Joe R. Lansdale - The Nightrunners

[andydecker]

Joe R. Lansdale – The Nightrunners (Dark Harvest, 1987, 241 pages, this edition Tor Books, paperback, 1989, 243 pages)

Cover: Joanie Schwarz, Gary Smith

Montgomery Jones and his wife Becky are on vacation at Halloween. Becky was a teacher, Monty was a Conscientious Objector in Vietnam and has still the belief that violence solves nothing. Now Becky got raped at home by a couple of boys, led by a 17 year old sociopath named Clyde. The Galveston press named him Rapist Ripper. They broke into homes and raped and killed woman. Becky at least got out of it alive, while Clyde got caught, but the rest of the gang escaped. Now Clyde has hung himself in his cell. And still traumatized Becky has these kind of prophetic nightmares.

Unknown to them Clyde's partner in crime Brian is believing that Clyde after his death lives now in his head, send by the God of the Razor. He and a couple of boys embarks on a killing spree cross country in a black '66 Chevy, to find Becky and cut her to pieces. It all ends in violence.

This is vintage Lansdale. As he couldn't sold the novel at first, some parts appeared as short stories in different versions. At the end it isn't resolved if there really is a supernatural angle - even if Lansdale used the God of the Razor later on again - or if all is just happening in Brian's deranged mind. The writer shuffles the parts a bit; basically all happens in a few days. The novel begins with the murder of a cop by the boys, the first chapter are Becky and Monty on a strained vacation while the crazies are looking for them. The middle tells how Clyde and Brian met and did terrible things together, while the rest is reserved for the final confrontation.

The rather short novel is very violent throughout, but due to Lansdale's skill as a writer it is not a glamourized violence, but ugly, mean and uncomfortable. Considering how old this is – while the concept of American teens on a murder spree was nothing new after Capote's In Cold Blood, it predates The Silence of the Lambs by nearly a decade - it is ahead of its time and it is no wonder Lansdale couldn't sell it at first.

It still is an ugly but fast-paced thriller, thanks to some good characterisations and a tight and lean narrative.

[pbsplatter]

Thanks for posting these Lansdales! I definitely need to read this one. Have only really read a small handful of his stories, along with The Drive-In, and the man can write.