HonkyTonk Samurai is the eleventh book in author Joe Lansdale’s Hap & Leonard
series, which also includes a TV show bearing their names on the Sundance Channel. Mr. Lansdale is one of
my favorite authors, largely based on TheThicket, which was a great work of historical fiction that went beyond
genre expectations. Honky Tonk Samurai
is my first featuring Hap & Leonard.
Hap & Leonard are working for friend
Marvin Hanson at his private detective firm. While on a relatively simple job,
Leonard finds himself taking justice into his own hands when he sees a man
abusing a dog. Just as it seems the two will walk away from Leonard’s
vigilantism unscathed, a crass old woman comes to the detective agency with
video of the incident that would not only cause problems for Leonard, but their
friend, the newly appointed police chief. But the old woman isn’t interested in
money, instead she wants Hap and Leonard to look for her missing granddaughter,
Sandy, the only family she has left. Sandy was last known to be working for a
classic car dealer before disappearing five years ago. Without much choice,
they take the case, and find that Sandy’s disappearance is part of prostitution,
bribery, and murder associated with the sale of overpriced classic cars.
One of the reasons I’m a fan of Lansdale
is the dynamic characters in his novels. Honky Tonk Samurai does not
disappoint. In addition to those I presume make regular appearances in the
series are a family of inbred serial killers and a sexy transgendered front
woman for the classic car business. Those characters are surrounded by clever,
if not a little overused, writing.
“As an old gray-haired addict called Two-Toe George
told me and Leonard once, ‘When you start wanting meth more than you want pussy
or a rib-eye steak, then you know you got, like, a serious fucking drug
problem’
Two-Toe George was a philosopher”
 |
| Author Joe Lansdale |
But for as many snide, funny, sometimes hilariously
vulgar lines (“You could have pushed me
down with a hummingbird fart”), there were also much more profound
sections, reflections on life and death, aging, fatherhood, religion, and more.
“One some level, like the samurai of old, you have
accepted your death. You are neither there to win or to lose. You are there to
be in the moment… I might add right here that I say fuck the samurai. I planned
to win. I planned to go home… And as that thought galloped through my head,
another less pleasant thought showed up. Sometimes your luck runs out.”
There were times that some of the
wise-cracking, bad-assing, adversarial but affectionate bantering got a bit
thick for my tastes, but it never took away from either the story, characters,
and colorful action and violence.
It is difficult for any author to keep
characters interesting and dynamic after eleven books, but Mr. Lansdale has
done that and more. Book twelve, RustyPuppy, is due out in 2017, and I’m looking forward to more of Hap &
Leonard.
An advance copy of Honky Tonk Samurai was provided to The Thirty Year Itch by the publisher via NetGalley.com. No compensation was provided for this review.
