Monday, June 18, 2018

Jackrabbit Smile by Joe R. Lansdale

(hb; 2018: eleventh novel in the Hap and Leonard series; twenty-first book in the overall series. Sequel to: Coco Butternut: A Hap and Leonard Novella; Cold Cotton; and Hoodoo Harry.)

From the inside flap


“Hap and Leonard are an unlikely pair ─ Hap, a self-proclaimed white trash rebel, and Leonard, a tough-as-nails black gay Vietnam vet and Republican ─ but they’re the closest friend either of them has in the world. Hap is celebrating his wedding to his longtime girlfriend, when their backyard barbecue is interrupted by a couple of Pentecostal white supremacists. They’re not too happy to see Leonard, and no one is happy to see them, but they have a problem and they want Hap and Leonard to solve it.


“Judith Mulhaney’s daughter, Jackrabbit, has been missing for five years. That is, she’s been missing from her family for five years, but she’s been missing from everyboy, including the local no-goods they knew ran with her, for a few months. Despite their misgivings, Hap and Leonard take the case. It isn’t long until they find themselves mied up in a revivialist cult believing that Jesus will return glanced by an army of lizard-men, and solving a murder to boot.”


Review

Like its prequel novel, Rusty Puppy, Jackrabbit is one of the lighter entries in the Hap and Leonard series. It is, as are the other related books, an engaging read, with its smart-aleck levity, intriguing characters, heart and violent darkness. Another great, scorch-through tale, this. Jackrabbit is, of course, worth owning.

Followed by The Elephant of Surprise.

No comments: