Books

Stick

The Run Down.

After serving time for armed robbery, Ernest "Stick" Stickley is back on the outside and trying to stay legit. But it's tough staying straight in a crooked town—and Miami is a pirate's paradise, where investment fat cats and lowlife drug dealers hold hands and dance. And when a crazed player chooses Stick at random to die for another man's sins, the struggling ex-con is left with no choice but to dive right back into the game. Besides, Stick knows a good thing when he sees it—and a golden opportunity to run a very profitable sweet revenge scam seems much too tasty to pass up.

Published: 1983

Publisher: Arbor House

Genre: Crime

Adaptation: Film (1985)

Location: Florida

Character: Ernest Stickley Jr.

Astonishingly good.

— John D. MacDonald

Ernest "Stick" Stickley Is Back On The Outside And Trying To Stay Legit

Ernest "Stick" Stickley Jr.

Stick’s name was Ernest Stickley, Jr. He was forty-two years old, born in Norman, Oklahoma, but raised in Detroit where his dad had come to work at Ford Rouge. Stick looked like he was from another time: dustbowl farmer turned hobo. He was at a low point in his life.

Stick

Adapted for film in 1985
Starring Burt Reynolds — Directed by Burt Reynolds
Screenplay by Elmore Leonard & Joseph Stinson