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Terror is Our Business
Joe Lansdale and Kasey Lansdale
8.0
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For the first time ever in a single volume, here are the collected short stories by Joe R. Lansdale...
short story collection paranormal supernatural female leads
Lilyn G - Sci-Fi & Scary (91 KP) rated Terror is Our Business in Books
May 30, 2018
Terror is Our Business is the first time I’ve ever read Joe or Kasey Lansdale. I love horror, but by all accounts I’m not nearly as wide read in it as I should be. (At least not when it comes to the more well-known names.) I was a bit nervous about accepting a free copy of the book for review consideration because of that. However, I figured this might give me a taste of Lansdale’s writing to see if I wanted to pursue other works from him.
This was a set of seven stories, six having been previously printed. There are four stories from Joe R. Lansdale alone, and then Kasey’s character, Jana, gets introduced and the rest of the stories are dual-written. It also contains an introduction from Joe Lansdale talking about the formation of the Dana Roberts’ series, and how it has changed. There’s a similar introduction from Kasey’s point of view when the Jana-inclusive stories are getting ready to be told.
Dana and Jana are a good contrast to each other. Dana is rich, well-educated, and a bit of a snob. I initially liked her quite a bit, but over time she started to annoy me a tad. I did appreciate the fact that she was a self-professed atheist, though (who wasn’t evil! Imagine that!) She’s very good at what she does, but she’s not exactly the type of person I want to spend any considerable amount of time around. Jana, on the other hand, is more down to earth. She’s a bit crude, has no filter, and isn’t exactly the picture of grace that Dana is. Needless to say, I liked Jana a whole lot more. I think Dana and Jana have the potential to develop a rapport as a team that will be consistently engaging. However, to be quite honest, I don’t think they’re there yet. There are enough hints of a relationship forming that I would definitely pick up more, but at this point it’s on potential rather than true enjoyment of the series. I hope Nora and Gary aren’t completely written out of the series, either. I liked them both, what little we got to see, and would love to see them on page a bit more.
Anyways, here’s my breakdown.
*The Case of the Lighthouse Shambler and The Case of the Creeping Shadow were the least liked ones from the book. The format is okay, but the way Dana relays things is so stiff and formal that it’s hard to get into. I liked the edge of horror they had, but couldn’t connect.
*The Case of the 4 Acre Haunt got my attention. I had never heard of that type of tree, but the way Joe Landsdale described it, and what happened in the woods was definitely creepy!
*The Case of the Angry Traveler was my favorite of the solely Dana cases. This one was a sci-fi horror, and even though it wasn’t really ever scary, it was interesting, and I liked the ending.
*Blind Love, the story following Angry Traveler was lovely. It disgusted me, but it also delighted me. I almost instantly felt a lot more connected to the stories when the humorous element was introduced.
*The Case of the Bleeding Wall made me like Dana a little bit more. It showed that yes, even though she’s stiff and formal, she’s definitely human, and what she experienced truly bothered her.
*The Case of the Ragman’s Anguish wasn’t as good as The Case of the Bleeding Wall, but I still enjoyed it, and the scene in the car made my skin prickle a bit.
My favorite case in the book was Blind Love, with The Case of the Angry Traveler being a close second.
Joe and Kasey Lansdale are a wonderful team and Terror is Our Business is a solid collection of stories with a supernormal (sometimes Lovecraftian) bent to them. For those of you that read J.D. Robb’s In Death series, I think you’ll recognize a bit of the Eve and Peabody relationship with Dana and Jana. I hope to see more works from the father-daughter team in the future.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review consideration.
This was a set of seven stories, six having been previously printed. There are four stories from Joe R. Lansdale alone, and then Kasey’s character, Jana, gets introduced and the rest of the stories are dual-written. It also contains an introduction from Joe Lansdale talking about the formation of the Dana Roberts’ series, and how it has changed. There’s a similar introduction from Kasey’s point of view when the Jana-inclusive stories are getting ready to be told.
Dana and Jana are a good contrast to each other. Dana is rich, well-educated, and a bit of a snob. I initially liked her quite a bit, but over time she started to annoy me a tad. I did appreciate the fact that she was a self-professed atheist, though (who wasn’t evil! Imagine that!) She’s very good at what she does, but she’s not exactly the type of person I want to spend any considerable amount of time around. Jana, on the other hand, is more down to earth. She’s a bit crude, has no filter, and isn’t exactly the picture of grace that Dana is. Needless to say, I liked Jana a whole lot more. I think Dana and Jana have the potential to develop a rapport as a team that will be consistently engaging. However, to be quite honest, I don’t think they’re there yet. There are enough hints of a relationship forming that I would definitely pick up more, but at this point it’s on potential rather than true enjoyment of the series. I hope Nora and Gary aren’t completely written out of the series, either. I liked them both, what little we got to see, and would love to see them on page a bit more.
Anyways, here’s my breakdown.
*The Case of the Lighthouse Shambler and The Case of the Creeping Shadow were the least liked ones from the book. The format is okay, but the way Dana relays things is so stiff and formal that it’s hard to get into. I liked the edge of horror they had, but couldn’t connect.
*The Case of the 4 Acre Haunt got my attention. I had never heard of that type of tree, but the way Joe Landsdale described it, and what happened in the woods was definitely creepy!
*The Case of the Angry Traveler was my favorite of the solely Dana cases. This one was a sci-fi horror, and even though it wasn’t really ever scary, it was interesting, and I liked the ending.
*Blind Love, the story following Angry Traveler was lovely. It disgusted me, but it also delighted me. I almost instantly felt a lot more connected to the stories when the humorous element was introduced.
*The Case of the Bleeding Wall made me like Dana a little bit more. It showed that yes, even though she’s stiff and formal, she’s definitely human, and what she experienced truly bothered her.
*The Case of the Ragman’s Anguish wasn’t as good as The Case of the Bleeding Wall, but I still enjoyed it, and the scene in the car made my skin prickle a bit.
My favorite case in the book was Blind Love, with The Case of the Angry Traveler being a close second.
Joe and Kasey Lansdale are a wonderful team and Terror is Our Business is a solid collection of stories with a supernormal (sometimes Lovecraftian) bent to them. For those of you that read J.D. Robb’s In Death series, I think you’ll recognize a bit of the Eve and Peabody relationship with Dana and Jana. I hope to see more works from the father-daughter team in the future.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review consideration.