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Forget that earlier review (way down below) from 2013.
This is from my most recent (2019/October) re-read of possibly my all-time favorite Elmore Leonard novel.
This is the 2nd novel with Ernest Stickley, Jr, 42 years old, originally from Norman, Oklahoma most recently from Jackson, Michigan. From a prison they have up there.
Stick was doing a seven year stretch for events that occurred in the novel [bc:Ryan's Rules|13596703|Ryan's Rules|Elmore Leonard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334090247l/13596703._SY75_.jpg|941808] aka [bc:Swag|17885827|Swag|Elmore Leonard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1367796394l/17885827._SY75_.jpg|941808] which is why you need to read that novel before reading this one, [bc:Stick|288950|Stick|Elmore Leonard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347897425l/288950._SX50_.jpg|3167348] .
Stick has killed four men but for god's sake, please don't tell anyone else about those previous unfortunate events.
All he wants to do now is go straight.
He's down in Florida to see his now teenage daughter.
Maybe look for a job.
Just following the flow of the currents of his life.
It all goes to hell in the first chapter.
Read it and weep.
Suffice to say he runs afoul of some pretty terrifying characters.
Stick lays low for a while.
Moves south, closer to Miami but then returns. He really wants to get to know his teenage daughter.
Months later, in that Florida sun he's lost his prison pallor and he's looking like a life guard and nursing a vengeance trip.
He's sitting on the steps of an upscale bar contemplating going back to stealing cars and he's got his eyes set on a vintage Rolls Royce when the owner of the Rolls, a screwy lawyer/stock investor winds up hiring him as a chauffeur.
The gentleman likes to play the streetwise tough guy.
Trying to sound on the muscle now, a hard-nose. The guy should try out for the movies. See if in about a hundred years he could take Warren Oates's place. Christ. Why wouldn't he just relax and enjoy being rich? One the phone again, talking to his Rorie. The little asshole big-dealer sitting in the back seat of his limo in his tennis whites trying to sound like a hardass and coming off like Eddie Fisher doing Marlon Brando.
Soon, Stick is part of the happy family, living in his bachelor pad in the live-in garage apartment on the man's multi-million dollar estate.
This is an action packed thriller that is laugh-out-loud funny. Certainly Dutch Leonard's funniest situations and dialogue up to this point in his career.
I finished the last page and a quarter laughing.
Which is a rarity when it comes to reading crime thrillers.
Along with RYAN'S RULES aka SWAG, I would recommend this to Dutch Leonard newcomers and
longtime fans.
==============================================================================
Recommended to new Elmore Leonard fans and old.
This was the third Elmore Leonard book I read after reading Unknown Man No. 89 and City Primeval.
Probably best enjoyed if you read [b:Swag|288987|Swag|Elmore Leonard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408929227l/288987._SY75_.jpg|941808] first.
I read most of early novels out of sequence and I've been a fan for over 30 years.
This is from my most recent (2019/October) re-read of possibly my all-time favorite Elmore Leonard novel.
This is the 2nd novel with Ernest Stickley, Jr, 42 years old, originally from Norman, Oklahoma most recently from Jackson, Michigan. From a prison they have up there.
Stick was doing a seven year stretch for events that occurred in the novel [bc:Ryan's Rules|13596703|Ryan's Rules|Elmore Leonard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334090247l/13596703._SY75_.jpg|941808] aka [bc:Swag|17885827|Swag|Elmore Leonard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1367796394l/17885827._SY75_.jpg|941808] which is why you need to read that novel before reading this one, [bc:Stick|288950|Stick|Elmore Leonard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347897425l/288950._SX50_.jpg|3167348] .
Stick has killed four men but for god's sake, please don't tell anyone else about those previous unfortunate events.
All he wants to do now is go straight.
He's down in Florida to see his now teenage daughter.
Maybe look for a job.
Just following the flow of the currents of his life.
It all goes to hell in the first chapter.
Read it and weep.
Suffice to say he runs afoul of some pretty terrifying characters.
Stick lays low for a while.
Moves south, closer to Miami but then returns. He really wants to get to know his teenage daughter.
Months later, in that Florida sun he's lost his prison pallor and he's looking like a life guard and nursing a vengeance trip.
He's sitting on the steps of an upscale bar contemplating going back to stealing cars and he's got his eyes set on a vintage Rolls Royce when the owner of the Rolls, a screwy lawyer/stock investor winds up hiring him as a chauffeur.
The gentleman likes to play the streetwise tough guy.
Trying to sound on the muscle now, a hard-nose. The guy should try out for the movies. See if in about a hundred years he could take Warren Oates's place. Christ. Why wouldn't he just relax and enjoy being rich? One the phone again, talking to his Rorie. The little asshole big-dealer sitting in the back seat of his limo in his tennis whites trying to sound like a hardass and coming off like Eddie Fisher doing Marlon Brando.
Soon, Stick is part of the happy family, living in his bachelor pad in the live-in garage apartment on the man's multi-million dollar estate.
This is an action packed thriller that is laugh-out-loud funny. Certainly Dutch Leonard's funniest situations and dialogue up to this point in his career.
I finished the last page and a quarter laughing.
Which is a rarity when it comes to reading crime thrillers.
Along with RYAN'S RULES aka SWAG, I would recommend this to Dutch Leonard newcomers and
longtime fans.
==============================================================================
Recommended to new Elmore Leonard fans and old.
This was the third Elmore Leonard book I read after reading Unknown Man No. 89 and City Primeval.
Probably best enjoyed if you read [b:Swag|288987|Swag|Elmore Leonard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408929227l/288987._SY75_.jpg|941808] first.
I read most of early novels out of sequence and I've been a fan for over 30 years.