Books
I first heard about Joe R. Lansdale in a triple review in Fangoria. The review was penned by the badly-missed Stanley Wiater. It talked about how exciting this young writer was and it focused on Dead in the West, The Nightrunners and Act of Love. I took note and intended to look for something by this Joe R. Lansdale. Very soon after that, I was looking through The Twilight Zone Magazine (God, those were the days) and there was a full-page ad for a Bantam novel called The Drive-In, by Mr. Lansdale. Now this looked exactly like my kind of book and that same night I bought a copy. I began reading The Drive-In and the only reason I didn't finish it before I went to sleep was that I had started it very late. I had completed it before noon the next day.

I had a new favorite writer.

I devoured everything I could lay my hands on by Joe R. Lansdale. The hype about him was not only fulfilled, it was exceeded. Lansdale had such a natural storytelling ability and I loved all his books: the Hap and Leonard series, Cold In July, Freezer Burn, Waltz of Shadows, and of course his short stories.

Like others I've spoken to, Joe Lansdale's recent small press publications weren't as satisfying to me as some of the previous stuff. Wildly over-the-top novels like Zepplins West, Flaming London and The Drive In 3 left me feeling frustrated.

I had felt that the youthful standpoints of books like The Bottoms, A Fine Dark Line and The Boar represented Lansdale at his very finest and I still maintain that I like his work much better when the story is rooted in everyday life. The last novel from Lansdale that I truly enjoyed was Sunset and Sawdust

Joe Lansdale's new one, Lost Echoes, is a bit of a departure for the writer. It's a thriller in a contemporary setting with supernatural overtones. Lansdale has never written anything quite like this one. In it, a boy named Harry Wilkes has a case of the mumps, which triggers something unusual within him. He begins to have visions of murder, violence and human suffering from the past. When in an area where something awful occurred, various sounds bring the visions on. As he grows to adulthood, his life becomes a living hell of fear and isolation, as well as alcohol abuse. Inebriation muffles the visions that haunt him. He meets another man who is fighting his own demons with liquor. The man is a former martial arts instructor and he begins teaching Harry to master his will and to find his center. Even while Harry helps the sensei rediscover his own inner strength and peace.

Along the way, they find themselves embroiled in a mystery from the past. An alleged suicide of the father of a girl Harry knew from his youth. The three unite to uncover an ugly conspiracy of lust and bloodshed, putting their own lives at risk.

Lansdale's writing is better than ever in Lost Echoes. The usual Lansdale touch of outrageous humor is present through the book, but it is enveloped in the cleanest, most eloquent prose he has ever used. Lost Echoes is one hell of a novel and I rank it among Joe's finest works. And that, my friends, is just about as good as it gets.

Lost Echoes is coming to trade paperback in February from Vintage/Black Lizard Crime. A simultaneous deluxe limited is being done by Subterranean Press. Buy one or the other and you'll be damned glad that you did. The Joe R. Lansdale that we fell in love with is back to kick some serious ass.

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