Rumble Tumble - Softcover

Lansdale, Joe R

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0753821397 ISBN 13: 9780753821398

Publisher: W&N, 2006

Synopsis

Hap Collins is feeling old. Working nights as a bouncer, living his days by the grace of his best buddy Leonard Pine and his good woman Brett Sawyer, he's greying at the temples, thickening at the middle and he feels that bad things are coming. They are. Brett's teenage daughter Tillie has taken to drugs and prostitution and needs rescuing. Quickly. The boys have to set out for Hootie Hoot, Oklahoma, a place even more godforsaken than it sounds.

On the road, their motley band expands to include a six-four ex-Pentecostal preacher and hitman, plus his brother, a red-headed midget with an attitude. Not to mention Leonard's adopted son, Bob the armadillo. As road trips go, Hap's had quieter ones.

About this title

Review:

Joe Lansdale, winner of the British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award and three Bram Stoker Awards, is up to his usual tricks in Rumble Tumble. Set in the Southern States, it's basically a crime story with a liberal dose of Lansdale's uniquely dry humour. Hap Collins is unsettled in his life. His home in Oklahoma has been destroyed by a tornado and he feels that he's becoming too old to be a night club bouncer. He must also face the decision whether to leave his lodgings with long-suffering friend Leonard and move in with his girlfriend, Brett.

Brett comes with her own set of problems, though, not the least of which are an ex-husband (whom she has set fire to) and her wayward daughter, Tillie. Brett persuades Hap and Leonard to help rescue Tillie from her life of drugs and prostitution in Texas. On their way they pick up a string of odd characters. These include Herman, an ex-preacher and hit man who has turned his hand to selling prairie dogs to the Japanese, and Herman's brother, Red, a hard-nosed midget who joins the party together with Leonard's adopted son, an armadillo called Bob! In order to reach Tillie the motley crew finally take to the air before finding themselves up against the Bandito Supremes. --Pat Naylor

Review:

Praise for Joe R. Lansdale (.)

A master of noir laced with laugh-out-loud black humour (Shortlist)

If you aren't familiar with the work of this true American original, and master of hillbilly noir, climb in the boat and hang on for dear life: the water is rough (Joe Hill)

Reading Joe Lansdale is like listening to a favourite uncle who just happens to be a fabulous storyteller (Dean Koontz)

Joe Lansdale is one of the dark kings of modern mystery fiction, a master of the genre. His name deserves to be whispered with the greats. (John Connolly)

About this edition

• Publisher: W&N
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0753821397
• ISBN 13: 9780753821398
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320