Customer Reviews

Rumble, Tumble

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you've read any of Lansdale's Hap and Leonard books then you know what to expect, and you know that it can't be a bad thing. Lansdale is one of the few purely diversionary novelists who I still buy and read, and this book is a perfect example why. Its over in a day or two, and the ride is funny, suspenseful, and somehow humane. Nothing new here, and the earlier books ("Mucho Mojo" etc.) do it just a smidge better, but for what it is - a fistfight of a paperback with explosive action and absurd situations - it is exemplary. Drug-addicted prostitutes, a midget pimp, two tough guys and a renegade pilot... really, how could you go wrong with that mix? A good paperback with a slightly better pedigree than execution, but recommended nonetheless.

Hap and Leonard aren't afraid of taking on the odds. In this, a prime example of the Lansdale's Hap-and-Leonard suspense novels, our modest heroes stand toe to toe with nearly impossible opposition to defend a friend's family honor.

Joe R. Lansdale's writing style, as always, makes for fascinating and humorous reading. Hap, Leonard, Brett, and all the book's characters have a raunchy, earthy sense of humor and a uniquely southern delivery that greases the rails on this bumpy, suspenseful ride.

Give this one a try. If you like it, try "Bad Chili" and "Mucho Mojo."

RUMBLE TUMBLE, the fifth novel in the series, by Joe R. Lansdale continues the saga of Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, beginning where BAD CHILI left off. It all starts when Hap's girlfriend, Brett Sawyer, tells him that a man called on the telephone and said that he had news about her wayward daughter, Tillie, but that it's going to cost her five hundred dollars to find out what it is. Hap and Leonard (think Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson--thanks, Dale!), accompanies Brett to the seedy motel where the voice on the phone is staying. It turns out there are two men at the motel--a redheaded midget with an attitude the size of King Kong and a stupid giant-size piece of white trash who thinks he's tougher than he actually is. Both guys want to make some quick money by telling Brett that her daughter, who's a prostitute, is being held against her will in Hootie Hoot, Oklahoma by the local crime lord, Big Jim Clemente. Naturally, it isn't long before Hap, Leonard, and Brett are heading to Hootie Hoot to rescue the trick-turning prodigal, but nothing is ever easy for these folks. After a big confrontation and a shootout in Big Jim's house of ill repute, the trio finds out that Tillie's been sent to Mexico to sexually service a gang of bikers called the Bandito Supremes as punishment for a misdeed. Hap and Leonard are two tough hombres, but the odds against rescuing Brett's daughter just got considerably higher with the addition of a biker gang of killers. Before the week is over, our two favorite amigos are going to have to deal with the treachery of a midget that can do handstands, an ex-biker turned preacher who wants redemption for his past deeds, a Texas armadillo in need of little friendship and kindness, and a shootout in old Mexico that will remind you of the ending in the movie, The Wild Bunch. RUMBLE TUMBLE delivers with full force the fun and excitement expected from any 'Hap Collins/Leonard Pine' novel. The characters are deftly drawn, the dialogue is true to the ear, and the story line has all of the necessary ingredients to fulfill one's desire for action, suspense and drama. Mr. Lansdale has created Hap and Leonard with not only a strong sense of humor, but with an avid sense of justice and honor. These two men also have a profound view of life and how to live it that gives the reader an opportunity to think about his or her own belief system. This fantastic series is more than just popcorn entertainment for the masses. It's a great author's attempt to tell a good story, while at the same time reflecting on what it means to be a decent human being and staying true to one's values. I can't recommend the 'Hap/Leonard' novels enough. This is writing that has power and honesty, and is able to touch the heart, as well as the funny bone. Now, it's time to pick up MUCHO MOJO, the third book in the series, and find out what the dysfunctional duo was like before Brett came into the picture.

