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Title: One of The Best Contemporary Detective Novels
Review: Joe Lansdale is usually funny in his books. Not in "The Bottoms." If you have only read "Mucho Mojo" or "The Drive-In" stories, you might not be ready for "The Bottoms." There's a procedural nature to it reminiscent of his first book, "Act of Love," but that's a much more straight-forward piece of fiction. "The Bottoms" is a deep, rich, thoughtful story of Depression-era Texas that happens to include the investigation of a grisly murder. "Crime" Lansdale is here, "horror" Lansdale is here, but then just "amazing writer" Lansdale is here as well. I tend to read the Edgar Award-winning books, but this is one that has stuck with me years after the fact. I re-read it on the way to a funeral recently that took me near the locations in the book. It was the greatest escape from an otherwise troubling string of days.
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