Product Description

Hap Collins is feeling old. Working nights as a bouncer, living his days by the grace of his best buddy Leonard Pine and his good woman Brett Sawyer, he's greying at the temples, thickening at the middle and he feels that bad things are coming. They are. Brett's teenage daughter Tillie has taken to drugs and prostitution and needs rescuing. Quickly. The boys have to set out for Hootie Hoot, Oklahoma, a place even more godforsaken than it sounds. On the road, their motley band expands to include a six-four ex-Pentecostal preacher and hitman, plus his brother, a red-headed midget with an attitude. Not to mention Leonard's adopted son, Bob the armadillo. As road trips go, Hap's had quieter ones.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1244378 in Books
• Published on: 2009-11-03
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: MP3 CD

Amazon.co.uk Review
Joe Lansdale, winner of the British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award and three Bram Stoker Awards, is up to his usual tricks in Rumble Tumble. Set in the Southern States, it's basically a crime story with a liberal dose of Lansdale's uniquely dry humour. Hap Collins is unsettled in his life. His home in Oklahoma has been destroyed by a tornado and he feels that he's becoming too old to be a night club bouncer. He must also face the decision whether to leave his lodgings with long-suffering friend Leonard and move in with his girlfriend, Brett.

Brett comes with her own set of problems, though, not the least of which are an ex-husband (whom she has set fire to) and her wayward daughter, Tillie. Brett persuades Hap and Leonard to help rescue Tillie from her life of drugs and prostitution in Texas. On their way they pick up a string of odd characters. These include Herman, an ex-preacher and hit man who has turned his hand to selling prairie dogs to the Japanese, and Herman's brother, Red, a hard-nosed midget who joins the party together with Leonard's adopted son, an armadillo called Bob! In order to reach Tillie the motley crew finally take to the air before finding themselves up against the Bandito Supremes. --Pat Naylor

About the Author
Joe R. Lansdale is the winner of the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, the Edgar Award, and six Bram Stoker Awards. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Customer Reviews

The usual entertaining mayhem.....
Another offering from the East Texas odd couple Hap and Leonard. This time they embark on an affaire du coeur, attempting to rescue the daughter of Hap's latest flame from a half life in a mexican brothel. Needless to say, on the way they take in both a large helping of laugh-out-loud funny dialogue, and the usual helping of entertaining low-lives, including a circus dwarf who has gotten into a much less entertaining profession, and his giant ex-hitman turned preacher brother.
While vastly entertaining, plot-wise this is a little more of a linear chercher-la-femme than other books in the series, but location, dialogue, and most of all characters are all so engaging that the book slips down like a cool beer on a hot day. Highly recommended if you are already a fan of the author, and if not, a reasonable place to discover what you've been missing.

A FANTASTIC SERIES OF FUN AND ENTERTAINMENT!!
RUMBLE TUMBLE, the fifth novel in the series, by Joe R. Lansdale continues the saga of Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, beginning where BAD CHILI left off. It all starts when Hap's girlfriend, Brett Sawyer, tells him that a man called on the telephone and said that he had news about her wayward daughter, Tillie, but that it's going to cost her five hundred dollars to find out what it is. Hap, and his good ol'-buddy Leonard (think Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson-thanks, Dale!), accompanies Brett to the seedy motel where the voice on the phone is staying. It turns out there are two men at the motel-a redheaded midget with an attitude the size of King Kong and a stupid giant-size piece of white trash who thinks he's tougher than he actually is. Both guys want to make some quick money by telling Brett that her daughter, who's a prostitute, is being held against her will in Hootie Hoot, Oklahoma by the local crime lord, Big Jim Clemente. Naturally, it isn't long before Hap, Leonard, and Brett are heading to Hootie Hoot to rescue the trick-turning prodigal, but nothing is ever easy for these folks. After a big confrontation and a shootout in Big Jim's house of ill repute, the trio finds out that Tillie's been sent to Mexico to sexually service a gang of bikers called the Bandito Supremes as punishment for a misdeed. Hap and Leonard are two tough hombres, but the odds against rescuing Brett's daughter just got considerably higher with the addition of a biker gang of killers. Before the week is over, our two favorite amigos are going to have to deal with the treachery of a midget that can do handstands, an ex-biker turned preacher who wants redemption for his past deeds, a Texas armadillo in need of a little friendship and kindness, and a shootout in old Mexico that will remind you of the ending in the movie, The Wild Bunch. RUMBLE TUMBLE delivers with full force the fun and excitement expected from any "Hap Collins/Leonard Pine" novel. The characters are deftly drawn, the dialogue is true to the ear, and the story line has all of the necessary ingredients to fulfill one's desire for action, suspense and drama. Mr. Lansdale has created Hap and Leonard with not only a strong sense of humor, but with an avid sense of justice and honor. These two men also have a profound view of life and how to live it that gives the reader an opportunity to think about his or her own belief system. This fantastic series is definitely more than just popcorn entertainment for the masses. It's a great author's attempt to tell a good story, while at the same time reflecting on what it means to be a decent human being and staying true to one's values. I can't recommend the "Hap/Leonard" novels enough. This is writing that has power and honesty, and is able to touch the heart, as well as the funny bone. Now, it's time to pick up MUCHO MOJO, the third book in the series, and find out what the dysfunctional duo was like before Brett came into the picture.

Superb.Hap & Leonard are excellent creations.
This is the third book featuring Hap & Leonard that I have read and I'm still not tired of them. In this unlikely duo, Joe R Lansdale has created 'gentlemen' of a kind that I thought no longer existed. The humour is somewhat black and the situations the characters contrive to end up in, occasionally far-fetched but overall this is an excellent book. The middle-aged white Hap's blind devotion to his new girlfriend and insistence on recovering her addled daughter ensure that his closest friend Leonard, a gay but extremely hard black man, feels obliged to help him out. Lansdale's dialogue is always excellent, particularly so with these two characters who argue like a long-suffering married couple but ultimately watch each other's back. The plot is far-fetched in places, as is the initial premise of Hap & Leonard's friendship, but the author is so skilled that this seems a minor point. I think this man is possibly the best crime/mystery writer in the US today.