules For Successful Armed Robbery' and for a short time the cash is rolling in. But then they bend their own rules, and it looks like trouble is heading their way.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59006 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
You will look long and hard before you find anyone with a bad word to say about Leonard. About the worst thing I can think of to say about SWAG is that it might be said to make armed robbery look like a enticing career move... if you haven't read him before, you are in for a treat. (Nicholas Lezard The Guardian )

About the Author
Elmore Leonard has written more than three dozen books during his highly successful career, and many of his novels have been made into bestselling films. He lives in Bloomfield Village, Michigan, with his wife Christine.

Customer Reviews

Elmore Leonard's 'Piece de resistance'
OK, so on the face of it, this appears to be nothing more than another trashy slice of '70's 'Pulp Fiction', but start reading it, and... MAN!... What you've actually got is 229 pages of the paciest, coolest, most readable crime writing ever to flow from the pen of Mr Crime Fiction himself, the one and only Elmore Leonard.
SWAG follows the highly dubious exploits of Frank and Earnest, a couple of low-lifes out to get rich quick, introducing us to a world where afternoons are spent in summertime Detroit bars, people drive '75 Thunderbirds and real men pack powerful hand guns.

As long as they abide by their self-made 'Ten Golden Rules For Successful Armed Robbery', how can anything possibly go wrong?...

Written in 1976, this novel positively drips with the feel of that coolest of cool decades. And in true Elmore Leonard style, very little actually happens in the first half of the book, but guess what? It doesn't matter! The writing is of such a high standard, cut to the bone, stripped right down to it's essential parts, that your eyes fairly tear down the page eagerly absorbing this wonderful lesson in dialogue creation. Every budding author should read this novel as an example of how to achieve maximum impact with the minimum of words!
A mini modern masterpiece - I think it's the only book I've ever read three times! Buy it, read it and lend it to everyone you know! (Well, maybe not your mum...)

Guns and broads and jive-ass dudes . . .
I'd never heard of Elmore Leonard. Someone told me to give him a try. The characters are solid, the dialogue amongst the snappiest and coolest you'll ever read and, most importantly, the plot rips right through the pages crackling along like a runaway freight train.

I really can't recommend this highly enough . . .

The Odd Couple Discovers the Joys of Armed Robbery
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." -- Matthew 6:19

Following a most unusual introduction to one another, a used car salesman, Frank Ryan, and an incorrigible car thief, Ernest Stickley, team up to make armed robbery safe and profitable by following the rules that Ryan swears by. Soon they are living the high life while doing relatively few heists to pay for it all. With time, their confidence grows . . . and so do their targets. Can they succeed in taking down one of Detroit's biggest businesses?

As in all of Elmore Leonard's crime stories about Detroit, his leading hooligans are more hapless than dangerous (except perhaps to themselves), stupid while thinking they are very smart, and trusting where they shouldn't be. If you are thinking about leading a life of crime, don't do what these guys do!

The story has a nice pace to it that makes the action move along at a good speed while adding complications without overly weighing down the plot.

While there are relatively few gut-busting funny parts, the overall humor level is quite good and will keep you smiling virtually from beginning to end.