Freezer Burn

Bill Roberts is a laconic and none to smart loser that decides to rob a firecracker stand just across the street because his mother is now dead and stinking up the place and he cannot get the nerve up to forge her social security checks to get the money, which he is just about out of. With two cohorts helping him out, the robbery goes well for about two seconds. Then things go south in a hurry. Four corpses later, poor Bill stumbles out of the swamp and into a traveling carnival Freakshow run by a kind hearted man with a hand growing out of his chest and his femme fatale wife. Hoping to hide out until things cool down in the real world, Bill takes a job there and waits for the proper angles to present themselves. Gidget, the blonde bombshell wife of the show's owner, has some plans of her own as well as some very nice angles to get them done.Freezer Burn is largely a retelling of the film 'Freaks' as a comedic roman noir. Chock full of unsavory characters that view humane behavior as stupid and weak, this is certainly not a novel for all tastes. Longtime Lansdale fans will be delighted to see him brush up on his darker roots, the ones responsible for The Nightrunners and the black as tar noir nightmare The Night They Skipped the Horror Show. Others used to the trace of nobility found in his most recent work will wonder why he wasted his time telling the tale of such an unlikable sociopath anti-hero. Being a nearly twenty year Lansdale addict I heartily recommend to his longtime fans as well as to those who just like dark hearted noir with a goofball twist.

I wasn't sure what to think of _Freezer Burn_ when I started it. The characters were just a bit too wild to really register. Then, about the time the protagonist, Bill, realizes that he's starting to have unusual feelings (love, friendship) for Conrad the Wonder Dog, and Frost, the leader of a small freakshow he's hooked up with following a botched robbery, I realized that I was starting to feel all warm inside, too. It takes a great writer to create a character like Bill--someone you'd normally cross the street to avoid--and make you care about what happens to him. I know that other reviewers didn't feel the same way, but I was right there, rooting for the poor guy the whole way. If anything, the downbeat, noirish finale, which I should have seen coming, came as a bit of a surprise, even though we've all seen this a thousand times before (think _Double Indemnity_ or _Body Heat_). Heck, I would have been happy just following Bill's adventures with the freakshow for a few more hundred pages. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it highly, though it's obviously not for all tastes.

I recommend this book, yet give it a mixed review. On the one hand, I found the character of Conrad one of the most compelling I've ever come across in literature--wonderful and amazing!; on the other hand, the ending was excruciatingly bleak. It crushed me. This was the first time I read anything by Lansdale, and I plan on reading more.

FREEZER BURN shows us Bill Roberts and his 2 friends organizing a little robbery of a fireworks display. Problem is it's across the street from where Bill lives with his deceased mother in the back bedroom. The other problem is the display owner recognizes him and is killed. The next problem is the getaway car crashes, killing one of Bill's friends and the chase through a swamp kills the other friend. Not to mention a cop accidentally kills himself trying to take down Bill. All this and Bill ends up in a freak show carnival. Huh? Trust me, this novel is action packed and filled with allusions to Jesus Christ, Judas Iscariot and a host of colorful characters that make this one of Lansdale's best novels in years. Most highest recommendation

I'm sorry that a lot of folks have not liked this book, but I have to respectfully disagree. I've been reading Joe for twelve years, and to me "Freezer Burn" harkens back to his pre- Hap and Leonard days. Old school Lansdale. (Don't get me wrong--I'm a big fan of the Hap and Leonard books.)This lean and mean story is Flannery O'Connor trapped in a James M. Cain novel (though I'm not the first person to make the Flannery O'Connor/James M. Cain comparison--I read an interview in which Lansdale says basically the same thing.) The story is sort of an homage to a certain kind of book. If you're not a fan of Charles Willeford or James M. Cain or pre-Scudder Lawrence Block, then you might not catch the literary reference/homage that I think Lansdale is making.The story is predictable, but that's not the point. This is your standard hapless-loser-with-a-streak-of-bad-luck-is-seduced-and-used-by-a-beautiful-woman-to-kill-her-husband-and-the-whole-thing-goes-bad story. I don't think I just spoiled the story for anyone because the book does not try to hide it's traditional plot structure. There have been a million of these stories.A previous reviewer here has already pointed this fact out: Lansdale's novels are not about intricate plots with subtle hints and clues and red herrings and twists that keep you guessing all the time. (If you're in need of that, might I suggest Lawrence Block's Scudder novels.) Joe's novels are about the characters, like them or not, and doing new things within traditional pulp-like plot structures.What makes this book great is the fun that Lansdale has with the traditional form. In that old-school Lansdale way, the characters are over the top ridiculous, often repulsive, sad, and laughable at the same time. Yet, also in that Lansdale way, they are all too human, and real. The situations and settings are classic Lansdale, bringing me back to many stories from "By Bizarre Hands" and the "Drive In" novels.Finally, some people were displeased because the main character is not a likable guy. It is true, he is not. But this did not bother me. A protaganist, for me, does not have to be likable--just compelling. Look at Charles Willeford's classic, "High Priest of California"--a favorite of mine. The protagonist, Russell Haxby, is a complete a$$hole. But I love that book. (The a$$hole protagonist is a favorite device of Willefords.)Anyway, this is a long-winded review, but this is a great Lansdale book that has obviously not given all of his fans what they were hoping for, but I love it just the same.