Rusty Puppy

By: Joe R. Lansdale

Narrated by: Christopher Ryan Grant

Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Hap and Leonard investigate a racially motivated murder that threatens to tear apart their East Texas town.

While Hap, a former '60s activist and self-proclaimed white-trash rebel, is recovering from a life-threatening stab wound, Louise Elton comes into Hap and Leonard's PI office to tell him that the police have killed her son, Jamar.

Months earlier, a bully cop pulled over and sexually harassed Jamar's sister, Charm. The officer followed Charm over the course of the next couple of months, leading Jamar to videotape and take notes on the cop and his partner. The next thing Louise hears, Jamar got in a fight and is killed in the projects by local hoods. It doesn't add up: He was a straight-A student, destined for better things, until he began to ask too many questions about the racist police force.

Leonard, a tough black gay Vietnam vet and Republican, joins Hap in the investigation, and they stumble upon the racial divides that have shaped their Eastern Texas town. But if anyone can navigate these pitfalls and bring the killers to justice, it's Hap and Leonard.

Filled with Lansdale's trademark whip-smart dialogue, colorful characters, and relentless pacing, Rusty Puppy is Joe Lansdale at his best.

©2017 Joe R. Lansdale (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Dark, moving.... As always, Lansdale spins a wild, rollicking yarn, but behind all the mayhem is a heartfelt tale about friendship, brotherhood, loyalty, and family. Hap and Leonard are complicated, violent men, but they display a basic humanity and decency that carries this remarkable series along." ( Publishers Weekly)

"The pleasure of any Hap and Leonard mystery is the yin-yang of the two heroes: white/black, straight/gay, liberal/conservative, easygoing/hair-trigger temper. Without making any brotherhood speeches, the books are rough-hewn fables of tolerance in action. Part of the reason it all goes down without any kind of 'Kumbaya' ickiness is that Lansdale writes such good smart-ass repartee.... This puppy tells a waggly tale the reader is happy to follow down the roughest paths." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"A unique mix of sly humor and horrific violence. Readers will laugh at some particularly profane smart-ass repartee and then want to cover their eyes a couple sentences later as the violence explodes. Another fine entry in a great series." ( Booklist)

Great listen

Why these books don’t have thousands of review l will never understand. A fun read.

great

Christopher Ryan Grant needs to narrate all the Hap & Lenord books. knowbody does it like he does. hearing him read this book then listening to vanilla ride was a disappointment ! he brings th he characters to bbn life, especially " Jim Bob Luke " !

Great story

Great characters and story always a fun read. I’ve read everything by this author even his young adult stuff. He never disappoints

Hap & Leonard just keep on going.

With how "Honky Tonk Samurai" ended I couldn't wait to read this book to see what happened to Hap. This book doesn't disappoint in the slightest. Hap & Leonard are hired to look into the death of their client's son who was beaten death months later after some local racist police officers caught him video taping them in retaliation for those same cops sexually harassing his sister. Am still not a big fan of the narrator & do miss Phil Gigante's voice.

Awesome Series!

I usually always give five star reviews for these books. I was kind of disappointed to find that Phil Gigante
Was not narrating the latest of the series. Nothing against the new narrator. He did a great job as well, but all the voices of the characters are different now. It was kind of odd to hear after all the other books

Hated for it to end! Great story line,

Greatly enjoyed this listen on my drive to Denver. I was easily absorbed into the story line. Excellent listen.

Very entertaining

Enjoyable. Especially the characters. I always enjoy seeing what is next for Hap and Leonard.

Fantastic as always

Love the hap and series and this one was no exception. Comical drama- with a couple of kick ass dudes.

perfect

This was such a great flow. just the right amount of smart ass humor, scary encounters, and rough them up action.

The Charlie’s Angels installment

“Inside of his head a brain cell used a step ladder to find a high shelved thought.”
This is one of my top three favorites in the series (Two Bear Mambo and Honkytonk Samurai being the other two). This one is particularly great because it’s almost all just raucous good times told with Landsdale’s gift for kooky sayings and metaphors.

Leonard: “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and tastes like a duck once you cook it right, it’s a duck, and I think this case is a duck.”
Hap: “I got lost somewhere.”
Leonard: “Yeah, I think I extended the metaphor too far.”
Also, unlike the last couple of books, it could be heard as a standalone. If you don’t want to start with the heavier, grittier first books, you could bite into this one and try out the happy meal.

Hap: “Guess I’m thinking we may be looking at the wrong duck.”
Leonard: “So, you admit there was a duck!”
But, c’mon, those of you who’ve made it this far in the series already know this duck will quack.
Plus, Leonard finds his pooky and there’s a 400 year old vampire. What’s not to love?