Rating: 
Summary: Back to Adam and Eve
Review: I recommend this book, yet give it a mixed review. On the one hand, I found the character of Conrad one of the most compelling I've ever come across in literature--wonderful and amazing!; on the other hand, the ending was excruciatingly bleak. It crushed me. This was the first time I read anything by Lansdale, and I plan on reading more.
Rating:
Summary: Back to Adam and Eve
Review: I recommend this book, yet give it a mixed review. On the one hand, I found the character of Conrad one of the most compelling I've ever come across in literature--wonderful and amazing!; on the other hand, the ending was excruciatingly bleak. It crushed me. This was the first time I read anything by Lansdale, and I plan on reading more.
Rating:
Summary: Very Odd Mixture, But Ultimately Vintage Lansdale
Review: I wasn't sure what to think of _Freezer Burn_ when I started it. The characters were just a bit too wild to really register. Then, about the time the protagonist, Bill, realizes that he's starting to have unusual feelings (love, friendship) for Conrad the Wonder Dog, and Frost, the leader of a small freakshow he's hooked up with following a botched robbery, I realized that I was starting to feel all warm inside, too. It takes a great writer to create a character like Bill--someone you'd normally cross the street to avoid--and make you care about what happens to him. I know that other reviewers didn't feel the same way, but I was right there, rooting for the poor guy the whole way. If anything, the downbeat, noirish finale, which I should have seen coming, came as a bit of a surprise, even though we've all seen this a thousand times before (think _Double Indemnity_ or _Body Heat_). Heck, I would have been happy just following Bill's adventures with the freakshow for a few more hundred pages. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it highly, though it's obviously not for all tastes.
Rating:
Summary: Very Odd Mixture, But Ultimately Vintage Lansdale
Review: I wasn't sure what to think of _Freezer Burn_ when I started it. The characters were just a bit too wild to really register. Then, about the time the protagonist, Bill, realizes that he's starting to have unusual feelings (love, friendship) for Conrad the Wonder Dog, and Frost, the leader of a small freakshow he's hooked up with following a botched robbery, I realized that I was starting to feel all warm inside, too. It takes a great writer to create a character like Bill--someone you'd normally cross the street to avoid--and make you care about what happens to him. I know that other reviewers didn't feel the same way, but I was right there, rooting for the poor guy the whole way. If anything, the downbeat, noirish finale, which I should have seen coming, came as a bit of a surprise, even though we've all seen this a thousand times before (think _Double Indemnity_ or _Body Heat_). Heck, I would have been happy just following Bill's adventures with the freakshow for a few more hundred pages. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it highly, though it's obviously not for all tastes.
Rating: 
Summary: say it ain't so,joe!
Review: I"m afraid that I have to join the chorus of mostly negative reviews here.I say that reluctantly,because I am a BIG Joe R.Lansdale fan.However,"Freezer Burn"is not one of his better works.It's just too weird.Still,it's readable enough,and every now and then you get a flash of the old Lansdale brilliance.The main problem,as another reviewer pointed out,is that the lead character is just not someone you can identify with.How many readers have thier mother's corpse rotting in her bedroom?(Norman Bates, maybe.)The only likable character gets killed off about 2/3rds of the way through the book.And the ending really sucked.Other than that,it's great!
Rating:
Summary: One of my Favorite Lansdale Books
Review: I'm sorry that a lot of folks have not liked this book, but I have to respectfully disagree. I've been reading Joe for twelve years, and to me "Freezer Burn" harkens back to his pre- Hap and Leonard days. Old school Lansdale. (Don't get me wrong--I'm a big fan of the Hap and Leonard books.) This lean and mean story is Flannery O'Connor trapped in a James M. Cain novel (though I'm not the first person to make the Flannery O'Connor/James M. Cain comparison--I read an interview in which Lansdale says basically the same thing.) The story is sort of an homage to a certain kind of book. If you're not a fan of Charles Willeford or James M. Cain or pre-Scudder Lawrence Block, then you might not catch the literary reference/homage that I think Lansdale is making. The story is predictable, but that's not the point. This is your standard hapless-loser-with-a-streak-of-bad-luck-is-seduced-and-used-by-a-beautiful-woman-to-kill-her-husband-and-the-whole-thing-goes-bad story. I don't think I just spoiled the story for anyone because the book does not try to hide it's traditional plot structure. There have been a million of these stories. A previous reviewer here has already pointed this fact out: Lansdale's novels are not about intricate plots with subtle hints and clues and red herrings and twists that keep you guessing all the time. (If you're in need of that, might I suggest Lawrence Block's Scudder novels.) Joe's novels are about the characters, like them or not, and doing new things within traditional pulp-like plot structures. What makes this book great is the fun that Lansdale has with the traditional form. In that old-school Lansdale way, the characters are over the top ridiculous, often repulsive, sad, and laughable at the same time. Yet, also in that Lansdale way, they are all too human, and real. The situations and settings are classic Lansdale, bringing me back to many stories from "By Bizarre Hands" and the "Drive In" novels. Finally, some people were displeased because the main character is not a likable guy. It is true, he is not. But this did not bother me. A protaganist, for me, does not have to be likable--just compelling. Look at Charles Willeford's classic, "High Priest of California"--a favorite of mine. The protagonist, Russell Haxby, is a complete a$$hole. But I love that book. (The a$$hole protagonist is a favorite device of Willefords.) Anyway, this is a long-winded review, but this is a great Lansdale book that has obviously not given all of his fans what they were hoping for, but I love it just the same.