RUMBLE TUMBLE is the fifth in the Hap & Leonard series, a mostly crime/mystery serial. This novel has Hap & Leonard searching for Brett's, Hap's girlfriend, daughter who has been prostituting for a tough guy, Big Jim in Oklahoma. Hap & Leonard run into a colorful cast of outlaws and outcasts on their search. The climax is when they find Tillie, Brett's daughter, in a Mexico compound and the surgical strike they perform is excellent, action-filled drama. Unfortunately, I feel that the dynamic duo is wearing thin on me, the dialogue, usually so funny, is a bit stale and feels like we've been there before, which we have. I think if Lansdale concentrated on some other projects before the next novel, it would help incredibly. Recommended for Hap & Leonard fans.

Joe R. Lansdale's book Rumble Tumble stepped on my long-sleeping interest in murder mysteries, and woke it up. And after the shock wore off my interest and I started to laugh. And the laughing out loud continued for page after page, starting with Joan Crawford's comment on Nietzsche (via the film adaptation of Edna Sherry's "Sudden Fear") through Lansdale's take on long and pointless stories ("laborious as the Book of Mormon") and beyond. All of which makes reading satisfying. But this book is published by the Mysterious Press, and it's supposed to deliver more than just laughs. Suspense. Fear. Heroes on a quest that just might be pointless, except for the honor of doing the right thing. Danger. Pet armadillos. And sex. That's the great thing about Rumble Tumble. It delivers everything. Even the armadillo. Hap Collins is the clear-eyed Don Quixote of this tale, a little old and more than a little down on his luck. His own house was blown down by a tornado. His Dulcinea is a beautiful sexy red head named Brett, who ended her first marriage with a shovel and a match; Hap doesn't want to move in with her unless he thinks he has a good chance of not screwing up their relationship. At the same time his need to move in with her or somewhere is increasing as his current host and best friend Leonard Pine tires of Hap's lack of housekeeping habits. If Leonard is the Sancho Panza of this tale, he has extra qualities the original lacked, qualities which make him a good friend. He can help you burn down a crack house or raid a whore house, and get away with your life. His hard-eyed take on the world can do more for his friend's conscience than a first confession for a seven-year-old. Which is good for Hap: although he doesn't have a lot on his conscience as the story opens, he has a lot on his mind. He worries over what he's done and what he might do. Especially when the right thing to do becomes a rescue of Brett's daughter Tillie from a whore house in Hooty Hoot, Oklahoma. As the adventure continues from Hooty Hoot to a prairie dog farm in west Texas to a special little vacation spot for gang members down in Mexico Hap's sins of omission and, especially, commission mount up. Betrayal and murder keep them close company until the payment of the final bet. Some readers may complain that this book is just the same old themes recycled in a politically correct suspense thriller. The evidence starts with a tip of the Stetson toward ageism (all the good people are in their forties), there's a black and white friendship (Hap is white and Leonard is black ), homosexual/heterosexual friendship (Hap is straight and Leonard is gay), an acknowledgment of women's strength (Brett shoots and clubs with the rest of them), and a tribute to cross species friendship (Leonard is a man and Bill is an armadillo). The defense points to Red, a midget with a bad childhood who constantly displays his sensitivity to references to his size. When Leonard says "I just don't care for your sorry little ass" Red's response is, "There's that little stuff again." Red's problems have nothing to do with his size, and everything to do with his moral nature. He's a con man, a thief, a pimp, and a murderer: He'll do anything for money. Leonard's take on Red is, "he could talk up a good steak ranchero, but he should have died at birth." The defense rests. Rumble Tumble is a good read. Enjoy it.

Hap and Leonard, the two unlikeliest pair of best buds I've ever met in fiction, are back for another violent adventure filled with unexpected twists, lots of blood and gushy gore and enough offensive jokes to offend just about everyone. But that's why we love `em.

Hap's contemplating getting serious with his girl Brett but is living with Leonard and getting on his last nerve. But before the two can hurt each other, a midget named Red shows up and informs them he was the former pimp of Brett's grown daughter Tillie who has fallen in with some shifty characters and wants out. Naturally, Hap and Leonard, always ready for violent mayhem, arm up and dive head first into their latest bloody adventure, meeting many new colorful characters, most with a long-winded hilarious story, along the way.

