The Two-Bear Mambo

by Joe R. Lansdale

Book Overview

In this rollicking, rollercoaster ride of a novel, Hap Collins and Leonard Pine take a break from their day jobs to search for Florida Grange, Leonard's drop-dead gorgeous lawyer and Hap's former... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 089296491X
• ISBN13: 9780892964918
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Mysterious Press
• Length: 273 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Classic Lansdale

Lansdale delivers another fine novel featuring Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, one of the oddest (and toughest) couples in mystery fiction. Hap, straight and white, and Leonard, gay and black, travel to Grovetown, Texas, a city that makes Johannesburg look like a bastion of racial unity. They are searching for Hap's ex-girlfriend Florida Grange, last seen there. Wisecracking all the way (even when they're getting the s**t kicked out of `em), the boys stir up a hornet's nest, and in the process learn some hard lessons about themselves and the nature of their friendship. Two Bear evoked memories of the best of Robert B. Parker and John D. MacDonald. Parker, because of the dialogue, and MacDonald because of the characterization. Lansdale's characters are real people who can get hurt, even killed-- he really puts them through the wringer. Their adversaries aren't cardboard villains, twirling handlebar mustaches. Menacing and memorable, driven by hate, greed, prejudice, lust and ignorance, these folks are scary because you might meet them in real life. In short, The Two Bear Mambo is classic Lansdale--a good, tough thoroughly enjoyable book that you will remember long after finishing.

Humor with a heavy dose of racism

Hap and Leonard just can't seem to keep themselves out of trouble. At the beginning of The Two-Bear Mambo, Leonard is yet again setting fire to the drug dealers' house next door. Their friend Lt. Hanson has to take them in just because, but when Hap's ex-girlfriend -- and Hanson's current squeeze -- Florida Grange goes missing, Hanson agrees to drop the charges if Hap and Leonard will go look for her in Grovetown, a burg in East Texas known for its violent Klan members, and where Florida was last seen. The Two-Bear Mambo is so far the most unflinching in its portrayal of Southern racism. Grovetown is even worse than I could have imagined and Lansdale does not look away for a moment. Leonard is the obvious target, but Hap's association with him brings him into the fray of violence as well. And as for Florida: well, no one as yet has admitted to even seeing her... My white Southern guilt was intensified while reading The Two-Bear Mambo; the characters, their ideas, and their violence are all-too familiar from my upbringing. So much so that I could barely even bring myself to read it in public, afraid of what the people around me -- seeing the N-word on nearly every page -- would think I was reading (as if the barely euphemistic title weren't embarrassing enough). But the trademark Lansdale humor abounds in sarcastic remarks and in the first-person narration of Hap -- whose difference from the author himself seems to be getting less and less. Lansdale has said that he is very comfortable with the voice of Hap and the easy-going prose makes that obvious. Despite my emotional reaction to the book, I look forward to continuing the adventures of Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. I'm glad they can't keep away from trouble; if they did, I'd be reading some other book that isn't nearly as fun.

A TOWN'S PURE EVIL ALMOST KILLS OUR TWO HEROES!!!!

THE TWO-BEAR MAMBO by Joe R. Lansdale continues the saga of Hap Collins and Leonard Pine where MUCHO MOJO left off. It starts out with Hap arriving at Leonard's house on Christmas Eve night. Blasting out of his friend's home is the music to "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" and Leonard is next door, kicking righteous butt and burning down the neighborhood crack house once again. The police pull Hap and Leonard in, but Lieutenant Marvin Hanson gets them off the hook, provided they do him a small favor. It seems that Hap's old girlfriend, Florida Grange (the one who left him for Hanson) took off to Grovetown, Texas to do an article on a black musician who supposedly hung himself while in the custody of the local police. Florida has suddenly vanished, and Hanson wants Hap and Leonard to pay a visit to Grovetown to see if they can find out anything. The only problem is that this particular Texas town is right out of the fifties and sixties. It's a viper's nest filled with Klansmen, led by Jackson Brown, who enjoy murdering the black folks and seem to be getting away with it. Both Hap and Leonard know that they're going to have their hands full just trying to stay alive as they attempt to investigate Florida's disappearance. Even together, as tough as they are, both men are going to find out that they've bitten off more than they can chew when they take on the populace of Grovetown. They'll find themselves in the middle of free-for-all that would put Billy Jack to shame and come very close to getting beaten to death. Both men will discover true fear for the first time in their lives and have to find a way of dealing with it as their injuries heal, if they want to be able to face each other again, as well as solve the mystery of what happened to Florida when they eventually return to Grovetown to face the evil of its people. THE TWO-BEAR MAMBO will give you a slightly different perspective of our two heroes this time around, making them more flawed and human. As tough as Hap and Leonard are, they're not invincible, and both of them come very close to death as they seek to right a wrong. They will find out things about themselves that will at first be difficult to face; yet, in the long run will make them stronger. Though a part of me knows that these two characters are fictional, the writing is so good that another part of me almost believes that they're real. These are guys that I'd simply love to hang out with, and it's a tribute to the talent of Joe R. Lansdale that he's created such believable characters...characters who are funny, skilled martial artists, almost always unemployed, who have the same kinds of problems with relationships that real people do, and who have a strong sense of honor and justice that gets them into trouble more often than not. Mr. Lansdale is able to do this because he has a unique skill in writing that comes off as being natural and down to earth, but is actually a master craftsman at work. He knows how to m

Another Winner from Lansdale

These Hap Collins/Leonard Pine books is probably the best series you've never heard of. If you're already a fan of the books , you know what to expect, a good plot, great characters, and maybe the best dialogue in the business. Two-Bear Mambo is my personal favorite. If you just discovered this series , start with the first book "Savage Season" and jump right in.

Gritty, Hilarious, and Impeccably Human

In this novel, Joe Lansdale continues and deepens the partnership/friendship of Hap and Leonard, seen previously in Savage Season and Mucho Mojo.More than any other current writer, Lansdale has the uncanny knack of placing more hilarious dialogue and description on virtually every page, while he follows this seemingly mismatched pair's quest to find a friend who has disappeared deep in Klan country. Lansdale manages to shine his literary light on racism, southern culture, human relationships and foibles, all within the context of this gripping suspense novel. I guarantee that you'll not only set aside this book at times to think, but that you'll have to stop reading regularly to laugh out loud. A most wonderfully human novel from this gifted writer