“Santa at the Cafe” was a hell of a thing to read during this current holiday season! And the rest of the stories are pretty darn good too! Even the ones I'd already read! My only concern with this collection is... what the f#$% was that thing with the rubber ducky? Yeeeeesshh...

And the author’s daughter is right! “Mr. Bear is kind of an asshole.”!!!

“I got up as quickly as I could, which was sort of like asking a dead hippo to roll over.” I feel like this every morning at my age nowadays… ( )

Whether read cover-to-cover or in single, intermittent bites, this collection of Lansdale’s short stories will mesmerize and entertain.

Things Get Ugly, a collection of some of author Joe R. Lansdale’s best crime stories, is not for the faint of heart; each story is raw and gritty, handcrafted by a master storyteller. They will mesmerize, shock, and sometimes deliver a gut punch, but satisfy and entertain; they definitely do.

The book contains nineteen stories hand-picked and introduced by Lansdale, relating what prompted him to write the story or how it came to be, and his background explanations are good reading on their own. I laughed out loud over his remarks preceding the very first story, The Steel Valentine, and it sets the tone for the entire collection.

“I do remember that I originally wrote it for a crime Valentine anthology, and it was rejected because it offended the editor. It was good to know I hadn’t lost my touch.”

Each story is a gem, telling an unfiltered and dark tale of human interaction. No punches are pulled, and there’s blood and gore and death. Their telling is riveting, and I couldn’t, nor wanted to, put the book down. From the first selection to the last, I was gripped by a desire for more and resented any interruptions to my reading. No, Joe hasn’t lost his touch.

I recommend THINGS GET UGLY to Lansdale fans and new readers who enjoy grittier, tougher tales of crime and the darker side of human relations.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Lone Star Book Blog Tours. ( )

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