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James Swain
Picked up Grift Sense today as a friend recommended it to me. It's the first in a series featuring con-artist Tony Valentine.
Anyone read it or familiar with Swain's work? |
IIRC my father read Sucker Bet and liked it a lot. We are doing our monthly book swap this weekend and hopefully that will be in the mix.
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I like Swain a lot. I think he's a real up-and-comer. Grift Sense is good, but Sucker Bet is even better. (Didn't read the 2nd one.)
I definitely recommend him. He reminds me of Dutch Leonard. |
EW wasn't very favorable towards Mr. Lucky:
Reviewed by Daniel Fierman Swain is touted — by his editors, mostly — as the next great populist read. Judging by the folks I've spotted with his books, it's an opinion shared by a lot of people. Not to be the arsenic in the cookie, but I just don't get it. Mr. Lucky has a solid premise: PI Tony Valentine investigates a man who takes home $1 million from a Las Vegas casino without losing a game. Too bad it's all downhill from there. Sloppily written and boasting a groaner of a plot — it takes 300-plus pages for Valentine to figure out what any astute mystery reader knows by page 90 — the book reads fast, but not fun. Grade: C- |
I've picked up Sucker Bet, Funny Money, and Loaded Dice at the used book store today, all in like new condition. The three posters above have steered me to many good books in the past, so I'm sure these will be enjoyable reads!
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Disagree completely with the EW review. I liked Mr. Lucky a lot. Anyone who has read and enjoyed Swain's other books will like this one as well.
EW has a habit of looking down their noses at crime fiction, as is the case with too many publications. It's one thing not to care for a book for whatever reason, but describing Mr. Lucky as "sloppily written" is way off-base. |
Originally Posted by djmont
Disagree completely with the EW review. I liked Mr. Lucky a lot. Anyone who has read and enjoyed Swain's other books will like this one as well.
EW has a habit of looking down their noses at crime fiction, as is the case with too many publications. It's one thing not to care for a book for whatever reason, but describing Mr. Lucky as "sloppily written" is way off-base. I very much agree with your assessment on EW and their reviews of crime fiction. They will rave about every touchy feely, Bridges of Madison County, artsy fartsy book under the sun, yet be lukewarm towards well written crime fiction. I think they tend to believe they are trendy and therefore have to rave about books no one else has ever heard of so it looks like they are not following the herd. They forget that sometimes the herd follows things for a darn good reason. |
Just a heads-up...two new Tony Valentine novels surfaced recently (straight to paperback, it seems):
http://www.jimswain.com/images/Deadman%27s-Pokerbig.jpghttp://www.jimswain.com/images/Deadman%27s-Bluffbig.jpg |
The new books are entertaining and I recommend them. One thing to note: it's essentially one big book, split into 2 halves. So definitely read them in order.
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Anyone still reading James Swain? Looks like he has developed a more serious character to the lighter Tony Valentine books. Ex-cop Jack Carpenter is the central character in last year's Midnight Rambler and The Night Stalker -- which comes out 9/30.
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I've got both the new books, but haven't worked up the energy to read them. I just don't have much interest in Yet Another Serial Killer Novel. I know the poker books didn't do too well, but I still wish he was writing those.
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Upon further review... My previous post wasn't accurate.
Swain's poker books apparently did better than I had thought, and the publisher has purchased two more to be published at a later date. (Good news!) Also, the two most recent books are focused on finding missing children. While they do feature serial killers, they aren't "serial killer books" per se. If anyone picks up one of the last two books, please let us know. I'm curious to hear what you think. |
I read Midnight Rambler and it was a pretty good read. It had a few subplots that could have been cut, but that was my only complaint about the book.
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