I had not read anything by Joe R. Lansdale until recently, but I thought he wrote Sci-Fi.  Yes, he does, but then I discovered the Hap and Leonard stories and became addicted. I love these two outrageous characters:  Hap Collins, a white heterosexual Democrat who has done prison time for not going to Vietnam, and Leonard Pine, a black homosexual Republican Vietnam Vet.  They are unlikely best friends who manage to get into unbelievable trouble, but they can more than hold their own in just about any fight.

In Vanilla Ride they tangle with the Dixie Mafia when they try to extract Hap's girlfriend's daughter from prostitution and the grasp of drug dealers. The Dixie Mafia doesn't like the interference and sends their best assassins after them.  But in a hilarious romp across the country, the Mafia learns that their top killers aren't good enough and finally sends their best weapon—Vanilla Ride is a hit woman who is as smart as she is beautiful.

Lansdale is a superb storyteller who writes everything from screenplays to comics to short stories to novels about crime and novels about horror. He is a master at characterization and plotting—and making me laugh. This story is brutal and violent, and hilarious, and I can't wait for the next Hap and Leonard farce.  It looks like the next one will be Blue To The Bone, due sometime in the next decade.  Hurry up, Joe.