Eamonn Griffin offers his thoughts on Joe R. Lansdale’s classic Texas noir Cold In July.

Cold In July takes a stock premise and twists and turns it inside out, using it instead as the first act of something weirder and more baroque than the standard jeopardy thriller. Lansdale provides not just thrills and meaty action, but some offbeat characterisation and a pleasing meditation of the nature of obligation, of masculinity and of the complexities of father/son relationships. As is often the way with his writing, Lansdale offers an intriguing mix of genre pleasure, stripped-back yet evocative writing and fully-realised characters. 

Check out the rest of the review at Eamonn Griffin’s Displacement Activity.

For more info on Cold In July, visit the Tachyon page.