Cold in July / Joe R. Lansdale

Cold in July by Joe R. Lansdale
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Larry, Moe, and Curly plan a murder

Serves me right for choosing a book based on the title. This was my 2020 monthly pick for July for obvious reasons. Now, I am not a habitual reader of thrillers. I almost always find them at least faintly ridiculous because of their over-the-top action, people doing and getting away with outrageous things. This one for me descended to slapstick. I thought for a while that the author was perhaps going for humour, but other reviews and the afterword seemed to indicate that he means it to be taken seriously.

Go figure! How can I take a P.I. seriously when his name is Jim Bob? When he talks like a cartoon character? When the main character acts completely out of character for a family man? How likely is he to go all Dirty Harry? It was all just so bloody improbable.

But, as I said, thrillers are not my thing. I think that if you enjoy Lee Child, Michael Robotham, or Andrew Grant, you will probably enjoy this novel too.


View all my reviews