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A review by ojtheviking
Savage Season by Joe R. Lansdale
4.0
I first discovered the characters named Hap and Leonard through the TV show whose three seasons were based on the three first novels in the book series by Joe R. Lansdale. I really enjoyed the show, so I started to collect the books, and after finally having read this first installment in the series, I certainly don't regret that decision.
Less than 200 pages long, it's a somewhat compact story, but frankly, this is one of those cases where the story is no longer or shorter than it needs to be. It's a suspenseful thriller with a whiff of country noir, and Lansdale often manages to say a lot in few words, both in conveying the moods and emotions of the characters enough to make them feel sufficiently fleshed-out, as well as describing the surroundings well enough to establish a clear mental image.
In other words, I really like Lansdale's writing style. He has a way of telling the story as if it was just some guy laid back in his favorite chair, having a beer, maybe smoking a cigarette, and telling tall tales about the adventures of his past. The fact that the story is written in first-person from Hap's perspective really helps to establish that vibe. The writing is less formal than other novels because things are described the way Hap would tell it to a friend, complete with that way of spicing sentences up with idioms, analogies, and proverbs that only people from the South do.
One could also say that another reason for the short length of the story is that Lansdale sticks to the plot all the way without any particular digressions or other unnecessary forms of padding. If I had read the books before I even knew that there was a TV adaptation, I would have said that the compact way in which this novel is written would translate very easily into a movie script or episode scripts for a series. Given the fact that they did make a TV series out of this, I suppose I'm not the only one to pick up on that.
It was a very quick read, but an enjoyable one, and I look forward to reading the other installments in the future.
Less than 200 pages long, it's a somewhat compact story, but frankly, this is one of those cases where the story is no longer or shorter than it needs to be. It's a suspenseful thriller with a whiff of country noir, and Lansdale often manages to say a lot in few words, both in conveying the moods and emotions of the characters enough to make them feel sufficiently fleshed-out, as well as describing the surroundings well enough to establish a clear mental image.
In other words, I really like Lansdale's writing style. He has a way of telling the story as if it was just some guy laid back in his favorite chair, having a beer, maybe smoking a cigarette, and telling tall tales about the adventures of his past. The fact that the story is written in first-person from Hap's perspective really helps to establish that vibe. The writing is less formal than other novels because things are described the way Hap would tell it to a friend, complete with that way of spicing sentences up with idioms, analogies, and proverbs that only people from the South do.
One could also say that another reason for the short length of the story is that Lansdale sticks to the plot all the way without any particular digressions or other unnecessary forms of padding. If I had read the books before I even knew that there was a TV adaptation, I would have said that the compact way in which this novel is written would translate very easily into a movie script or episode scripts for a series. Given the fact that they did make a TV series out of this, I suppose I'm not the only one to pick up on that.
It was a very quick read, but an enjoyable one, and I look forward to reading the other installments in the future.