Sunset and Sawdust (LANSDALE, JOE R.)

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Summary: Sunset herownself
Review: By this time in his career, Joe R. Lansdale has certainly worn a comfortable groove in his storytelling saddle. SUNSET AND SAWDUST reads very much like other novels Lansdale has published in recent years (notably The Bottoms and A Fine Dark Line-two other recent non-Hap 'n' Leonard novels). The humor, the atmosphere, the plotting, and the East Texas vernacular are all quintessentially Lansdale. If you're a returning reader, you'll find yourself right at home for another stay (much too brief though it may be) with your favorite mojo storyteller.

What gives SUNSET AND SAWDUST some extra kick, however, is a sense that even if Lansdale has covered similar territory in the past, he's still examining it with a hungry and restless eye. His use of a female protagonist, the redhead constable Sunset Jones, might be just the ingredient that keeps SUNSET AND SAWDUST so fresh and unpredictable. Lansdale has always written convincing female characters, but it's fun to see him examine the whole boy-girl thing from the other side of the fence.

The enduring Lansdale theme of people with power behaving badly towards people without it is at play once again in SUNSET AND SAWDUST. But the main character, the recently self-widowed redheaded constable who is on the lookout for a killer and also a moral center, helps muddy up that notion quite considerably.

There's also an arsenal of well written supporting characters in SUNSET AND SAWDUST that helps keep the novel well balanced and fun to read. A noticeable progression in some of these characters' front porch philosophizing adds to the overall adventurousness of the novel. SUNSET AND SAWDUST doesn't just sit there. . .it reaches out into the dark and does its damndest to grab hold of something.

And it succeeds. I've been a fan of Joe R. Lansdale's writing for almost fifteen years now, and I'm happy to say that he's just getting better at what he does. As a writer, it's always a challenge to remain true to one's evolving self, and with SUNSET AND SAWDUST Joe has risen to that task admirably. The saddle might be well worn and comfortable, but Lansdale certainly hasn't fallen asleep at the reigns.

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Summary: Noir in Overalls
Review: First of all, I am a Lansdale fan. I discovered his books about four years ago and I have read nearly every thing he's written. Lansdale keeps getting better and better. The location of nearly all of his books is in East Texas. I spent some time in East Texas approximately 12 years ago; it has a unique culture that Lansdale has captured and passes on in his stories.

Sunset and Sawdust is set in the Great Depression. It begins with a tornado and a murder. Sunset Jones, shoots and kills her law enforcement husband in self defense as he beat her and later tried to rape her. At the same time, a tornado is blowing down the house around her.

To Sunset's surprize, her mother-in-law, owner of a lumber mill, supports Sunset and uses her political pull to appoint her as the first female constable in East Texas. Of course, no Lansdale book is complete without him attacking sexism and racism. Sunset has a mystery to solve. A dead women and a dead baby, both covered in oil, are discovered in the rich soil on the farm land owned by an African American farmer. The woman is Sunset's dead husband's mistress. Was he the father of the deceased baby?

Also in this story, another character from Lansdale's The Big Blow makes his appearance in this tale. Lansdale creates some of the best characters and creepiest villians. Sunset has to battle two of them, an aging boxer, who is still deadly with his fists, and his half brother who is not only evil, but has a split personality.

Lansdale is quite a wordsmith. His prose is like sitting at the feet of a masterful story teller and listening to him spin a tale. His one-liners, metaphors, and similes are priceless. I like the way Lansdale describes the dirt and grime of a little, filthy, lumber town. He goes into such detail that you can almost smell the feces and want to take a shower afterwards to wash the sawdust and sweat off of you.

If you like noir set in the Depression in East Texas, read Landale's The Boar, The Bottoms, and The Big Blow (early 1900's). I would also recommend one of Lansdale's mentor's books, Neil Barrett's Piggs (described as the Sopranos, barefoot and in overalls).

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Summary: A cracking good read
Review: I recently developed an interest in Joe Lansdale after hearing all the hype about "Bubba Ho-Tep," a film version of one of this author's short stories directed by Don Coscarelli of "Phantasm" fame and starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. I knew about Lansdale before the hoopla surrounding the film reached a fever pitch, of course, but he is one of those writers I unfortunately kept putting on the back burner in lieu of other "must read" stuff. On an excursion to the library recently I decided to finally check out something-anything, really-from this author. Since I couldn't find the short story collection containing "Bubba Ho-Tep," I settled on "Sunset and Sawdust" largely because it looked like it is his newest book and because it was the first one to catch my eye. I am happy to announce that I enjoyed this book despite a few minor reservations. I ended up enjoying "Sunset and Sawdust" so much that upon finishing it I immediately went back to the library to pick up another one of his books.

