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A review by tobin_elliott
Things Get Ugly: The Best Crime Fiction of Joe R. Lansdale by Joe R. Lansdale
Did not finish book. Stopped at 68%.
As per usual with a DNF, I'm not rating this one.
And, I have to be honest, I'm shocked that I'm DNFing a Lansdale book, as he's easily in my top ten authors. But this collection of 19 crime stories—that should have been an easy slamdunk, rip-through-it-in-a-day-or-two read—turned into a month-long effort of avoidance.
I'm not a prude, I'm truly not. I'll take sex scenes, I'll take extreme violence, hell, I'll even take the silly as long as it all serves the story. But this collection...well, okay, the fourteen stories I got through...seemed to have far too much sex for sex's sake. The violence quotient seemed about right for a Lansdale story, so that was okay. But the bear? More ridiculously terrible than silly.
But the biggest issue was, of the fourteen stories I read, I might have actually enjoyed two of them. None left a really positive lasting impression.
Honestly, I'm disappointed as hell, as I always look forward to reading Lansdale. Always.
But man, not this one.
And, I have to be honest, I'm shocked that I'm DNFing a Lansdale book, as he's easily in my top ten authors. But this collection of 19 crime stories—that should have been an easy slamdunk, rip-through-it-in-a-day-or-two read—turned into a month-long effort of avoidance.
I'm not a prude, I'm truly not. I'll take sex scenes, I'll take extreme violence, hell, I'll even take the silly as long as it all serves the story. But this collection...well, okay, the fourteen stories I got through...seemed to have far too much sex for sex's sake. The violence quotient seemed about right for a Lansdale story, so that was okay. But the bear? More ridiculously terrible than silly.
But the biggest issue was, of the fourteen stories I read, I might have actually enjoyed two of them. None left a really positive lasting impression.
Honestly, I'm disappointed as hell, as I always look forward to reading Lansdale. Always.
But man, not this one.