Rating:
Summary: One of my Favorite Lansdale Books
Review: I'm sorry that a lot of folks have not liked this book, but I have to respectfully disagree. I've been reading Joe for twelve years, and to me "Freezer Burn" harkens back to his pre- Hap and Leonard days. Old school Lansdale. (Don't get me wrong--I'm a big fan of the Hap and Leonard books.) This lean and mean story is Flannery O'Connor trapped in a James M. Cain novel (though I'm not the first person to make the Flannery O'Connor/James M. Cain comparison--I read an interview in which Lansdale says basically the same thing.) The story is sort of an homage to a certain kind of book. If you're not a fan of Charles Willeford or James M. Cain or pre-Scudder Lawrence Block, then you might not catch the literary reference/homage that I think Lansdale is making. The story is predictable, but that's not the point. This is your standard hapless-loser-with-a-streak-of-bad-luck-is-seduced-and-used-by-a-beautiful-woman-to-kill-her-husband-and-the-whole-thing-goes-bad story. I don't think I just spoiled the story for anyone because the book does not try to hide it's traditional plot structure. There have been a million of these stories. A previous reviewer here has already pointed this fact out: Lansdale's novels are not about intricate plots with subtle hints and clues and red herrings and twists that keep you guessing all the time. (If you're in need of that, might I suggest Lawrence Block's Scudder novels.) Joe's novels are about the characters, like them or not, and doing new things within traditional pulp-like plot structures. What makes this book great is the fun that Lansdale has with the traditional form. In that old-school Lansdale way, the characters are over the top ridiculous, often repulsive, sad, and laughable at the same time. Yet, also in that Lansdale way, they are all too human, and real. The situations and settings are classic Lansdale, bringing me back to many stories from "By Bizarre Hands" and the "Drive In" novels. Finally, some people were displeased because the main character is not a likable guy. It is true, he is not. But this did not bother me. A protaganist, for me, does not have to be likable--just compelling. Look at Charles Willeford's classic, "High Priest of California"--a favorite of mine. The protagonist, Russell Haxby, is a complete a$$hole. But I love that book. (The a$$hole protagonist is a favorite device of Willefords.) Anyway, this is a long-winded review, but this is a great Lansdale book that has obviously not given all of his fans what they were hoping for, but I love it just the same.
Rating:
Summary: One of my Favorite Lansdale Books
Review: I'm sorry that a lot of folks have not liked this book, but I have to respectfully disagree. I've been reading Joe for twelve years, and to me "Freezer Burn" harkens back to his pre- Hap and Leonard days. Old school Lansdale. (Don't get me wrong--I'm a big fan of the Hap and Leonard books.) This lean and mean story is Flannery O'Connor trapped in a James M. Cain novel (though I'm not the first person to make the Flannery O'Connor/James M. Cain comparison--I read an interview in which Lansdale says basically the same thing.) The story is sort of an homage to a certain kind of book. If you're not a fan of Charles Willeford or James M. Cain or pre-Scudder Lawrence Block, then you might not catch the literary reference/homage that I think Lansdale is making. The story is predictable, but that's not the point. This is your standard hapless-loser-with-a-streak-of-bad-luck-is-seduced-and-used-by-a-beautiful-woman-to-kill-her-husband-and-the-whole-thing-goes-bad story. I don't think I just spoiled the story for anyone because the book does not try to hide it's traditional plot structure. There have been a million of these stories. A previous reviewer here has already pointed this fact out: Lansdale's novels are not about intricate plots with subtle hints and clues and red herrings and twists that keep you guessing all the time. (If you're in need of that, might I suggest Lawrence Block's Scudder novels.) Joe's novels are about the characters, like them or not, and doing new things within traditional pulp-like plot structures. What makes this book great is the fun that Lansdale has with the traditional form. In that old-school Lansdale way, the characters are over the top ridiculous, often repulsive, sad, and laughable at the same time. Yet, also in that Lansdale way, they are all too human, and real. The situations and settings are classic Lansdale, bringing me back to many stories from "By Bizarre Hands" and the "Drive In" novels. Finally, some people were displeased because the main character is not a likable guy. It is true, he is not. But this did not bother me. A protaganist, for me, does not have to be likable--just compelling. Look at Charles Willeford's classic, "High Priest of California"--a favorite of mine. The protagonist, Russell Haxby, is a complete a$$hole. But I love that book. (The a$$hole protagonist is a favorite device of Willefords.) Anyway, this is a long-winded review, but this is a great Lansdale book that has obviously not given all of his fans what they were hoping for, but I love it just the same.
Rating:
Summary: Jim Thompson did it better.
Review: I've grown tired of Lansdale's Hap & Leonard books. So I was happy to see FREEZER BURN appear. At least it isn't Hap & Leonard. But, while I thought that it was fairly well written, it just didn't float my boat. This is the kind of thing Jim Thompson did first, and better, and I wish the author had done something different with this novel. The racist language in the book got to me, and I'm pretty thick-skinned when it comes to frank dialogue. This language just reached the point of saturation for me and seemed to go beyond merely being honest with local slang and backwoods tendencies. I've been a big fan of Lansdale's since his Horror Show days, so I keep reading everything he publishes that I can find. But this, along with his last Hap & Leonard novel, just didn't make me happy.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Predictable!
Review: If you have seen the movie or have read the book DOUBLE INDEMNITY than this book will leave you high and dry. I found myself knowing what was going to happen at the end of the book about half way through it. While this book still has classic Joeisms, it lacked the classic dialogue. This was the first Lansdale book to disapoint me, but that is okay. Everyone is allowed a bad book. If you are reading this Joe, don't worry you're still my favorite author.
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