One of the most enjoyable things about a writer like Joe R. Lansdale is wondering what his next book will be. Especially for a longtime reader like myself who got on the Lansdale bandwagon on the first week Bantam published The Drive-In. I avoid reading the synopsis of upcoming titles, in order to facilitate the surprise.

I like the title of Joe's new novel, More Better Deals, but it tells nothing about the story. Sort of like how a Robert Cormier title lent a mood and feeling to one of his novels, but foretold no details.

More Better Deals is a perfectly executed noir story, reminiscent of a classic James M. Cain novel. The kind of thing that came out in lurid Gold Key paperbacks in the nineteen-sixties. The novel even takes place in that time period.

A used car dealer with grandiose schemes of wealth and prestige begins a steamy relationship with a married woman. The two hatch a plan to eliminate the abusive husband and claim insurance money. Race is a factor in his motivations, but this is mostly a morality story of the pratfalls of transgressing from moral society.

More Better Deals has all the elements: A torrid affair, murder, double or even triple crosses, and a classic femme fatale.

I recently rewatched a 1990 movie directed by Dennis Hopper called The Hot Spot. It too features a used car dealer who is seduced into murder by a married woman. It even takes place in Texas, just as More Better Deals does. The plots are vaguely similar, and I wonder if Joe was consciously or subconsciously influenced by it. The Hot Spot is a good movie, but Joe's story is better written and features more ghoulish situations than Hopper's film.

More Better Deals offers nothing revolutionary, but I don't think that was Joe's intention. This is a nod to a type of book and story that flourished in his younger years, and still lives in the pages of Hard Case Crime novels. Like most of Lansdale's books, it's lean, mean, and sharp as a razor.

This is another first rate Lansdale that shows he has not rested on his laurels and is still honing his craft. I look forward to more better books from him in the future.

Written by Mark Sieber

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