Cold in July by Joe R. Lansdale

“If you’ve never read Cold in July, do so immediately.” F. Paul Wilson made this statement in the introduction to his short story “Slasher” which was included in the collection The Barrens and Others published by Forge in 1998 (paperback edition in 2000). He then went on to encourage readers to actually put his short story collection down and find a copy of the Joe R. Lansdale novel as quickly as possible so that they too could be blown away by this wonderful suspense tale. At the time -- Christmas of 2009 to be exact -- I had never heard of Joe R. Lansdale, but did make a mental note to see if my local bookstore had any of the author’s work. Sadly they didn’t and the name slowly faded from my mind until I one day a few weeks ago I was flipping through all the story introductions again in that collection and was reminded of my desire to read this Cold in July novel. Even better I had a brand new Amazon gift card just beginning to be depleted. Of course my evil mailman waited until I was out of town to deliver my copy of the 1989 novel, his hope probably being that it would either be rained on for days before I was able to open the package or stolen by an equally evil book thief who would then ransom it back to me page by page. Oh the horror. Fortunately the rain took a break during those days, and the package went unnoticed by all the book thieves in the area, thus I was able to sit down with it upon my return and enjoy the tale I had waited nearly two years to read.

Waking up in the middle of the night to unfamiliar sounds within ones own house is always eerie, but usually ends up being the result of something harmless. Unfortunately for Richard Dane this isn’t the case. The sounds that wake him and his wife in the middle of the night are those of a burglar having just broken in, one who happens to be armed with a handgun. Luckily Richard Dane also has a gun (did I mention the book takes place in Texas?) and is the faster of the two when it comes to pulling the trigger. The result, one less burglar in the world, his last mark upon civilization being the chucks of brain matter that ended up on the wall behind him as the bullet punched through the back of his skull. Oh, and one very pissed off ex-con father who wants revenge. The father’s name is Ben Russell and his new goal in life is taking Richard Dane’s son away the way Richard Dane took his son, an eye for an eye so to speak (hell, a son for a son -- I’m pretty sure that one was in the Hammurabi Code as well). To Ben Russell it doesn’t matter that his son was a lowlife burglar and that Richard Dane’s son is an innocent four year old, he will have his vengeance. Richard Dane, however, isn’t planning on just sitting back and letting the wishes of the ex-con father play out. No, no, no. He is going to do everything he can to keep his son alive, even if that means having to take a second life. Little do the two fathers realize not everything is as it seems. Forces are at work that neither man knows about, ones that will do everything within their own power to stop the two from uncovering the truth of the dead burglar and Ben Russell’s son.

Cold in July was, by far, one of the best books I have read this year. The unexpected twists and turns were amazing, and the dark suspense that began on page one never let up. It is one of those books that you literally can’t put down because you just have to know what is going to unfold next, especially once the reality behind the dead burglar starts to take shape. After that there just is no turning back. One discovery leads to another and before you know it the book is racing toward a final confrontation between all the players. Simply put, this was an amazing read, one which I have to recommend to anyone who enjoys suspenseful tales. Like F. Paul Wilson said in his story introduction: “If you’ve never read Cold in July, do so immediately.” Seriously, open up another tab on your computer screen, go to Amazon, and order a copy. You won’t be sorry. Just be ready for your electric bill to be a little higher than normal this time around because you will be reading long into the night. Nothing you can do to change it and it most certainly will be money well spent.