“Every knock is a boost.” That is the motto of Ma, the unhinged and controlling matriarch of the Napolitano family. Ma stomps through life on her own terms, teaching what she considers life’s most valuable skills to her twin boys and sickly, sheltered daughter, Lauren. Ma’s peculiar ideas about love, survival, and parenting directly mold her children; her lessons include using whatever means necessary to get by (even if those means include theft, arson, harassment, and fraud), doing what it takes to even the score, the importance of blood ties, the solace of a stiff drink, and the cold and calculating art of revenge. S.W.A.K. is a coming-of-age story that follows Lauren as she struggles through a tangled and complex mother–daughter relationship to the creation of her own identity and worldview outside of Ma’s influence. Uncovering a treacherous secret is the ultimate test of Lauren’s resilience as she is faced with acknowledging a heart-wrenching fact or living in a dangerous world of denial. Read Less