Lost Echoes [Paperback]

The great Texas writer, Joe R. Lansdale, is finally back with another mainstream novel, Lost Echoes, and boy is it a keeper! Though Mr. Lansdale has written other books and collections for the smaller independent presses, he hasn't had a mainstream novel out since Sunset and Sawdust. That was three years ago. I've been like a man in the hot, dry desert with no water to drink, trying to be patient as I eagerly awaited this author's next book. Like Stephen King and Dan Simmons, Joe R. Lansdale can write anything that he sets his mind to--horror, westerns, science fiction, fantasy, Texas noir, and award-winning mainstream novels like The Bottoms and A Fine Dark Line. Mr. Lansdale has been writing fiction for well over twenty years; yet, I've had to come to the hard conclusion that he's America's best-kept secret. That's the only answer I can come up with as to why he hasn't reached the point to where he's now a New York Times #1 best selling author. I've been devouring books for over forty-five years, and The Bottoms by Joe Lansdale is the absolute best novel that I've ever read. No brag, just fact. If you haven't read anything by this writer, then I urge to start with his newest novel, Lost Echoes, which will surely hook you with line and sinker as an absolute "Lansdale" fan. I'll tell you another thing to, this book would make one heck of a fabulous movie. Some of Joe's stuff has already been done by Hollywood--Bubba Ho-Tep and Incident On & Off a Mountain Road.

Lost Echoes is about a young man named Harry Wilkes (think Ashton Kutcher), who's working his way through college and trying to stay out of trouble. You see when Harry was six-years of age, he became sick with the mumps and developed a serious ear infection that affected a part of his brain. After he got better, Harry quickly discovered that if he were in an area where a violent crime had taken place and he heard a sudden sound, images of the past crime would unexpectedly fill his mind and he would see the actual event happen and the faces of everyone involved. In time, Harry found out that he could hardly go anything without this mysterious ability being triggered. When he tried to explain it his few close friends and to his parents, no one believed him except for Kayla, the first girl he ever loved. As he grew older, Harry had to turn to alcohol as a way of putting up a wall against these disturbing images that threatened his sanity. One night while in a bar with one of his childhood friends, Harry sees three guys take this drunk out the back door. He instinctively knows that the guys are going to beat up and rob the drunk and decides to try and stop it. Rushing out into the back alley, Harry witnesses something right out of a movie as the drunk takes on the three strangers in hand-to-hand combat and whips them all in just a matter of seconds. The drunk turns out to be Tad Peters (think of Bruce Willis), a former martial artist who lost his family in a tragic accident. Harry is curious about Tad's skills as a fighter. Recognizing a kindred spirit in the other, they quickly become friends. This eventually leads Harry into becoming Tad's student as they each try to help the other in dealing with his inner demons and drinking problem. It's also about this time that Kayla comes back into Harry's life. Kayla's now a cop, and she wants to find the people who murdered her father. She seeks Harry's help, which causes a whole chain of events to unfold. Harry soon realizes that the men who killed Kayla's father are also connected to other unsolved murders. It isn't long before these men find out about Harry and his special ability and decide to kill him and anyone else who might know their secret. There's going to be one hell of a free-for-all at the end when Harry, Kayla and Tad take on the vicious serial killers in a battle to the death with no mercy being shown by either side.

I stayed up till one o'clock last night to finish Lost Echoes. I'd reached a point to where I just couldn't wait another day to find out the ending. And it was worth it, too! This novel is Joe Lansdale at his best. His writing is smooth and fast paced with an easy Texas colloquial style that makes it seem as if the author is speaking directly to you with his words. The chapters are short with an inevitable hook at the end that makes you want to read just one more before going to bed. That's what caused me to stay up so late last night. The characters are drawn so vividly that they seem like people you've known in your own life with all of their strengths and weaknesses. Joe also knows how to set up the plot so that you're gradually reeled in like a fish at the end of a hook. And, more importantly, the author always delivers with a powerful ending that leaves you wanting to jump up and down like a monkey in a cage. See, I'm already starting to write like Joe! Lost Echoes is FUN with capital letters. It creates a wonderful addiction that makes you want to read more of Joe's novels and short stories. Man, this is what reading is supposed to be--FUN! You never feel cheated with a book by Joe R. Lansdale. Never! This is a writer who always gives his readers their money's worth, plus more. Buy Lost Echoes and treat yourself to an early Christmas present. You won't be disappointed. I can only hope that Hollywood has the good sense to turn this book into a movie.

Joe R. Lansdale takes us into the echoes of evil with a protagonist whose childhood ear infection gives him psychic power he doesn't want. To Harry Wilkes, harsh, explosive images of violence and death linger in the places they occurred -- and he can see and hear them with searingly realistic impact -- private movies in his skull that threaten to madden or demoralize him.

Lansdale does the unusual by taking a mystery down the horrific corridors of ghost-like replays and keeps it destructively alive by upping the threat to his modest hero, to his women, and to his closest friend. A steady sprinkling of humor, an interlacing of lust and romance, an NYPD style of abreviated dialogue, and a visceral sense of foreboding sees us through to a satisfying, high-stakes climax that makes it worth the pain of getting there.

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Attempting a crime thriller with a supernatural twist is risky literary business, but prolific author Joe Lansdale has the chops to pull it off - barely. This is the story of Harry Wilkes, who thanks to a severe childhood ear infection is given the unwanted gift of hindsight triggered by sounds. Put Harry in the vicinity of a violent death and, if triggered by the right sound, an instant replay of whatever gruesome past event took place. Needless to say, neither a pleasant nor desirable talent, which sentences poor Harry to a life of carefully plotted places and activities in an attempt to prevent the next horror show. But after living a life trying to avoid his "sixth sense", Harry must eventually make the choice of confronting his nightmares in order to help Kayla, former crush of his east-Texas childhood and current rookie cop on the local police force - and still a "hottie". While somewhat reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan's "Sixth Sense", or more recently, or Tom Piccarilli's bizarre "Headstone City", Lansdale's twist on a second sight is fresh and unique.

"Echoes" starts fast and furious, getting the reader riveted early, but about midway through slows and starts gets a bit muddy. The dialogue is uneven - snappy and darkly humorous at times, dull and uninspired at others. But for me, much of the slowdown can be attributed to Tad Peters, a middle-aged drunk who happens to be a Bruce Lee-class martial artist, independently wealthy, wholly unbelievable, and totally annoying. But we're to believe that the sodden Tad has the mojo to turn Harry's life around, get them both off the sauce, save fair Kayla, and clear her father's good name. But thankfully, just before Tad manages to sink this notable effort, Lansdale recovers and salvages the story with a climax worthy of the crackerjack beginning. All things considered, an off-the-beaten-track-kind of a book that while not without flaws is a worthy read.

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