I read and loved Lansdale's 'Drive In' books as a teenager, so it's something of a mystery to me why it's taken me over 20 years to read any of his crime fiction. I'm glad I got round to it in the end though, 'Cold In July' was great: lean and mean with some great prose and wonderfully rich characters. ( )

Il lettore abituale di Lansdale sa che cosa deve aspettarsi e sa anche che si tratta di uno di quegli autori di genere che devono piacere, con qual suo stile a briglia scolta, un po’ (a volte molto) splatter e un po’ da rude texano fino a sfiorare la caricatura. Ma riesce a essere divertente e io mi iscrivo tra coloro che si lasciano coinvolgere. Non è certamente grande letteratura, ma abile intrattenimento ad alto tasso ematico. ( )

Richard Dane, a regular, upstanding citizen, shoots an armed burglar inside his home in self-defence. The dead man’s father, recently released after a 20-year jail term, is bent on revenge and attempts to kill Richard’s son. But, things are not as simple as they seem and, Richard and Ben Russel—the man who tried to kill his son—form an unlikely alliance to unravel the mystery about the dead burglar. They are joined by Jim Bob Luke, a resourceful private investigator who is known to Russel from the past, in a perilous adventure that Richard, in all his ordinary life, has not even dreamed of.

Cold in July is a hugely entertaining thriller with some memorable characters, cracking dialogues, snappy action and superb writing. The story itself is quite simple, but the execution is fantastic. Lansdale is certainly a gifted author who is able to spin such an exciting tale just from looking at a bullet-hole on the ceiling of a house one day and dreaming about it later that night. His characters are quite colourful, especially Jim Bob, who struts about like a Cowboy—albeit riding a massive, blood-red Cadillac. In fact, the entire novel reads like a Western and, to be on the clear, I mean it as a compliment. Though a bit too simple apart from the Big twist, Cold in July is a superfast, fun read that is certain to light up a dull day! ( )

4.5/5 stars!

It's July, but it's anything but cold here in New England. In fact, we're smack in the middle of a nasty heat wave, so it was a great time to park myself by the pool and read. COLD IN JULY was perfect for the occasion.

Hearing a noise during the night and grabbing his gun to go investigate, Richard Dane ends up killing an intruder in his living room. Understandably he's rattled and feeling a bit guilty. As such, he decides to attend the funeral of his victim and winds up meeting the dead man's father, Ben Russell. Russell is upset and seeking revenge. If this were any other author, the reader would be safe in assuming that the rest of the tale was going to be about Russel and Richard coming to terms. But we're talking Joe Lansdale here, and this story turns in a completely different direction.What happens next? You'll have to read this to find out!

I loved the characters in this book, most especially Jim Bob, a redneck expert in the martial arts, who drives a cherry red boat of a Cadillac, and is a private investigator. His down-home sayings were hilarious and it provided that twisted humor Lansdale is known for. I also loved how the story changed throughout and how the characters developed.

I'm not sure why this book was available through NetGalley at this time, since it originally came out in 1989, but I hopped on the chance to read it for free. There is also a film of it, starring Don Johnson as Jim Bob, and I believe that is something I MUST see.

COLD IN JULY is a fast paced crime novel, with humor and horror mixed in as well as a well developed sense of honor. Set in LaBorde, a place Hap and Leonard fans will recognize, this is a Texas story, told by a Texan in the most entertaining way possible. I highly recommend it!

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This is it.* ( )

Twisty plotting and fairly well developed characters couldn't make up for the cliches and cutesy rural descriptions that covered a big part of the dialog.

This book has some very dark subject matter that seemed contrived - Like the author needed an exclamation point to emphasize how terrible one of the characters is.

It's readable and enjoyable if you don't expect much from a southern noir book. ( )