Honky Tonk Samurai

Cool as ice and dangerous as a sack of rattlesnakes Texas duo Hap and Leonard are back in the private eye business. A simple case, looking for the missing granddaughter of a feisty old lady turns into a complicated web of blackmail and revenge involving a family of hill-billy assassins.

Cue gun-play, mayhem and no end of cool wisecracks, Lansdale keeps the action thundering also at pace referencing spaghetti westerns and a jukebox full of cool soul and country tunes along the way. This is pure Americana, fast moving, cool as a glass of ice tea and with a wit as dry as a Texas heatwave.

His two central characters are fully fleshed creations, grappling with the complications, both emotional and professional, of their lives, including dead end love affairs and adult children who appear out of nowhere.

The ending is surprisingly touching and will probably leave few eyes dry amongst its readers; it certainly demonstrates that Lansdale's talents extend far beyond being a producer of superior pulp fiction. For all its cinematic swagger this is, at heart, a book about people who are all too human trying to make the best fist they can out of their lives.

The blurb on the cover of this book promises there is soon to be a 'major TV series' based on the Hap and Leonard books, if it matches the quality of this instalment it could be a show worth staying in to watch.