Swag Audiobook By Elmore Leonard cover art

Swag

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Swag

By: Elmore Leonard
Narrated by: Frank Muller
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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.

©2009 Elmore Leonard (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers Suspense Thriller & Suspense Crime Fiction
Engaging Characters • Well-paced Story • Realistic Dialogue • Suspenseful Plot • Perfect Pacing
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I almost bailed after a few chapters, the beginning third or so is over-long, not edited to contemporary standards, but it’s in keeping with the decade it was written in, which sort of contributes something to the charm. It does gain momentum and get more interesting later on. Character development is great and the narrator does a great job in my opinion. Recommended, especially if you’ve ever harbored fantasies of quoting your day job and becoming a career criminal. Enjoy!

Hang in there

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There are better Elmore Leonards, better by a long shot. The reader missed the point of some of Leonard’s wiseguy deadpan cool affects, and added some silly aspects to the voices. Unneeded falsettos for the females made it even less believable. But the similar cool character so well portrayed in the later works, was there in Stick, one of the two hapless criminals who dominate this story. It was good enough to keep me until the end, wondering if would turn out well or just go bad for them... uncertain to the last. That’s a sign of a decent tale, right? Not completely predictable? Try Cuba Libre, or Tishomigo Blues, or The Hot Kid. Sly and cool and smart.

Don’t let this one put you off Elmore Leonard

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Swag is the story of Ernest Stickley, Stick, and Frank Ryan. Yes, that's right, Frank and Ernest. These two guys rob 32 stores in three months, and think it's easy. Then they get together with a hustler named Sportree and his sidekick Leon Woody, and the four of them plus a guy named Bobby Ruiz, and they plan a robbery of J.L. Hudson, one of the largest department stores in Detroit. The robbery goes badly wrong, with a witness and Bobby Ruiz dying. The noose begins to tighten on Frank and Ernest. Both of them have been romancing several "career girls" in the apartment complex they live in. They party hearty. Stolen money and booze fuels a lifestyle which they love, but Stick wants out, knowing that the ride has to stop sometime. Leonard is not at his absolute best here, but, again, the combination of the two of these guys, Leonard and Muller, is just plain fun. Along the way Stick has to kill four guys, which is clearly not what he has intended at all. Stick is a recurring character, with a book named after him, and we know that he is not a killer, actually just a lost man who gets pulled in very easily. Once again the pace quickens as only Leonard and Muller can rev it up. I won't spoil the end. If you listen to the book, you'll love it. Leonard always leaves you wanting more.

Not the top Leonard, but Muller still rocks.

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This is an excellent novel that builds a lot of tension, character plot, dialogue and has a great use of social realism.

Elmore Leonard has ver multi layered characters and he knows how to create stories with really good endings that doesn’t seem very cliché and predictable.

The story never feels like it drags, sometimes I have to read sections over and over to make sure I understand it and I was happy that I was able to make time to finish this great novel. I do think for people who want to study dialogue, pacing and how to write characters that are very deep with very minimal description, this is a great book to study.

This is a great novel about morality, friendship, living life on the edge, human desire of wanting to trust people and live and break your own rules. It very well captures adult relationships and betrayals very well while its subject matter is more of a body and a heist story, it still has very emotional impact.

Frank Mueller is extremely excellent in his narration and he does it in a way that is very realistic, he does not put in his own creative touch to a point where it’s obnoxious like when I read the narration for the invisible man by a different reader. I do think that he knows how to read very well and match the pacing of the story and match the actions in the book, an excellent articulator of the Elmore Leonard stories. A buying point for any Audible Elmore Leonard book is Frank Mueller’s reading of it.

Riveting: Quinten Tarantino before there was Quentin Tarantino

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Simple story, colorfully told about characters you don't necessarily love or hate, but you like them all enough that you want to know where to send their Birthday Cards, whether it's prison or some remote town in Mexico.

Frank Muller is fantastic.

This story was really good!

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If you want to live the life of a small time criminal, read Swag. The ending was slightly disappointing but all the preceding story and dialogue seemed believable. Worth a read.

Enjoy a different lifestyle

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One of Leonard's best. Frank Muller does a great narration, too. Highly recommended. I listened to it over a single day, and never lost interest.

Great book!

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I’m a big Elmore Leonard fan, and this is a classic story, performed well by Frank Muller. My quibble with the story is the developing atmosphere of inevitability, which made it a bit of a challenge for me to stick with it to the end.

Very good but not great Elmore Leonard

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If you're in the mood for pulpy crime fiction with characters that will make you addicted to them and a narrator that is perfect for this material, you'll want to read Swag.

This book is often cited as one of Elmore Leonard's best tales. I can't say enough about the narrator. He does great voices, even women convincingly, and he recognizes the humor Leonard seeded throughout the narrative.

I give this book 5 stars in all categories, because it's a great, pulpy read, and the narrator is one of the rare ones that actually makes the book a better experience than reading the book the old fashioned way.

I wish they all could be this good.

Perfect Narrator For A Great Pulp Fiction Story

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The two primary characters are small time robbers (grocery stores, liquor stores, bars) who ride out their luck until they fall in with some serious guys. They were not particularly appealing personalities to me. I appreciate that they did not intend to hurt anyone, but they are so careless and thoughtless that the inevitable happens.

The women are not as one-dimensional as some reviewers believe - there are a few women who really move the story forward. The "career girls" by the pool were a 1970s reality - looking for a bit of fun until they had to settle down. Teachers, clerks, models and other career girls were the ones who could afford to live independently in a singles apartment complex. They were as superficial in their relationships as the guy next door, even if that guy was a petty criminal.

These two guys, however, are not suave and slickly charming; they are insecure, whiny and weak. No one in the book was interesting enough for me to care what happened to them. Many much better Elmore Leonard novels out there (Get Shorty and Pronto come to mind)

Second rate crooks are not Elmore's best

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