Swag is classic Elmore Leonard. Criminals who think they’re smarter than they actually are, heists that are too complex for their own good, double-crosses motivated by greed and mistrust, and crisp pose packed with crackling dialogue.
When used-car salesman Frank Ryan catches Ernest “Stick” Stickley trying to drive off the lot with a stolen car, he decides to see it as an opportunity. Refusing to identify Stick in court, Ryan approaches him with a business proposition. He wants the two of them to join up and commit armed robberies, hitting the liquor stores, groceries, and convenience stores of the Detroit suburbs. Stick will steal a new car for each job to throw off the police, and they should be fine as long as they follow the ten rules for success Frank’s come up with.
Of course, if criminals were smart enough to stick to a plan, they wouldn’t be criminals, at least not in an Elmore Leonard novel. While things go great for Frank and Stick for awhile, eventually they start arguing over money and which jobs to pull. Frank starts to get more and more ambitious while Stick starts to think maybe it’s time to get out while the getting’s good and jet off to Florida where his ex-wife lives with his little girl. Frank wants to bring in some of his friends on the job, which annoys Stick because it violates one of Frank’s own rules.
Leonard is so good at creating low-lifes who feel so much like real people you find yourself somehow rooting for them even as they keep breaking the law and doing worse and worse things. Especially Stick, who is oddly relatable for a car thief turned armed robber.
Eventually, the siren song of the big score proves too tempting, and while the fact that complications and consequences ensue might be obvious, the particular twists and turns are original and diabolically clever. Crime doesn’t pay for the criminal, but it does for readers of Elmore Leonard.