Hap and Leonard, with all the customary name-calling, philosophizing, and backbiting that has become their trademark, get the job done. But things just get worse from there. Before long, they’re up to their eyebrows in alligators (literally at one point) and the Dixie Mafia. Things get so bad they even have to call in another couple of hard guys to help tote the load.
The plot is pretty straightforward and builds naturally to a roaring bonfire and even an Old West High Noon shootout, but it’s Joe’s way of telling the story that really shines. His prose is lurid, descriptive, and a lot of readers are going to have to resist the impulse to read passages or one-liners out loud because it just won’t set well in public. And sometimes you have to really be there in the moment to get what’s going on.
His dialogue is dead on. But it’s his focus on the friendship between his two heroes that really shines, as it does in every book. Leonard Pine is black and homosexual, and always in the middle of trouble that’s caught up to him or he’s instigated. Hap Collins is white and not overly upwardly mobile or even ambitious. But the two are as true to each other and what they believe in, even when they’re stepping on each other’s toes, as magnetic north.
On the surface, Vanilla Ride is a lightweight action read with a lot of humorous overtones and larger-than-life characters. But Lansdale always piles in a lot of commentary about life and the human race that climbs in under the carpet when nobody’s looking. I just wish I’d gotten to meet the enigmatic Vanilla Ride longer. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll be getting reacquainted with her soon. I just have to hope she doesn’t blow holes in Hap and Leonard.
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