Hey guys,

I would love to hear your thoughts about Mr. Swain's novels. I'm not referring to the writing style or the even the overall quality of writing, but rather, how realistic are the scams and applications discussed within?

Are the books pure fiction, contain a grain of truth, or accurate portrayals of real working scams?

Ben

I only read the first one--which was more than enough.

I've read them all.

IMHO, they are very entertaining books and won't take you to long to get through. The last two "Dead Mans Poker" and "Dead Mans Bluff" were my favorites. The scams in these two cover numerous proposition bets, and a take off of the WSOP Tournament. Jim even dedicates one of the books to Steve Forte-although I cannot recall which one off the top of my head.

As far as accuracy on the scams, I'd say there is a good mix of fact and fiction. Some of the scams are right off of the headlines and you'll probably recognize them in the books, others are a bit of a stretch.

All of the books were available at my local library.

I've bought a few of them, but only had time to read Dead Man's Bluff. I like the style of writing and found my self fascinated even through the ADD.