Book review: “The Switch” by Elmore Leonard

At the heart of most crime novels are bad guys who are trying to victimize good guys. But not when Elmore Leonard is the writer.

The bad guys — the criminal types who pull off the crime — usually have a plan in a Leonard novel, but such plans rarely go smoothly. And their targets aren’t usually all that pure. Or passive.

Indeed, it’s not unheard of for the “victim” of Leonard’s bad guys to turn the tables on them. For instance, in the 1974 novel 52 Pick-Up, Harry Mitchell gets tired of being pushed around by the guys trying to blackmail him and goes after them, with the result that the plotters’ plot blows up in their faces — literally.

The story’s similar in the 1978 novel The Switch.  As usual with a Leonard book, the title has several meanings.

 

Three switches

It refers to the plan by Ordell Robbie, Louis Gara and the Nazi-loving Richard Monk to kidnap the attractive, early-forties Mickey Dawson when her crooked housing developer husband Frank is on a trip to the Bahamas. They’ll demand a trade from Frank — a cool $1 million in exchange for Mickey’s safe return.

However, the bad guys — Richard is repulsive, but Ordell and Louis are just guys shambling along — didn’t realize that, on the day before Frank left for the Bahamas, the day before they kidnapped Mickey, Frank’s lawyer went to court, on Frank’s behalf, to file for divorce.

Another switch — Frank is getting rid of Mickey so he can make his mistress, the 21-year-old looker Melanie Ralston, the new Mrs. Dawson. In fact, he’s in the Bahamas to spend time with Melanie and avoid being home when Mickey gets the news that she is being dumped.

So, a third switch — Frank isn’t terribly upset about Mickey being kidnapped. In fact — he won’t say this out loud, but it’s true — the kidnappers can greatly simplify his life if they, well, kill Mickey.

 

“Doing him a favor”

When Ordell finds Melanie in the Bahamas, she makes it clear to him what’s going on.

“He filed for divorce two days before he came down.“

Ordell waited. “Yeah?“

“And you tell him he’ll never see his wife again?“

Ordell didn’t move or say anything.

“He doesn’t want to see her again,“ Melanie said. “You’re doing him a favor. You’re saving him about a hundred grand a year in alimony.“

 

A fourth switch and more

But — a fourth switch — Louis and Mickey are developing a friendship, and this leads to some soul-searching for the woman who’s been trying for fifteen years to be a “good wife.” Mickey gets (feminist) religion and finds that she wants to take control of her life.

She should’ve known… But she sold out, covered the smile and was contrite. What was so funny? What did the skinny little girl with hardly any breasts know about the seriousness of business? That was her mistake, right there, selling out and accepting Frank’s blueprinted view of the world.

Meanwhile, other switches are taking place as one of the kidnappers is trying to betray the others, and a second is trying to get inside Mickey’s pants, and Melanie is trying to manipulate everyone she comes in contact with.

And then comes the Big Switch on the novel‘s final page that Mickey helps engineer.

 

The moral

The moral of The Switch — as in every other Elmore Leonard novel — is that everybody’s a human being, good and bad guys alike, and the best laid plans go awry because humans don’t act like machines.

Consider what Louis is thinking as he is casing out the tennis courts at the country club in order to get a glimpse of Mickey before the kidnapping:

He looked fine. No flashy print or colors, the cap and sunglasses, nice light-blue sportshirt and tan flares were all right. He had almost put on jeans this morning at Ordell‘s apartment, but didn’t because it was Sunday.

That was strange. Something left over. What was the difference, Sunday or any other day? Like Sunday was still the day of rest: get dressed and go to mass, have the big pork roast dinner at noon. That was a long time ago.

 

Comeuppance and recompense

In most of Leonard’s morality plays, the truly bad guys — Frank, ultimately defined by Mickey as “an asshole,” and Richard, who has a framed portrait of Adolf Hitler in his home, and the scheming conniving Melanie — get what they deserve, no matter what side of the crime line they’re on.

And the regular guys, on both sides of the crime line, like Louis and Mickey — they come out OK.

And maybe better than OK.

 

Patrick T. Reardon

10.29.25