Books

Joe Lansdale is an eclectic writer and I am an eclectic reader. Our paths keep crossing.
I finished “Leather Maidens,” Lansdale’s latest novel, this week. It’s a gritty, nasty crime story populated by some of the creepiest villains you’re likely to run across.
Cason Statler is a Gulf War veteran and a newspaper reporter. He takes a job in his home town, a Texas college town that also happens to be Cason’s home town. Cason returns home in large part hoping to hook up with an ex girlfriend, but doesn’t get much of a chance to pitch woo as he is quickly caught up in a murder mystery that entangles him and his family.
Cason teams up with his army buddy Booger, who may be just as crazy and vicious as the story’s rabid dog villains. It’s an uneasy alliance – Booger scares Cason too – but the duo bring out the heavy weaponry – their guile and their firepower – to counter the forces of evil.
It’s an entertaining story, effectively and efficiently told. Lansdale knows his way around a conventional thriller and small town Texas always gives the author a distinct homefield advantage.
I smell a sequel to this one. Lansdale may have sought to create a team to follow in the footsteps of his terrific Hap Collins-Leonard Pine novels.
Unfortunately, Cason and Booger don’t measure up to Hap and Leonard. Not as funny. Not as intricately detailed.
From a lot of authors I’d consider “Leather Maidens” more of a success. It’s only middlin’ Lansdale. But hell, maybe I’ve been spoiled.
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For more on Lansdale, check out this site.