Product Description

From the Edgar-winning author of "The Bottoms" comes a funny, violent, testosterone laden, and ultimately very satisfying new novel. The repartee between Hap and Leonard tramples all over any standard of political correctness, but it's full of wit and outrageously entertaining.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #578803 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Edgar-winner Lansdale's (The Bottoms) fifth Hap and Leonard mystery marvel is sure to keep you laughing amid the carnage. No good deed goes unpunished, especially when Hap Collins becomes a reluctant hero down in East Texas while working as a security guard for a chicken plant. After rescuing a local girl from a savage beating, Hap receives a big reward. Problem is while on the outs with his girlfriend, Brett he decides to use some of the reward money on a sea cruise shared with his best friend, Leonard Pine. After all, the closest Hap's family had ever come to a cruise "was a rowboat down the Sabine River with a fishing pole." So off to the Caribbean the fearless pair go, only to run smack dab into the usual heap of trouble. Not only does the food stink, but on their first tourist stop to check out some Mayan ruins, they miss the boat back to the ship. Stranded in Playa del Carmen, they run into muggers and, aided by a mysterious old fisherman and his troubled daughter, get caught in a sticky web of intrigue, violence and chicanery. As the body count mounts, they find no place is safe, not even East Texas. The two friends ultimately go back to Mexico to take care of some business they're not apt to soon forget. Lansdale's quick wit is in top form, and his raunchy, sometimes ridiculous and yet so lovable heroes continue to amuse. Take this one along on your next cruise.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Hap Collins is guarding chickens at a poultry plant when he saves the life of the plant owner's daughter. As a reward, the grateful father sends Hap on a luxury cruise for two to Mexico. Because Brett, the love of Hap's life, isn't speaking to him, Hap takes his best buddy, Leonard Pine, the genre's only gay, black, tough-guy sidekick. Left behind in Mexico when they miss a ferry, the friends are assaulted and Leonard is stabbed. An old Mexican fisherman nurses Leonard back to health while his daughter entertains Hap. Feeling indebted to their guardian angels, the pair attempts to help the fisherman out of a little trouble with a loan shark. When things go horribly wrong, Hap and Leonard embark on a deadly mission of revenge. Lansdale's latest isn't up to The Bottoms [BKL Je 1 & 15 00], his Edgar-winning stand-alone thriller, but it's typical Hap-and-Leonard fare, which means it's funny, violent, peppered with profanity, oozing testosterone, and ultimately very satisfying. The repartee between Hap and Leonard tramples all over any standard of political correctness, but it's full of wit and outrageously entertaining. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Where does Mojo storytelling come from? How does a fella learn tospin over-the-top yarns of any sort: horror, suspense, humor, science fiction, Western, what have you? First you got to see the world, like champion Mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale, who has lived everywhere from Gladewater, Texas to Mount Enterprise, Texas to Nacogdoches, Texas! "Texas is so wrapped up in myth and legend, it's hard to know what the state and its people are really about," says Lansdale. "Real Texans, raised on these myths and legends, sometimes become legends themselves. The bottom line is, Texas and its people are pretty much what most people mean when they use the broader term 'America.' No state better represents the independent spirit, the can-do attitude of America, better than Texas." The second ingredient to good Mojo storytelling is learning how to take a punch. Or a kick. Or a poke in the eye. And then learning how to avoid them. Lansdale is a student of the martial arts for more than thirty years. He's a two-time inductee into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame, one such honor bestowed upon him for his founding of Shen Chuan, Martial Science. He holds belts in Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu, Combat Hapkido, American Combat Kempo, and Aikido, amongst others; in fact, his standard day is six hours at the typewriter, three hours at Lansdale's Self Defense Systems, the martial-arts studio which he owns and at which he teaches. With more than twenty books to his credit-and 200 short stories-Joe R. Lansdale is the champion Mojo storyteller. He's been called "the Stephen King of Texas" by Texas Monthly; "an immense talent" by Booklist; "a born storyteller" by Robert Bloch; and The New York Times Book Review declares he has "a folklorist's eye for telling detail and a front-porch raconteur's sense of pace." He's won umpty-ump awards, including five Bram Stoker horror awards, a British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award, the Horror Critics Award, the "Shot in the Dark". International Crime Writer's award, the Booklist Editor's Award, the Critic's Choice Award, and a New York Times Notable Book award. He's got the most decorated mantle in all of Nacogdoches! Lansdale lives in Nacogdoches, Texas, with his wife, Karen-an occasional writer and editor-and their son and daughter, Keith and Kasey.

