Stick

Every Elmore Leonard book is terrific. This book continues the outstanding characterizations and dialogue that have earned Leonard the reputation of best living crime writer, perhaps of all time.

This is Elmore Leonard at his finest. It's all here. The spare, clean prose, the dead-on dialogue, and the tight, strong, driven plot shot through with the fatalistic humor of the street. If you have never read an Elmore Leonard book this should be your first. And if you're an old fan, this book will showcase everything that's drawn you to read his other books, and whet your appetite for even more.Much of what Leonard writes now days is throwaway. It's entertaining, but it won't last. Stick is different. My fearless prediction: In another 50 years Stick will be considered a classic, in much the way Damon Runyon's work is today. If I'm wrong, look me up and I'll buy you lunch.

One of the things that made Shakespeare great was that he was able to make room for common people in his works. Previous authors limited themselves to the lives of the nobility. Stick is remarkable for the unremarkable nature of its characters: small-time crooks, the hired help, the women who hang around money, one yuppie, and one aspiring yuppie. All perfectly rendered in spare prose. Writers should read this book just to admire the craft.

This is a hard, fast-paced, joyride of a book. Leonard doesn't write many bad books, but occasionally he seems to run out of ideas. Not this time, though. If you're looking for the perfect busride/planeride/trainride reading, something to keep you absorbed for hours, pick this baby up.JK

stick manages to keep you guessing through out the book.its a nice crime caper with some surprises thrown in.stick plans to set up a dealer who tried to kill him.he gets help from a pretty blonde woman who knows how to deal with men and money.