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angus_mckeogh's review against another edition
2.0
Thus far this was the least interesting of the series. A local girl has gone missing and it appears the KKK might’ve been involved. Endless vignettes about race relations and sex and very little action. Then the ending seemed to be a slight cheat for lack of anything better. Will continue with the series but hopefully it heads in a different direction.
posies23's review against another edition
4.0
Probably closer to a 3.5 than a 4.
Hap and Leonard find themselves in trouble again, this time as they try to solve the mystery of Florida's disappearance. As usual, there's a lot of vulgar humor coupled with dark themes and a undertone of doom and gloom. Darker than the first two books in the series, this one doesn't really come together until the last 1/3, when the various strands of the novel start to gel.
Worthwhile, but not my favorite Lansdale.
Hap and Leonard find themselves in trouble again, this time as they try to solve the mystery of Florida's disappearance. As usual, there's a lot of vulgar humor coupled with dark themes and a undertone of doom and gloom. Darker than the first two books in the series, this one doesn't really come together until the last 1/3, when the various strands of the novel start to gel.
Worthwhile, but not my favorite Lansdale.
kleonard's review
4.0
Good writing, excellent characters, no superheroes. The Hap and Leonard books are great.
kayloric's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jeanne_i_d's review against another edition
5.0
My favorite Hap and Leonard of the three I have read to date.
misterjay's review against another edition
4.0
Two-Bear Mambo opens with Leonard having just set fire to the crack house next door and feeling no remorse about it. This causes friction with his boyfriend and the police and ends up with the former leaving and the latter tasking the boys to go searching for the missing Florida Grange. From there, the story heads down to a small, backwater town in east Texas where the racism is blatent and the distrust of strangers is legendary. Hap and Leonard's contrary natures get the better of them and soon, there are more fights, blood, questions, and klan members than you could shake a stick at. And all the while, Florida remains missing.
This third novel in the Hap and Leonard series is a lot of fun, while being even darker than the first two. The wisecracks and quips are sharper than ever and the settings just as vivid and just as depressing as ever. At the same time, the sex of the first two novels is cranked down in favor of visceral descriptions of racism and more violence.
While the plot boils and the conversation and descriptions sparkle, the plot is more than a little transparent. When the finale does come, it comes not with a sense of revelation, but a sense of inevitability and obviousness, as if it could not have ended any other way; the clues planted by the author are much more obvious to the reader than to the characters and that feels like a bit of a let down. It felt a little like author Lansdale could not decide if he wanted to tell a whodunnit or if he wanted to tell a crime story. There are elements of both, and both are well done, but they could have been blended together a little better.
As always, Phil Gigante's reading, especially the accents and voices, add a new dimension to an already well told story that makes it well worth the time to listen to, rather than read, the novel.
This third novel in the Hap and Leonard series is a lot of fun, while being even darker than the first two. The wisecracks and quips are sharper than ever and the settings just as vivid and just as depressing as ever. At the same time, the sex of the first two novels is cranked down in favor of visceral descriptions of racism and more violence.
While the plot boils and the conversation and descriptions sparkle, the plot is more than a little transparent. When the finale does come, it comes not with a sense of revelation, but a sense of inevitability and obviousness, as if it could not have ended any other way; the clues planted by the author are much more obvious to the reader than to the characters and that feels like a bit of a let down. It felt a little like author Lansdale could not decide if he wanted to tell a whodunnit or if he wanted to tell a crime story. There are elements of both, and both are well done, but they could have been blended together a little better.
As always, Phil Gigante's reading, especially the accents and voices, add a new dimension to an already well told story that makes it well worth the time to listen to, rather than read, the novel.
scheu's review against another edition
4.0
I wonder if I am giving this book four stars instead of five because for once things didn't turn out okay in the end. Ultimately I respect Lansdale for ending the story the way he did. I think that a little too much happened "off-camera" this time around.
sandin954's review
3.0
Hap and Leonard are talked into looking for a young woman who has gone to an East Texas town where a Klan like group holds sway. Some humor but this entry was more serious and the violence and suspense were ratcheted up.
dantastic's review against another edition
4.0
Hap's ex-girlfirend Florida disappears while investigating the murder of blues musician's son. Hap and Leonard, on behalf of Marvin Hanson, go to Grovetown, a racist hive of scum and villainy, to investigate. Will they find Florida and bring her back?
2016 Reread:
My quest to reread all of the Hap and Leonard books before the TV series drops so I can lord it over everyone else continues. In this, the third Hap and Leonard book, the boys go looking for Florida, Hap's ex and the current girlfriend of Marvin Hanson, their detective friend. Florida went to the most racist town in Texas investigating a jailhouse suicide that may have been murder and wound up missing.
The boys don't actually do a whole lot of detective work in this one. They mostly crack wise and get their asses handed to them. I'd forgotten the beatings Hap and Leonard take in earlier books.
Grovetown seems like a horrible place, backward and racist, but all too plausible. Lansdale peoples it with interesting characters, most of them with hidden depths. Since it's been at least a decade since I read this the first time, I'd forgotten most of the wrinkles of the plot and was pretty surprised by the ending.
The Lansdale wit is in full effect in this one. Even after reading mostly Lansdale in recent days, I still find myself surprised at his skill with colorful similes, like Raymond Chandler drenched in Miller High Life.
While it wasn't my favorite Lansdale book, The Two-Bear Mambo was still a very solid read, even the second time. Four out of five stars.
2016 Reread:
My quest to reread all of the Hap and Leonard books before the TV series drops so I can lord it over everyone else continues. In this, the third Hap and Leonard book, the boys go looking for Florida, Hap's ex and the current girlfriend of Marvin Hanson, their detective friend. Florida went to the most racist town in Texas investigating a jailhouse suicide that may have been murder and wound up missing.
The boys don't actually do a whole lot of detective work in this one. They mostly crack wise and get their asses handed to them. I'd forgotten the beatings Hap and Leonard take in earlier books.
Grovetown seems like a horrible place, backward and racist, but all too plausible. Lansdale peoples it with interesting characters, most of them with hidden depths. Since it's been at least a decade since I read this the first time, I'd forgotten most of the wrinkles of the plot and was pretty surprised by the ending.
The Lansdale wit is in full effect in this one. Even after reading mostly Lansdale in recent days, I still find myself surprised at his skill with colorful similes, like Raymond Chandler drenched in Miller High Life.
While it wasn't my favorite Lansdale book, The Two-Bear Mambo was still a very solid read, even the second time. Four out of five stars.
sandin954's review against another edition
3.0
Hap and Leonard are talked into looking for a young woman who has gone to an East Texas town where a Klan like group holds sway. Some humor but this entry was more serious and the violence and suspense were ratcheted up.