AUGUST 2021 - AudioFile
Brace yourself for this horrific Southern gothic narrated by Jason Culp in a rich Texas twang. Daniel Russell was 13 when his father drove them off a bridge into Moon Lake. Nearly 10 years later, Daniel returns when the car is pulled from the lake and a grisly discovery changes everything he knew about his hometown. Culp's accent and characterization bring Daniel to life with an earnestness that both complements and contrasts with the heavy use of scatological similes in the darkly humorous writing. His portrayals of supporting characters are equally vibrant. He expertly spins this yarn, giving appropriate weight to the themes of racism and greed, capped off with a gruesome conspiracy that will keep listeners up at night. S.T.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
04/26/2021
This thought-provoking crime novel from Edgar winner Lansdale (More Better Deals) opens in 1968 in the East Texas town of Long Lincoln, where Daniel Russell, a 13-year-old white boy, survives drowning after his father intentionally drives them into Moon Lake. Orphaned, Daniel is left in the care of a local African American family, the Candles, before spending the remainder of his teenage years with his mercurial aunt in another town. Ten years later, Daniel gets a call from Long Lincoln’s sheriff: his father’s car has been found with a suspicious pile of bones in the trunk. Daniel returns to claim the remains and inadvertently gets entangled in the murky history of Moon Lake, Long Lincoln’s elders, and the economic plight of the racially divided town. He teams up with Ronnie Candles, now a police officer, to investigate the discovery of even more bodies while rekindling their teenage affair from a decade before. As usual with this author, the Texas dialect is pitch-perfect, though some explanatory dialogue can be a bit didactic. Lansdale effectively dramatizes racial and economic conflict in this searing gothic tale. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International. (June)
From the Publisher
Lansdale nails the storyline, nails the suspense, seriously nails the dialogue and has created yet another character worthy of a series.”—BookPage
"Daniel... is a winning mixture of curiosity, hesitancy, and gumption."—Sarah Weinman, New York Times Book Review
Praise for More Better Deals
"When funky books need to be written, Joe R. Lansdale writes them. . . . The plot is pure James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, but steeped in hillbilly noir."—Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
"The prolific Mr. Lansdale…draws on the spirit and themes of James M. Cain in this stand-alone book, which works clever variations on such Cain classics as The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity. —Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal
"Lansdale really makes this used car purr."—Booklist (starred review)
"Highly enjoyable . . . Populated with an admirable array of laughable miscreants, this droll, savage novel is vintage Lansdale. The author's storytelling powers remain as strong as ever."—Publishers Weekly
" [A] down-and-dirty riff on Double Indemnity, a provocative new variation on James M. Cain’s noir classic...an enjoyably cynical cruise down the back roads to perdition."—Lisa Henricksson, Airmail
"He's genre dextrous, moving fleetly between westerns, mysteries, thrillers, horror, sci-fi, literary fiction, and nonfiction, and doing it all extremely well."—Publishers Weekly
"Southern crime legend Joe Lansdale channels his best James M. Cain world vision...Readers can expect to be transported in the usual Lansdale fashion, as nobody does those East Texas period details quite like Lansdale, who always delivers with a finely-crafted, engaging, compulsive crime story in his home terrain."—Dwyer Murphy, CrimeReads
AUGUST 2021 - AudioFile
Brace yourself for this horrific Southern gothic narrated by Jason Culp in a rich Texas twang. Daniel Russell was 13 when his father drove them off a bridge into Moon Lake. Nearly 10 years later, Daniel returns when the car is pulled from the lake and a grisly discovery changes everything he knew about his hometown. Culp's accent and characterization bring Daniel to life with an earnestness that both complements and contrasts with the heavy use of scatological similes in the darkly humorous writing. His portrayals of supporting characters are equally vibrant. He expertly spins this yarn, giving appropriate weight to the themes of racism and greed, capped off with a gruesome conspiracy that will keep listeners up at night. S.T.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
