Amazon.com: Rumble Tumble: Joe R. Lansdale: Books

Amazon.com
The fifth installment in Joe R. Lansdale's low-key East Texas thrillers finds Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, despite their best efforts, once again in the midst of grim violence. It begins when Hap volunteers to help his girlfriend, Brett, retrieve her daughter from a life of prostitution just outside Oklahoma City. And where Hap goes, Leonard follows, as always with an eye on the aspects of the situation that Hap would rather not deal with: "I know you don't like the gun talk, Hap, but you know as well as I do, at some point those people up there, they're who I think they are, they're going to point guns at us. And the guns are gonna be loaded, and when they pull the trigger our heads are gonna go away. Unless we shoot first or intimidate their asses into not shooting at all."

Mayhem ensues, to be sure, but the story in Rumble Tumble is not as important as the ongoing relationship between Hap, who still wishes that he could empathize the world's troubles away, and Leonard, who knows better. As with the series of Westerns directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, theirs is a world where "good" and "bad" matter less than whose business you're taking care of. People on both sides are willing to engage in plain conversations about how to define ethics under those circumstances, in dialogue that fulfills Lansdale's high standards of excellence. Whether you've been on board for the full ride with Hap and Leonard or are meeting them for the first time, Rumble Tumble will entertain and subtly challenge you. The other adventures of Hap Collins and Leonard Pine include Mucho Mojo, The Two-Bear Mambo, Savage Season, and Bad Chili. --Ron Hogan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
"Man, this was something. An East Texas bouncer, a black queer, a ex-sweet potato queen, a six-foot-four overweight retired hit man and former reverend, and a redheaded midget with an attitude. The only thing we needed to top our wagon off were a couple of used-car salesmen, a monkey and an organ grinder." That's both the pleasure and the problem in Lansdale's fourth book (after 1997's Bad Chili) about Hap Collins?the self-described "East Texas bouncer." The language and the characters are as ripe as ever, but there's also a hint of the kind of over-the-shoulder coyness that might eventually spoil the series. Once again, we're reminded (by his best buddy, Leonard Pine, the "black queer") that the hapless Hap has "more bleeding heart in you than the whole Democratic Congress." Once again, Hap overcomes his intense dislike of guns to blast away with rifle, shotgun and pistol at an ever-increasing number of bad men and women?some of them just accidentally on the scene. The motivation this time is to free the daughter of Hap's lady love, Brett (the "ex-sweet potato queen"), from a life of prostitution in Oklahoma and Mexico. The background characters are as colorful as a traveling circus; there's lots of sex and other bodily functions; and the terrific tornado that ended Bad Chili is equaled here by a wonderful light plane crash. New readers should be amazed and dazzled by Lansdale's clod-kicking virtuosity?but old fans might just begin to wonder if some new direction isn't needed for Hap's next outing.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Rumble Tumble (Mass Market Paperback)

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