Hap and Leonard, the not-so-young-as-they-used-to-be, downwardly mobile protagonists of Lansdale's ongoing series, this time out have to leave their East Texas stomping grounds to rescue the daughter of Hap's serious girl friend, Brett. Brett was Hap's nurse after he was bitten by a rabid squirrel in a previous novel. Her daughter, Tillie, is a prostitute, but word comes that she is desperate to get out of the clutches of the Oklahoma mafia she works for. After buying a small arsenal of unlicensed guns, the three set out to retrieve her. Hap and Leonard both feel certain that this will all turn out bloody and horrible; but, Hap is doing this for Brett, and Leonard is doing it for Hap. Loyalty is Lansdale's a perennial theme.Things do get bloody and horrible, and the tone stays consistently dark with little of the cockeyed humor that finds its way into other Lansdale novels. I actually appreciated this since I don't find much of Lansdale's comedy, relentlessly focused on sexual organs and bowel movements, particularly funny or inventive. Readers do, as is always the case, get to run into some of the most dangerous and despicable characters you would ever hope to find in a crime novel, and loyalties are strained almost to the breaking point. Hap still has enough of the 1960's idealist in him to feel guilt over firing a shotgun into a room full of doped-up hookers and bikers, even though not doing so would mean he and his friends would be dead themselves. Leonard, trained as a sniper in Viet Nam, believes that when people need killing you just get the job done. When Hap disposes of a bad guy who is chasing them on horseback by shooting the horse, Leonard is more upset about the the innocent horse than anything that has gone before. (I kinda come down on Leonard's side on this one..)And then there is Brett. Although she now works as a nurse, in a previous life she incapacitated her abusive husband by setting his head on fire. I think she shot him as well. (That's the kind of detail that can get lost in the abundant mayhem of Lansdale's narratives.) Her maternal instinct to save her daughter leads her in one scene to pistol whip a midget. He is admittedly an untrustworthy and dangerous character, but the scene is still shocking. Hap all but obsesses over it, but his squeamishness only goes so far. This comes from latter in the novel:...I looked at Brett...The moonlight fell across her face, and normally moonlight softened it, but now, without makeup, it looked hard and harsh, almost corpse pale. Her eyes were narrowed and her mouth, normally full and inviting, was a thin line. Her hair was held back with a black ribbon. She held the Winchester like someone who wanted to use it and might be disappointed if she didn't get to...I thought she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.The denouement hinges on one too neatly contrived sequence, but overall this is one of the best Lansdale novels I have read.
I've said before that Lansdale's writing style is what makes him unique, and why I enjoy reading him. That East Texas Redneck Gothic fiction that he writes is in a class all its own, where the weirdness will hit you long before the mystery, and his dialogue will snap like a turtle dredged up from the bottom of a creek. Take, for example, the cast of characters in this title, nicely summed up with this one-sentence excerpt:An East Texas bouncer, a black queer, an ex-sweet potato queen, a six-foot-four overweight retired hit man and former reverend, and a redheaded midget with an attitude.With a cast like that, you know you're reading a Lansdale book.This is the fifth novel in the Hap & Leonard series, which is less a series proper and more a connected series of novels using the same main characters from book to book. It's not necessary to read them all in order (though I imagine it helps to understand the dynamic between Hap and Leonard if you've been there since the start), since the plots in each book are standalone events. In this entry, we see Hap and Leonard accompany Brett, Hap's girlfriend, to Hootie Hoot, Oklahoma in an effort to rescue her daughter from a life of prostitution. As with any Hap & Leonard novel, though, it's never that easy, as their journey takes them all over the central Southern region of North America.This book is classified as a mystery, namely because it's the closest genre to what this story really is, which is a mystery crossed with a road novel, mixed in with a little Flannery O'Connor and Quentin Tarantino for good measure. I tend to classify mysteries without a real mystery to them "thriller" or "suspense", but that's still not a good classification for this series, or for any of his books. They're just Lansdale books, and anyone familiar with him will know exactly what I mean.To me, though, Lansdale has two distinct kinds of novels that he writes: he has these pseudo-mystery novels, like the Hap & Leonard books or Lost Echoes; and he has his deeper, historical books, like Sunset and Sawdust or A Fine Dark Line. I much prefer the latter books, but it's always a treat just to read anything he writes, even if it feels like fluff, and sticks in your brain more as a sensation than an actual memory. The Hap & Leonard books are fun to read, but they don't stay with you like those other works. Those I will seek out to read; the others I'm content to just stumble across and read them as I have the time.If you like Joe Lansdale, there's no reason not to read this book. Just don't go expecting it to be as resonant as, say, Sunset and Sawdust.
What do You think about Rumble Tumble (1999)?
Another Hap and Leonard novel, another blood soaked adventure through the wilds of East Texas with bits of Oklahoma and Mexico thrown in for good measure. This time, Hap and Leonard are off to track down and rescue Tilly, the wayward daughter of Hap's girlfriend. A working prostitute, Tilly has indicated that she'd like to leave the life but her pimp and his goons are reluctant to let her do so. Hap and Leonard ride to the rescue.As always, the author let's conversations between Hap and Leonard
—Joel Neff
Not mad about this one, but it was entertaining enough. It's actually second in a series where two Texan bouncers seemingly get themselves into a series of violent fixes. It's a bit like reading Pulp Fiction mixed with The Last Boy Scout - a lot of tough talk, guns and insults flying around.There was obvious effort that had gone into writing it and some of the one-liners were very funny ("He kicked me so hard the coins in my pocket changed denomination"), hence the 3 star rating. If you like violent comedy that can insult pretty much anyone in 250 pages - this is your series.
—Victoria Roe
Hap and Leonard return in another of Lansdale's novels. This time, they are helping Hap's girlfriend rescue her daughter from a life of hard prostitution. It seems that as a disciplinary action for crossing a big time crime boss, Brett's daughter was sent to a ranch south of the border to be used up by a group of out of control outlaws.Hap and Leonard find themselves heading out with Hap's girlfriend, Brett and eventually teaming up with a midget and a preacher.Again, this is a standard Hap and Leonard novel. Loads of action, double crosses, mystery, and dark humor.
—Thee_ron_clark
