Vanilla Ride

April 27, 2009
Last seen in 2001's Captains Outrageous
, Lansdale's East Texas twosome of Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, who specialize in daring jobs for hire, are in fine fettle—slightly older and wiser, still prone to down-home philosophical rants and as eager as ever to lead violence by the nose. In their seventh raucous outing, the unlikely partners—Hap's a white, horny heterosexual good ol' boy, and Leonard's a black homosexual Vietnam vet—rescue a friend's daughter from the clutches of drug dealers. Unbeknownst to our heroes, the dealers are part of the Dixie Mafia, which proceeds to send waves of assassins in retaliation, each worse than the last. Joking as they go, Hap and Leonard dispose of each with their usual brand of brutality. Then, the mafia sends its weapon of last resort, Vanilla Ride, a beautiful hit woman. Edgar-winner Lansdale's storytelling skills are as sharp as ever—bursts of action, moments of reflection and lots of shooting the breeze before trouble comes calling again.

May 15, 2009
Pine and Collins, crime fiction's most lovable miscreants (Captains Outrageous, 2001, etc.), are back in action, filling body bags for the sake of friendship.

Leonard Pine, black and emphatically gay, and Hap Collins, white and aggressively heterosexual, behave like brothers. They finish each other's sentences, share a politically incorrect sense of humor, take pride in being tough guys, revere values like honor and loyalty, though they'd rather die than say so. When Leonard turns up at Hap's door with a friend and a mission, he knows he'll be welcomed despite the ungodliness of the hour. The friend is ex-cop Marvin Hanson; the mission involves his feckless teenage granddaughter and the small-time drug dealers who've been leading her astray. Though they may be small-time, Leonard and Hap soon learn that they have big-time connections: the Dixie Mafia, a resourceful, relentless crime family that's been known to be lethally prickly when it feels disrespected. Things are further complicated by the arrival of Vanilla Ride, a blue-eyed assassin who gives fresh meaning to the phrase"killer smile."

Talented Lansdale (Leather Maiden, 2008, etc.) pens another rowdy, raunchy entertainment—nothing to take seriously but more damn fun than a barrel of Rambos.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 15, 2009
Hap Collins and Leonard Pine are a couple of big-hearted, joke-cracking, east Texas jocksbest friends, by all accountswith a well-defined sense of right and wrong and the bravado to think they can create a better world with fists and force. Hap is straight and white; Leonard is black and gay. When an old friend asks them to rescue his granddaughter who is living with a drug dealer, they bumble their way into the drug house, do serious damage to three dealers and an undercover federal agent, and flush $200,000 worth of drugs down the toilet. This offends both the FBI and the Texas mafia, requiring some serious negotiations with one and more serious confrontations with the other, including the ultimate hit woman, Vanilla Ride. VERDICT In this seventh installment of the series (after "Captains Outrageous"), Hap and Leonard deal with occupational hazards as well as certain personal relationships with a Texas panache that is sure to endear them to the toughest macho-fantasy reader.Thomas Kilpatrick, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2009
Hap Collins and Leonard Pine are a couple of tough, East Texas smart asses. They are also, respectively, an ex-con and a black, gay Vietnam vet. When an old friend asks them to pull his granddaughter out of a relationship with a low-end dope dealer, they agreeand succeed, albeitwith some collateral damage to the bad guys. But these werent independent mopes; they made up a satellite operation of the Dixie Mafia, for whom revenge is Job One. In the subsequent counterattack, Hap and Leonard prevail once more but, in the process, damage an undercover federal agent. The Feds use that to leverage the boys into recovering the son of a ranking Dixie Mafia member who has run off with a half-million in drug money. Once his son is safe, the man will testify against his former employers. Hap and Leonard dont have much choice and set off to rescue the kid with a team of redneck assassins on their tail. The ensuing mayhemwhich eventually includes a mysterious female hit man, er, womanis vintage Hap and Leonard, shooting first and smarting off whenever possible. Lansdale, winner of the 2001 Edgar for best novel (The Bottoms) is at the top of his game here. This is an exciting, often hilarious, but finally very dark novel that offers great insight into the effects of violence and the people who are addicted to it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)