The Two-Bear Mambo (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) [Paperback]

THE TWO-BEAR MAMBO by Joe R. Lansdale continues the saga of Hap Collins and Leonard Pine where MUCHO MOJO left off. It starts out with Hap arriving at Leonard's house on Christmas Eve night. Blasting out of his friend's home is the music to "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" and Leonard is next door, kicking righteous butt and burning down the neighborhood crack house once again. The police pull Hap and Leonard in, but Lieutenant Marvin Hanson gets them off the hook, provided they do him a small favor. It seems that Hap's old girlfriend, Florida Grange (the one who left him for Hanson) took off to Grovetown, Texas to do an article on a black musician who supposedly hung himself while in the custody of the local police. Florida has suddenly vanished, and Hanson wants Hap and Leonard to pay a visit to Grovetown to see if they can find out anything. The only problem is that this particular Texas town is right out of the fifties and sixties. It's a viper's nest filled with Klansmen, led by Jackson Brown, who enjoy murdering the black folks and seem to be getting away with it. Both Hap and Leonard know that they're going to have their hands full just trying to stay alive as they attempt to investigate Florida's disappearance. Even together, as tough as they are, both men are going to find out that they've bitten off more than they can chew when they take on the populace of Grovetown. They'll find themselves in the middle of free-for-all that would put Billy Jack to shame and come very close to getting beaten to death. Both men will discover true fear for the first time in their lives and have to find a way of dealing with it as their injuries heal, if they want to be able to face each other again, as well as solve the mystery of what happened to Florida when they eventually return to Grovetown to face the pure evil of its people. THE TWO-BEAR MAMBO will give you a slightly different perspective of our two heroes this time around, making them more flawed and human. As tough as Hap and Leonard are, they're not invincible, and both of them come very close to death as they seek to right a wrong. They will find out things about themselves that will at first be difficult to face; yet, in the long run will make them stronger. Though a part of me knows that these two characters are fictional, the writing is so good that another part of me almost believes that they're real. These are guys that I'd simply love to hang out with, and it's a tribute to the talent of Joe R. Lansdale that he's created such believable characters...characters who are funny, skilled martial artists, almost always unemployed, who have the same kinds of problems with relationships that real people do, and who have a strong sense of honor and justice that gets them into trouble more often than not. Mr. Lansdale is able to do this because he has a unique skill in writing that comes off as being natural and down to earth, but is actually a master craftsman at work. He knows how to make each and every character in the novel come alive in ways I wish other authors could emulate. I never know how each book is going to end and quite often find myself stunned by who gets killed off. As you can probably tell, the "Hap Collins/Leonard Pine" series has swept me off of my feet in a way that few other books have, and it's one I can highly recommend to any reader who loves novels filled with action, humor, self-reflection, and characters that make you truly believe. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do after I read SAVAGE SEASON and then CAPTAINS OUTRAGEOUS. I wish I could sit down with Hap and Leonard, have a beer, and talk about this particular problem. Of course, I wouldn't get any sympathy from them. In fact, I'd probably have to spend an hour or more listening to their problems!

Hap and Leonard are back and this time they are not invincible. Even the mighty duo can not compete against an entire town of racist red necks, can they? When they are asked by a friend to investigate the disappearance of a young black women Hap and Leonard go to a small Texan town that still feels like the 50s were the Klan still holds power. This would not prove an issue if they manage to keep their heads down, but do you think an out spoken 6ft gay black man would go unnoticed?

'The Two-bear Mambo' is another strong book in the Hap and Leonard series of books and is as funny as any book that Lansdale had written. His writing style uses such great dialogue that the plot sometimes takes second place. Unfortunately for this book the plot is not quite strong enough to be masked by the characters. Overall very little happens as Lansdale concentrates on character development rather than story.

For fans of the books this novel may prove a revelation as our heroes views on life change dramatically due to events in the book. However, I found the direction the book took a little depressing and that too much time was dwelt on exploring the relationship of Hap and Leonard and not enough on the case. I do believe for some that this book may prove an enlightening experience, but for me, and readers new to the series, it was a funny but ultimately plotless story that was an average read.

Joe R. Lansdale's writing pretty much defys description. But If pushed I think it can be best descibed as; A Two-Fisted Texan X-Rated modern day Mark Twain out of his head on bourbon and mescaline picking a fight with the distored but true reflections of America in The Hall of Mirrors.

Lansdale is a true Master of The Yarn, he uses no frills story telling and belives in shooting straight from the hip,maybe because of this when he uses unexpected simple yet beautiful prose it has a deeper impact. Making descriptions of sunsets and storms poetically effortless with out breaking a stride.

He doesn't try and get too clever keeps the plot moving constantly forward, his main strength with most if not all of Lansdale's work is the brilliant characterisation. Even minor characters are brought immediately to life in just a couple of sentances.

Switching as well as mixing genres together such as Horror, crime and westerns, The Two-Bear Mambo falls somewhere between Chandleresque missing person mystery and a stotic High Noon style western, yet at the same time becoming it's own entity entirely.

The plot involves best friends and occasional righters of wrongs Hap Collins and Lenoard Pine who through at the begining get arrested by their cop friend Charlie for despensing vigilante justice on the crack head next door neighbours yet again. A kind of light blackmail offer is made to them by Charlie's boss, Detective Hanson who wants them to find Florida Grange. If they go looking for her, he'll drop the charges.Hap,Lenoard,Charlie are around Hansons house watching a National Geographic special on bears mating habits when the propsition is made by Hanson. Hanson expresses outrage at the lack of decency of as he puts it " two bears doing the mambo" , lamenting that it never would happen in his day as a child, and it's this, where the book takes it's title.

Florida is Hansons absonded girlfriend who left Hap Collins in the previous book Much Mojo to shack up the detective. During an arguement she left Hanson to persue a new career in journalism to cover a story about an haire to a blues legacy who may have hung himself in a prison cell or had some help from the locals.

Out of friendship for Hanson and concern for Florida they take the case.

The duo go up against an entire town of red necks, a white supremists clan and a sheriff with a swollen testicle in the mission to find Florida. The western element comes in at the last act. Without giving too much away Hap and Lenoard who become shadows of their former selves return to Grovetown to face their fear and their destiny.

My one and only criticism, is that like with a lot of Lansdale's work , you tend see the twist coming quite early on like a telegraphed punch. But this isn't nescessarly a bad thing as he somehow makes that work to his advantage, making the reader feel like a clever super sleuth for figuring it all out.

The grand finale is a great set piece , that is very cinematic in it's execution.

The whole realtionship , the banter between Hap and Leonard has got buddy action-black comedy movie written all over it.

This and the other Hap and Lenoard books i've read so far would make an excellent series of movies.
It's ideal for Quentin Tarantino to adapt for the big screen.
Just make sure that Landsdale is on screen play dutites.
It would return Tarantino back to his glory days of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, before he got self indugent and forgot what great story telling is about.

Although by no means, this is not the best Hap and Lenoard i've read so far (I've only read the first three).
It still has it has it's own moments of understated genius.