Good short story, but the second story was great and very poignant! ( )

This novella, ‘Hyenas’ by Joe R. Lansdale, is a ‘Hap And Leonard’ story, part of a long-running series. Hap Collins and Leonard Pine are two tough private investigators willing to stray outside the strict boundaries of the legal code. Hap is married to the beautiful Brett and Leonard is a gay black man.

When Leonard gets into a barroom brawl with three guys, it leads to a new case. Kelly, a janitor, is worried that his younger brother Donny has fallen in with a gang of armed robbers and will be the getaway driver for their next job.

He wants Hap and Leonard to make Donny see sense and get out. Kelly is a good guy, so they take the case. Mayhem ensues. This is a typical hardboiled detective story but enlivened considerably by Lansdale’s laugh out loud similes and given depth, by his honesty about human nature. I read it at one sitting on a Saturday afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Even better, though, was the bonus short story. ‘The Boy Who Became Invisible’ is a school yarn about Hap Collins when he was a lad growing up in the wilds of East Texas. His best friend was a farmer’s son named Jesse from a family even poorer than Hap’s. Jesse got picked on by the cool kids and Hap kind of joined in a bit. Everyone wants to be in with the cool kids, don’t they? Especially the prettiest girl. ‘The Boy Who Became Invisible’ will hit a nerve with most people, kind of like a kick in the guts, and may make you squirm uncomfortably. It’s a true classic that should be anthologised far and wide.

A note on price. This hardcover is available only at mad prices now. I was lucky enough to get an advanced review copy. This limited edition hardcover carry on seems odd to me as surely a writer wants as many readers as possible. Hopefully, a cheaper paperback version or an ebook will be available one day.

Lansdale is a really good writer and has won many awards for horror, crime and mystery works. Some genre authors, notably Raymond Chandler, Ray Bradbury and Stephen King, eventually get recognition from the high gods of American Letters, usually belatedly and reluctantly, as being proper literary gents worthy of recognition. I don’t think this has happened to Lansdale yet. Maybe it’s time.

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Well, Leonard beats the hell outta 3 guys in a bar, and then one of those guys wants to hire him, and Hap, to help his little brother out of a jam. Typical H&L. But this one gets very preachy, too much for my taste. I actually felt bad for the Donny character having to listen to it all. Yeesh. But the action after that is good, and H&L get it done like they always do!

Also in this book is a super short story titled "The Boy Who Became Invisible", a tale from Hap's school days. This starts out like a sweet childhood rememberance and then turns dark and sad. A very sobering read, and very differenct from the usual H&L feel. A really good, strong 5 page read! ( )

Hyenas, by Joe R. Lansdale, is an excellent novella. Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, two East Texas tough guys, try to help extricate a man’s younger brother from a gang of thieves who have persuaded him to join them. That’s what hap and Leonard do. They help people who are being victimized by criminal thugs. Hap and Leonard are uniquely qualified to do this sort of work because they are extremely adept at bare-knuckle, no-rules, hand-to-hand combat. They are also knowledgeable and skilled with weapons, and most of all they can be mean as hell when they need to be. They reveal their skills and how mean they can be to the hyenas in this shocking, but satisfying novella. It is a great read! In addition, this Kindle eBook contains a short story (The Boy who Became Invisible) from Hap’s teenage years which reveals something about his aversion to victimization of innocent people. ( )

This special signed edition is limited to 400 numbered copies. This is copy 118. As new. Unread ( )