Set in the heat parched environs of Camp Rapture (known to the local employees as "Camp Rupture"), East Texas during the Great Depression, "Sunset and Sawdust" tells us everything we would want to know about a spirited firecracker named Sunset Jones. The adventure begins when Sunset (so named because of her mane of bright red hair) murders her abusive husband during a tornado strike. Regrettably for Sunset, her husband Pete was the town constable and the son of the primary owners of the local saw mill. It takes a lot of guts to stroll into the mill and tell Pete's parents what she did, but Sunset is the type of gal who always lives up to her responsibilities. Predictably, the men in the area despise the fact that this uppity woman dispatched her spouse. After all, everyone expects a woman in 1930's Texas to keep her mouth shut and fulfill her marital obligations. Oddly enough, Sunset's actions lead her mother-in-law Marilyn Jones to take a stand against her own husband's abusive practices. Moreover, Marilyn goes so far as to pull strings to get Sunset appointed town constable. Backed up by Clyde, a rough and tumble mill worker, and a roving hobo named Hillbilly, Sunset puts on a badge and pistol to assume her post as law officer for the mill town.

A series of events soon leads to impending troubles for Sunset Jones. In her husband's files, she discovers a document recording a strange event that took place on a nearby farm owned by a black man named Zendo. According to Pete's written recollections, the farmer discovered the body of an unborn infant, encased in an earthen jar and covered in oil, buried on his property. Constable Pete Jones took the body and buried it in an unmarked grave with little public fanfare, which makes Sunset suspicious enough to reopen the case. Soon, Zendo's plow turns up the corpse of a woman, also covered in oil, on another piece of his property. The two shocking discoveries soon lead to a series of confrontations that threaten Sunset Jones, her bond with her daughter Karen, and her relationships with Clyde, Hillbilly, and Marilyn. It seems some bad people with an eye towards making a bundle off the new local commodity have been up to some very bad things, and the only person ultimately standing in their way is Sunset Jones's meddling. Several subplots, including Jones's reconciliation with her long lost father, the appearance of two goons from up North, and a local black moonshiner named Bull all help move the story to its violent conclusion.

"Sunset and Sawdust" doesn't stick to a single genre. Elements of humor, murder mystery, and action adventure wind their way through the book. At times, Lansdale goes straight for the funny bone with the slangy banter between Sunset, Clyde, and Hillbilly. Clyde's reasoning for burning down his house is quite amusing, as is our red headed heroine's methods of enforcing the law. So often does Lansdale slather on the hilarity that we often forget the novel is a mystery. Why are those bodies in the fields? Who put them there and why? Who are they? These questions, and Sunset's attempts to discover the answers, pop up with increasing frequency as the book heads to its shoot 'em up denouement. The inclusion of several fistfights, gun battles, and general mayhem spices up the novel as well. I think there is something for everyone in "Sunset and Sawdust," even for horror fans. The character known as Two is one of the creepiest villains I've seen in a book for some time. Yep, all sorts of readers should have a rollicking good time with this entertaining read.

I did have a few problems with the book. The biggest difficulty is how anachronistic the whole thing is in reference to race relations. Imagine a 1990's mentality towards social relations implanted into Texas of the 1930s. I increasingly had doubts that Sunset and Clyde could have gotten away with the things they were doing in favor of the local black populace. Too, Sunset's appointment as town constable despite the murder charge hanging over her head was completely unconvincing. You can't tell me someone wouldn't have worked behind the scenes to bring her down. Lansdale tries to deflect problems in this area by having Marilyn use her clout as mill owner to help Sunset get the job, and also reveals a rather heavy handed overt plot to remove Sunset from power, but it's all rather shaky. Still, the novel overcomes these troubling quandaries easily by slathering on the humor and creating engaging and fully developed characters. I readily recommend "Sunset and Sawdust" despite these slight problems.

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Summary: not very satisfying
Review: I'd consider myself a Lansdale fan, I've read all the short stories, loved the first Hap and Leonard books. But lately...I dunno, I don't finish his books with the same "what a great read" feeling I normally have. Captains Outrageous was just bad...it was Hap and Leonard...but it just seemed a chore to finish. With Sunset and Sawdust, the story starts great and then half way through (where we finally meet the real villains) it started to lose me, and by the end, I was kinda mad I started reading it. Anyway. that's just my opinion. If you felt the same way about Captains Outrageous, you might want to give this one a pass too.

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Summary: Even Better Than Award-Winning The Bottoms!
Review: Joe R. Lansdale's latest, _Sunset and Sawdust_ and is a real stunner! I think this book is even better than his Edgar-award winning _The Bottoms_. The time and place are pretty much the same: Depression-era East Texas. On the outskirts of the sawmill town of Camp Rapture, live Sunset Jones and her husband, Pete, the town constable. As the novel opens, a big storm is brewing and Pete is in the middle of raping and beating his wife when she decides she's finally had enough, shooting him to death with his own gun. The storm blows away their house and leaves Sunset to stumble into town and make her way to her mother-in-law's home. Pete's mother, Marilyn, is angry at first, but quickly (almost too quickly?) comes to understand Sunset's actions and the reasons for them--she's had to endure the same treatment at the hands of Pete's father. Since Marilyn is also a part owner of the sawmill, she arranges it so that Sunset becomes the new constable.

