Review: A B-Movie That's Not Really A B-Movie, In A Book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 11, 2014
If the whole concept and realm of B-Movies had a brain, a mind, an intelligence, this would be it. Nothing against B-Movies and the people who love them. But this takes that world and launches it well beyond any sort of expectation. The tropes are gone. Lansdale has taken this genre and instilled a very effective juxtaposition of the absolutely surreal with the stuff of ordinary real life dropped into its center. These characters are as real as can be constructed, but the very nature of the absolutely insane experience they are dropped into (or rather, that's dropped on them) brings about not the predictable, well worn fare of what this genre usually presents, but the approximation of just how real "ordinary" folks would respond and react to something completely insane, unreal, alien, and inexplicable. We see the worst, and perhaps the most noble of humanity here, whether characters are losing it or struggling to maintain it. Inner demons let loose and civility stripped away in the face of the absolutely horrific. Nothing is predictable, nothing can be seen from a mile away, and this kept this reader engrossed from start to finish. What I kept coming back to when thinking about what I was reading, is that nothing here takes the reader for granted, or for a fool. The humor present is also a great factor, as sick is the only kind of humor possible in the face of situations so completely sick and insane. Lansdale keeps a structure here that never constrains the narrative or the reader. It may very well be a ride on a very bumpy road, but even with everything that goes on peripherally, the story always moves forward. That this doesn't happen in a neat, predictable, saw that coming sort of manner makes it all the more effective. And there's more. The saga continues, and if it's anything like this, it will prove to be a tale worth staying involved with. You have whet this reader's appetite for more, Mr. Joe R. Lansdale. Very, very well done.