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Book Review of Cold in July

Cold in July
perryfran avatar reviewed on + 1183 more book reviews


Another good one from Lansdale! This is one of his earliest novels first published in 1990. It's the story of a man, Richard Dane, who kills a burglar in self defense who had broken into his home putting his wife and young son in danger. But then the dead burglar's father, and ex-con named Ben Russell decides that Dane should pay and eye for an eye, a son for son. In the end, Russell can't go through with his plan and Dane discovers from a photo that the man he killed wasn't Russell's son. So Dane and Russell become allies in trying to figure out what the police are hiding and why they told Dane that he had killed Freddy Russell. Russell contacts an old friend who is also a PI to try to get to the bottom of this and find out if Freddy is still alive. This leads to a very dark and violent conclusion as only Lansdale can write them!

I have never read a Lansdale novel that I didn't like and this was no exception. I've read all of his Hap and Leonard series as well as many of his stand alone novels including THE BOTTOMS, FREEZER BURN, THE THICKET, EDGE OF DARK WATER, etc. I would recommend all of these as well as COLD IN JULY which has also been made into a movie that I definitely want to check out. High praise again for Lansdale!