Sunset vows to take the job seriously and, before too long, she's investigating the deaths of a woman and a baby, both found soaked in oil and buried upright in the land of a poor black farmer. With the help of her deputies, pretty-boy Hillbilly, who's just passing through town and wants to earn the money to replace the guitar he used to fight off a couple of hobos, and Clyde, who's got a crush on Sunset, but just isn't the sort of guy to have much luck with women (he burns down his house, rather than trying to clean years of dirt inside), Sunset finds herself in the middle of a rather prickly situation.

There are some pretty dark, sinister villains at work here, plus one of the more memorable, mish-mashed groups of heroes. Sunset's father, Lee, has recently dropped back into her life, off of a passing freight, along with an old-before-his-time young man named Goose. Then there's the legendary Bull Stackerlee, a huge black man that lives all by himself off in the woods and becomes something of a bodyguard for Sunset. Through it all, Sunset discovers inner reserves of strength and nobility she didn't know she had and the whole situation builds to a violent, though very satisfying climax.

This is an excellent book, full of unique characters that you come to care about, and a gripping story that will keep you reading. This just might be the best book Lansdale's yet written, and if you've read him before, you'll know that's saying something.

Craig Larson
Trinidad, CO

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Summary: One of the most literary writers of the genre
Review: Joe R. Lonsdale won the Edgar Award for best novel several years ago for his historical drama, THE BOTTOMS. He returns now with another literary historical crime drama, SUNSET AND SAWDUST. There are few writers of the genre that can so successfully evoke a time and place as Mr. Lonsdale. In his hands, East Texas comes as alive as the Louisiana Bayous of James Lee Burke, the Los Angeles of Michael Connelly or the gripping narratives of Thomas H. Cook. Landscape is as important as character and plot progression.
In depression era East Texas, Sunset Jones kills her husband as a tornado destroys her house. Sunset fearing for her life as her husband was about to rape her, pulls the trigger. Through a quirk of fate, she takes over the job of constable of Camp Rapture, a small sawmill town. Her deputies include Hillbilly, a violent drifter who Sunset is attracted to (as is her teenage daughter), and Clyde, a local resident who in wanting to start over decides to burn his house down. The dead body of a baby as well as a woman who Sunset's husband was seeing prior to his death turns up on a local farmer's land. As Sunset investigates, she uncovers a plot to steal oil saturated land. Death, of course ensues. The question arises, can Sunset get out of this alive?
The vividly portrayed and carefully constructed characters set this story above the ordinary. Mr. Lonsdale is a fine writer capable of flinging similes and metaphors as well as the best literary writers working today. After reading this well paced and clever story, the reader will feel their time was well spent.

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Summary: Another memorable visit to East Texas.
Review: With Sunset and Sawdust, Lansdale's readers find themselves revisiting the familiar terrain of East Texas, a region which the author has evoked with much intimacy and affection in novels like Mucho Mojo and Rumble Tumble. Set in the lumber town of Rapture, Texas, the novel begins as its heroine, the fetching Sunset Jones, shoots her husband Pete in the head with his own .38. Pete, a man who was a little too fond of beating and raping his wife, dies with a surprised look on his face, his ass in the air, and his pants around his ankles.

Receiving unexpected moral and political support from her mother in law Marilyn, who feels partially responsible for her son's vile behavior, Sunset is appointed to serve the remainder of Pete's term as Constable of Rapture. Assisted by the plain spoken Clyde, and the handsome and mysterious drifter Hillbilly, Sunset finds herself at the center of a murder mystery involving her husband's mistress and unborn child. What follows is pure Lansdale, including a couple of beatings, a house fire, sweaty sex, gunplay, creepy villains (one of whom previously appeared in Lansdale's outstanding short novel The Big Blow), unexpected plot twists, and general mayhem.

Lansdale continues on his impressive upward climb of constant refinement and improvement, producing a book that exceeds the high expectations created by such previous successes as the Edgar Award winning The Bottoms and 2003's A Fine Dark Line. In the hands of a lesser writer, the events depicted in Sunset and Sawdust might read like an over the top country soap opera, but Lansdale's distinctive voice, combined with his emotional wisdom and his abiding affection for even the most despicable of his characters, transforms these incidents into affecting drama. Lansdale's wit has never been as keen, his insight into what makes his characters tick never deeper. His prose shines-you often stop to laugh at or reflect on what you've just read. Lines like "He was big enough to go alligator hunting with stern language," or "Flies were so thick on the front of his shirt they looked like a vest," create indelible images that linger in memory.

In the final analysis, however, it's the distinct sense of place that Lansdale creates that really sells the story. In Rapture, he's created a literary locale as vivid and unique as John Steinbeck's vision of Monterey, California, the setting for that author's famous novels Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday. What makes the town memorable, aside from its colorful denizens and the odd happenings which occur there, is the sense that you've actually visited the place and experienced its charms first hand. Finishing the book, you almost expect to find the sawdust that permeates the town's air on your clothing.