Sugar on the Bones

Sugar on the Bones is an immensely fun, enjoyable, and highly entertaining read! To be honest, I’d have a hard time remembering when I enjoyed a book more.

The story continues the saga of Hap and Leonard, a private-eye duo, as well as Haps wife NAME. In this episode, they start investigating without even having a client. That’s because a woman who interviewed them, but didn’t hire them, was burned up in a house fire the following day. Something didn’t smell right, so they decided to look into it. As their investigation deepened, they had to add additional folks to the team, because they found themselves up against a very lethal group of bad guys (and gals). As they race toward the thrilling conclusion, they begin wondering whether any of them will be left when this is over.

If I had to use a single word to describe what makes this story significantly better than similar stories, I would have to say “banter.” The banter between these characters is often hilarious, but always clever. The banter demonstrates the utter cohesiveness of the team, and it makes the book so much fun to read.

“He knew how to play people. He could be whatever they wanted until he wasn’t anything they wanted.”

To say that author Joe Lansdale knows how to turn a phrase is a gross understatement. Further, each of these characters has such a distinct personality that it must have been quite fun to write about them.

I can’t imagine the pacing being any better. It was truly perfect! Between the ongoing banter and the perfect pacing, the reader is led into the climax with no escape routes. Sure, you can stop reading the novel, but by that time that’s not an option.

The timing of the climax is also perfection. It’s not elongated so there’s a chance to catch your breath, but nor is it so quick that you can escape the consequences. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a climax done better, and I’m pretty forthright when it comes to climaxes!

I previously mentioned how awesome these characters are. I’m considering reading the previous twelve episodes of this series just to see how the characters came to be as they are in this story. These folks are so lovable that it’s hard to be critical!

In a series like this, sometimes it’s hard to have closure on one story before beginning the next one. I can say that I had wonderful closure with this story, yet still have a small hope (“hope” real isn’t a good word, but I can’t think of a better one) of the story continuing in another episode.

Just in case you haven’t surmised the obvious, I highly recommend this story for your reading pleasure!