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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
Hap's ex-girlfriend takes off on a mission to an old Texas town that has refused to acknowledge any civil rights progress and is filled with racists and the Klan. When she goes missing, Hap Leonard are on the case. They don't really do any kind of detective work, but they do stir shit up. The overall story here is a bit thin, and after the 3/4 mark things get a bit repetitive, but none of that critique matters because Hap and Leonard are just so much fun. The characters in this story, along with the wit and dialogue make up for any short comings when it comes to the actual story. Enjoy the ride with these two, because Lansdale is a master when it comes to these characters.
This is a dark ride for Hap and Leonard. Between the Clan, people murdered in jail, and more confrontational racists than you can shake Leonard's axe handle at this was at times a very rough read whose content didn't always work alongside the playful banter of the main characters.
Joe Lansdale is definitely not for the easily offended. He manages to offend women, cops, gay men, bears, dogs and more all within the first few pages. If you can laugh with him you'll probably enjoy his colorful writing. If not, you probably won't want to read on.
Hap (an everyman sort of guy) & Leonard (a big, tough gay man) are unlikely buds. After Hap sets aflame the neighboring crack house the duo land in the slammer but the Police Lt. agrees to forgive them if they'll find his missing girlfriend who is also Hap's ex. These books are so madcap and fast paced that they are nearly impossible to summarize. They are also very violent and this one here is no exception.
The Two-Bear Mambo wasn't my favorite Lansdale novel and began to lose me towards its middle when there seemed to be one violent run-in with rednecks after another. Even the murder mystery and the offensive (but often funny) bits of dialogue couldn't keep my attention from waning.
Hap (an everyman sort of guy) & Leonard (a big, tough gay man) are unlikely buds. After Hap sets aflame the neighboring crack house the duo land in the slammer but the Police Lt. agrees to forgive them if they'll find his missing girlfriend who is also Hap's ex. These books are so madcap and fast paced that they are nearly impossible to summarize. They are also very violent and this one here is no exception.
The Two-Bear Mambo wasn't my favorite Lansdale novel and began to lose me towards its middle when there seemed to be one violent run-in with rednecks after another. Even the murder mystery and the offensive (but often funny) bits of dialogue couldn't keep my attention from waning.
I've decided to re-read the Hap and Leonard books given that a) I haven't read a couple of the new ones, and b) the TV show is making such a palaver of these fine characters. I first read these books some twenty years ago and I'm re-reading them some twenty years later (funny how that works) closer to the age of our protagonists and it's fair to say I'm noticing different things.
I initially had all the books as three stars, but upon re-reading this one I've upped it a star. It plays like an action adventure, but underneath is a study on what it means to be a person on this Earth with all the twists and turns life throws at us. It doesn't even get the "action adventure" part right since our protagonists run into as good a definition as you're gonna get of good intentions paving the road to hell. That's not a criticism, in fact it's one of books chief strengths. I think this third book is also where Lansdale finally nails the characters and Hap's cynically optimistic musings and Leonard's smart mouth are both on top form.
Lansdale was one of the first authors I read who showed me that 'genre' doesn't mean disposable and that you can say just as much about life in a story about two guys with quick mouths and quicker fists as you can in books marked 'serious'. It would be remiss of me, and unfair to both book and writer, to mark this down as something dour and joyless. In that lies Lansdale's real genius, while the book ponders questions big and small it's also a cracking read that whips along and doesn't outstay its welcome.
Come for the banter, stay for the philosophy.
I initially had all the books as three stars, but upon re-reading this one I've upped it a star. It plays like an action adventure, but underneath is a study on what it means to be a person on this Earth with all the twists and turns life throws at us. It doesn't even get the "action adventure" part right since our protagonists run into as good a definition as you're gonna get of good intentions paving the road to hell. That's not a criticism, in fact it's one of books chief strengths. I think this third book is also where Lansdale finally nails the characters and Hap's cynically optimistic musings and Leonard's smart mouth are both on top form.
Lansdale was one of the first authors I read who showed me that 'genre' doesn't mean disposable and that you can say just as much about life in a story about two guys with quick mouths and quicker fists as you can in books marked 'serious'. It would be remiss of me, and unfair to both book and writer, to mark this down as something dour and joyless. In that lies Lansdale's real genius, while the book ponders questions big and small it's also a cracking read that whips along and doesn't outstay its welcome.
Come for the banter, stay for the philosophy.
Super quick read. I gave it 4 stars mostly based on the dialog, of which there is plenty. Hilarious, profane and worse except that ultimately it’s also endearing and in some ways deep. The story is a trifle. Just vehicle for their misadventures. The portrayal of racism is stark, horrifying and unrelenting, permeating every page of the book. In some ways it seems a little over the top and in other ways I know that reality can be even worse. It’s not easy balancing the truly clever and omnipresent humor with the weight of these real and horrible truths. I found it very diverting in the terrible times of the COVID crisis.
Fun in small town East Texas, another in the Hap & Leonard seires, entertaining and hard boiled, well worth reading
Good writing, excellent characters, no superheroes. The Hap and Leonard books are great.
The thing about Hap and Leonard is they aren't detectives in any real sense, neither professionally or as amateurs. They're troublemakers and troubleshooters. The closest they come to investigating is to find some likely looking people and throw attitude at them until they crack and try to kill them. It has its drawbacks, of course, as you can never be sure the people trying to kill you are doing it because you've cracked the case or just because. Other things try to kill them, too, such as, in this case, a mean Texas winter, and the mean Texas winter isn't even a suspect.
Asked by a friend to go looking for his girlfriend, Florida Grange, who also happens to be Hap's ex, the dynamic duo stumble into a viper's nest of a town where even the nicest of people are a little bit virulently racist. Leonard goes down a storm and people are trying, or at least threatening, to kill them in no time flat, but no amount of being nearly killed with savage brutality seems to get them nearer to finding Florida. Doesn't make them give up, either.
Between the stunning vulgarity of the dialogue and the heart wrenching pain of Hap's lonely heart, lies a lot of violence and meanness, but also loyalty and honour in a dirty old world. As Leonard might say: 'Shut up and pass the vanilla cookies.'
Asked by a friend to go looking for his girlfriend, Florida Grange, who also happens to be Hap's ex, the dynamic duo stumble into a viper's nest of a town where even the nicest of people are a little bit virulently racist. Leonard goes down a storm and people are trying, or at least threatening, to kill them in no time flat, but no amount of being nearly killed with savage brutality seems to get them nearer to finding Florida. Doesn't make them give up, either.
Between the stunning vulgarity of the dialogue and the heart wrenching pain of Hap's lonely heart, lies a lot of violence and meanness, but also loyalty and honour in a dirty old world. As Leonard might say: 'Shut up and pass the vanilla cookies.'