Customer Reviews

HAP HAZARD
Poor Hap Collins and Leonard Pine...no matter what they do, they always come out involved in a messy, stinky situation. Once again, Joe Lansdale's "amateur" sleuths find themselves embroiled in murder and mayhem, and it all starts with a good deed. At his new job at the chicken factory, security guard Hap prevents the murder of a wealthy young woman by a crazed maniac. Her millionaire father shows his appreciation by giving Hap a check for a hundred thousand dollars. Leonard, now with his new love John, tells Hap they should go on a cruise..no real reason, just that they've never been on one before. Needless to say, this vacation turns into a nightmare when Leonard mouths off at the concierge and they find themselves stranded in a little fishing town. Enter a beautiful woman, her poor father, some wealthy tourists and we begin our tale of murder and deceit. Lansdale continues his gift for natural dialogue and unique, but believable, situations. We meet a crime lord and his seven foot bully, Hammerhead. It seems sometimes that Lansdale can be a little cruel in his treatment of some of his subordinate characters (Billy for example), and he tends to overdo the sexual innuendo and the sexual encounters. But it's a man's world, and Lansdale knows it. At least the lovely if foul mouthed Brett Sawyer is back, and by the end of the book, who knows..wedding bells?
A fine entry in this well executed series.

As outrageous as the lobster with a cigar
Captains Outrageous is the sixth book of Lansdale's Hap and Leonard novels. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, let me try to acquaint with the dynamic duo. Hap Collins is a straight white liberal who served time in prison for draft evasion during the Vietnam War. Ever since then, he has had trouble holding down steady jobs and relationships. But refreshingly, he doesn't blame society, the government, or his parents for the way his life turned out. He blames himself. Leonard Pine is a gay black Republican and a Vietnam veteran with a wisecrack for every occasion. He loves country music and burning down crack houses (not really caring if anyone is inside of one at the time). Wherever these two are, trouble isn't too far behind.

Captains Outrageous begins with Hap and Leonard both being employed at a chicken processing plant as security guards. After clocking out for the night, Hap rescues a young lady who is beaten brutally by a drug-crazed sicko. The lady's father is a very wealthy man who owns the plant that Hap and Leonard work at. Out of gratitude, the father gives Hap a month off and $100,000 to boot. Hap and Leonard, as suggested by Leonard's boyfriend John, go on a cruise. After suffering through a bad case of sea sickness, really bad food, and really really bad Kevin Costner movies; Hap and Leonard find themselves stranded in Mexico after an arrogant restaurant host deliberately tells them the wrong time to come back to the boat when it makes a brief stop at land. And this is where the story really starts.

I don't like giving away to much along the way, but I will say that Hap and Leonard run into some interesting situations and characters along the way. There's a 70 year old machete wielding fisherman who saves them from a trio of corrupt cops. There's the fisherman's manipulative daughter. There's Billy, a tough-talking punk who gets put in his place. And there's Juan Miguel, a nudist crimelord with a (6'8" 385 pound) musclebound assassin named Hammerhead, who is also a nudist. Once our friends leave Mexico to return to the States, trouble follows them yet again.

I've been reading the Hap and Leonard books since early 1995, and I've found the series to be one of the most consistent and entertaining going today. Underneath all the violence and extremely foul language, you see Lansdale's love for people and true sense of right and wrong that really makes Hap and Leonard easy to root for. And not to mention there's the humor that is not for the politically correct or the easily offended. For instance, one of the funniest parts of the book is at a funeral (I won't reveal who died). The eulogy literally had me crying with laughter. That's Lansdale for you - funny, shocking, brutal, profane, but definitely human. And a fine writing one at that.

At It Again!!
Hap Collins and Leonard Pine are best buddies who get into more trouble in this book than you would ever think possible. They are working as security guards for a chicken-processing plant, when Hap saves the life of a young woman who turns out to be the plant owner's daughter. As a reward, Hap receives a check and a Caribbean cruise. Of course, he takes along his best East Texas buddy, Leonard. Now the action begins when Hap and Leonard are left stranded in a small port, get mugged, saved by an old-fisherman, and quickly become involved in a plot that includes murder and revenge. What's going to happen to Hap and Leonard? How are they possibly going to get out of this predicament?

In this book, as well as the other books in this series about Hap and Leonard, there is plenty of humor, and lots of action for these likable guys. This series just gets better and better with each new installment. A terrific book that's filled with lots of twists and unexpected turns that will entertain you. Here's looking forward to the next adventure of these crazy guys.

Joe Hanssen