Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 9/18/2021 + 1178 more book reviews

Another very enjoyable novel from Lansdale full of his usual violence and wackiness. This is another of his stand alone novels published in 2004. I've read and enjoyed most of his Hap and Leonard series as well as several of his stand-alones. All have been very entertaining to say the least.

This one takes place during the 1930s in Depression-era East Texas. The main protagonist of the novel is a woman called Sunset because of her bright red hair. Her husband, Pete, the local constable, assaults and rapes Sunset who has had enough abuse so pulls Pete's gun and shoots him in the head. While this is happening, a tornado destroys their home. Battered and shaken, Sunset goes to confess her deeds to her mother-in-law, the owner of the local sawmill, who decides that Sunset was justified and decides that she should also take over as the local constable. Sunset is then thrown into an investigation of the corpse of a baby and soon thereafter a second dead body. The investigation leads to some unlawful shenanigans which involved her dead husband, some crooked city council members, and local Klansmen obsessed by greed.

This is a typical novel for Lansdale with some very eccentric characters, loads of violence, and a setting in East Texas. As in many of his novels, it also describes the inequities of the black community and how they always are taken advantage of. It does veer somewhat from the typical by being set in the 1930s but otherwise another fun ride from Lansdale.

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