LEATHER MAIDEN
Joe R. Lansdale
Vintage
Thriller
Hardcover: 9780375414527
Paperback: 9780375719233
There is a moment in LEATHER MAIDEN, Joe R. Lansdale’s new novel, that illustrates in stark yet profuse manner just how brilliant a craftsman he remains at this late date. It happens early enough in the proceedings. The protagonist, Cason Statler, has returned to his hometown of Camp Rapture, Texas, after serving in the Gulf War, being nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and losing his job with a major newspaper. Statler walks into a no-name bar, looking for a drink and perhaps some companionship, and things quickly go south for no good reason. Actually, they head in that direction for no reason at all, and herein one finds the heart of Lansdale’s spark, which makes reading his work an absolute joy.
Lansdale pulls off a similar trick as LEATHER MAIDEN begins to roll to its conclusion. The cavalry, consisting of Statler and his gonzo friend Booger, is racing the clock to prevent a double-murder when they encounter two (well, actually three) roadblocks. The difficulties aren’t on the order of trolls crawling out from under the bridge, either, or harpies swooping down on them from a hole in the sky. No, these are real-world problems that we all have encountered. Touches like that and many others are what make Lansdale a joy to read, whether he is writing a western, horror novel, mystery, or, as here, a subtle combination of the three.
Statler is an interesting character, disillusioned and on the tottering edge of alcoholism. He takes a job as a columnist with the Camp Rapture daily newspaper and in due course finds himself pursuing a story about a missing college student. The incident is mysterious if nothing else: there is no sign of foul play, and the woman is of the age that she could disappear at will without explanation or apology. But when Statler receives a DVD containing video of her and Jimmy, Statler’s very married brother, in a number of compromising positions, his investigative reporting takes on a whole new turn.
Matters are complicated somewhat by the fact that Statler has become involved with Belinda Hickam, the newspaper receptionist, even as he remains unhealthily obsessed with a former flame who wants nothing more to do with him. It develops that the DVD has been sent by a pair of blackmailers embarking on an inspired, if amateurish, get-rich-quick scheme that will backfire on them in the worst way. Camp Rapture is about to become Ground Zero for an incident with possible national ramifications. Booger, one of Lansdale’s loosest cannons to date, is there to help at a most opportune time, but even his assistance ultimately may not be enough to rescue the innocents who are caught up in a mad scheme of misdirected and misguided revenge.
A note here: Lansdale is one of the few writers out there who is not hesitant to kick over the basket of snakes otherwise described as masculine ego and feminine deceit. He is always excellent at this, and perhaps never more so than in LEATHER MAIDEN, where Statler’s brutally frank honesty with Belinda is surprising but real and where a woman’s bitterness and anger makes her, as always, deadlier than the male. The prose is unflinching in both its beauty and gore. Well into his third decade of writing, Lansdale is one of the best authors in any genre.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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