Top 5 Joe Lansdale

Top 5 Joe Lansdale

Inspired by Sheila's efforts yesterday, and Chris's in the past,

My top 5 Joe Lansdale novels:

1. The Bottoms

A really fun mystery. I like how its parts are fitted together. I like the mystery's misdirection.

2. The Drive-In

Very trippy. A lot of fun, as well. Just a surreal story about kids who get trapped in a Drive-In. A pulpy story of degeneration within a microcosm.

3. Freezer Burn

Lansdale appeals to that gothic, southern, grotesque fan in me. There's lots of it in this story of murder and betrayal in a travelling freak show.

4. A Fine Dark Line

More grotesque, more fish out of water. A kid's family moves to town take over a town's drive-in. Joe's about the only author I'll consistently buy the first-person narrator from.

5. Bad Chili

My favorite of Joe's series of books about Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. Buddy Crime novels. I'm working on reading the whole series. I keep getting outbid for the second and third books in the series (Mucho Mojo and Two-Bear Mambo, respectively).

Honorable Mention: Batman: Captured by Engines

It's not Joe's best work, but it's just about the only novelization of a licensed character that I actually enjoyed and thought hit the character/nail right on the head.