This is a Hap and Leonard novel and if you've ever read one you pretty much know you're in for a lot of laughs and a plot that keeps spinning in directions you couldn't predict if you tried. This one won't disappoint. It made me laugh, despite (or because of) its moments of pure lunacy and potty humor, and kept me guessing.

The Hap and Leonard series is a crowd pleaser, that much is certain, but with this book Lansdale attempts to break what was becoming a formula. There is little mystery to this one, and a good deal of action and humor throughout. If you like the characters already you should have no trouble buying into this adventure however this isn't the type of adventure for a newcomer by any means. It is violent, wild, funny, vulgar in the way that Joe Lansdale always is, and it might be predictable, but if you've enjoyed Hap and Leonard in other stories you won't mind in the least.

I suspect Joe Landale's DNA does not allow writing a bad book, and "Rumble Tumble" signals no break in that genetic code. As would be expected from Hap and Leonard, this is a no-holds-barred, darkly and cynically funny, mayhem-filled romp through East Texas - with an important detour south-of-the-border. In this episode, Hap's relatively new girlfriend, the foul mouthed fiery redhead Brett, convinces the boys to accompany her in "rescuing" her daughter Tillie from a life of drugs and prostitution - whether Tillie wants redemption or not. Stalwart fans of the series know that when Lansdale gets together with Hap and Leonard, a zany and dangerous cast of supporting characters is sure to come around for the ride. "Rumble Tumble" raises this bar, featuring a midget, his monster-sized reformed criminal and current preacher brother, a washed out bush pilot, some stoned Indians, and the obligatory gang of outlaw bikers. The results are predictable - lots of people maimed or murdered, the best one-liners in pop crime fiction, and Hap and Leonard managing to stay a step ahead of the law - barely - with most of their body parts intact.

Lansdale is a cagey writer - he lulls the reader into an easy cornponed stupor with is good-old-boy yarn-spinnin' style, which is a way is a disservice to the brilliance of Lansdale's well-camouflaged prose. Make no mistake about it - this guy can write, whether he's describing a Texas landscape like "the bleakest ugliest GD terrain this side of the moon...the kind you think you'd fall off" or skewering an antagonist with raw with that can only be honed by an extraordinarily keen insight into human nature and American culture.

Having said all of this, "Rumble Tumble" is not the best of the series. There is an ugliness in this one that extends beyond the landscape that the author captures so well - a dark side we see in Brett, and an insecurity in Hap, that is not endearing. Given that this was the next-to-the last in the series before Lansdale sent Hap and Leonard on a seven year vacation, one can't help but wonder if by now he has also getting a bit burnt out on the concept.

But hey, lie I said - Lansdale can't write a bad book. Fans of the series will not want to miss this one - but the uninitiated should start with the unparalleled "Savage Season."

This was the second Joe Lansdale book I read, and the first novel in this seris. To be honest, I didn't even know it was part of a series when I picked it up. The beauty is, it didn't matter. 'Rumble Tumble' was a fun book with good characters that didn't need knowledge of a huge backstory. I enjoyed the main character of Hap the best. He's a good man who'll do whats right, but he's not necessarily a brave man. Writing such a macho, roughneck type book, it must be tempting to make the main character a one-dimensional badass, but the people who populate this story are truly interesting characters. Can't wait to read the other books in the series.

This one had me laughing and turning the pages and I couldn't put it down. In the end, it was sad. I was disappointed in The 2-Vaer Mambo, but got back on with Bad Chili, and now with Rumble Tumble, I'm hooked, and can't wait until next year to read the next one, Captain Outrageous. Hap and Lenoard are the low-life Spencer and Hawk. I feel for Hap...after all he does, and in the end, Brett deserts him. She'll probably die later on in the series, like many of Hap's women.