By Wayne C. Rogers
Shadow Waltz Joe R. Lansdale’s My World was originally published in 1991 for Mysterious Press and is now available in Kindle format. Because the author felt he was not living up to expectations when creating this mainstream novel, he pulled it from publication and left it sitting in a box for the next few years. When Subterranean Press expressed interest in publishing a signed limited edition, Mr. Lansdale pulled the book from storage and cut over two hundred pages from the manuscript. While he was pleased with the end result, he still had doubts about the book being published.
Why?
I have no idea.
This is a great novel!
When I read his foreword, I thought this was going to be a mediocre book with maybe a few bright spots, but I found myself riveted for the first twenty pages and then shot like a human cannonball from one end of the circus tent to the other.
Shadow Waltz The story centers on Hank Small, a very nice guy who owns a video store, has a good wife and two cute kids, and what happens to him when his young nephew Billy asks him for help.
Billy appears to have joined a gang of yuppie youth who enjoy deviant sex and seek death for an adrenaline rush. One night, when the gang decides to commit a home invasion to earn a little cash, they encounter two men (Fat Boy and Snake) who are death incarnate in the home of their intended victim. Billy manages to escape, but the rest of the gang members are tortured and killed.
Billy knows he is being hunted by these two psychopaths and he hopes his Uncle Hank can help him out. Not knowing what to do, Hank turns to his half-brother Arnold, who he hasn’t spoken to in over a decade. Arnold is a tough man who has spent time in prison. Hank realizes that if anyone knows how to deal with these two psychopaths, it’s him. However, before the two brothers can make their move, Fatboy and Snake find Billy and kindly torture him a bit to see who knows who they are.
From now on, no one in the Smalls family is safe. If Hank wants to save his wife and child, he and Arnold must prepare for a bloody battle.
Shadow Waltz This book is undoubtedly dark, violent, tense, and suspenseful. Fatso and Snake are the most evil criminals I have ever read in fiction. They are ruthless, evil, and completely believable. The reader is stunned speechless by the graphic violence and realistic descriptions as they break into Hank’s home, humiliate him, and rape his wife.
Mr. Lansdale pulls no punches. He sets the ground rules for what is to come so that the reader understands that Hank and Arnold need absolute revenge, that it will be a fight to the death, and that neither side will show any mercy. All the characters are well drawn and the prose is Lansdale’s style at its best.
I don’t know of another author other than Andrew Wax who could write a novel this dark and violent while still keeping the main character human. This novel is an absolute winner! I hope Mr. Lansdale will eventually allow it to be published in a mass paperback edition so that thousands of other readers can experience this “dark time in a dark forest”.
It is worth mentioning that this novel is Mr. Lansdale’s first work, so the writing style is slightly different from his newer works. This is the beginning of Mr. Lansdale’s long career.
Order yours here.
score:4/5
