I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Terror is Our Business: Dana Roberts' Casebook of Horrors by Joe R. Lansdale, Kasey Lansdale Published by Cutting Block Books on May 29 2018
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 248
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A slightly uneven but entertaining collection that is made better by the relationship between Dana and Jana.
It’s been years since I’ve read anything by Joe R. Lansdale, and so when I was offered the chance to read his latest collection, co-authored with his daughter Kasey, I didn’t hesitate to say “yes.” Terror is Our Business is a collection of short stories featuring Lansdale’s character Dana Roberts, an investigator of “supernormal” activity. In short, Dana is a ghostbuster of sorts, going from one haunted place to another, trying to rid houses and other places of evil and ghostly forces. I’m not familiar with the original source material, but after doing a little investigating of my own, it looks like this is the first time these stories have been collected together.
The first four stories are written by Joe R. Lansdale and are all told in a similar style and format. About halfway through the book, Kasey Lansdale enters the picture with a brief introduction, followed by three somewhat lengthy stories written by both father and daughter, which include a new character named Jana who becomes, almost by accident, Dana Roberts’ sidekick—or as Kasey describes her, a Watson-like character to Dana’s Sherlock Holmes.
The book is neatly divided between these two story styles and there is a distinct change in tone once you get to Kasey’s stories. Papa Lansdale’s tales are formal, eerie and frightening, with a hint of Lovecraftian horror to them. The format in all four of his stories is much the same: An unidentified narrator describes how the infamous Dana Roberts has been invited to his men’s club to entertain the group. In this case, the entertainment is in the form of storytelling. Dana sits in her comfy chair at the center of the room, sips her drink and launches into the tale of her latest case. The room holds their collective breaths as she relates the terrifying events, and at the end of the evening, everyone in the room is clamoring for another story. Because the format of these stories is so similar, it does get a bit repetitive, as Dana has to remind her audience each time why she calls herself a supernormal investigator (as opposed to “supernatural”). But considering these tales were written at different times, and Lansdale does take the time in his introduction to advise the reader NOT to read them all at once, you really can’t fault them for this.
I enjoyed Joe Lansdale’s stories, which make our heroine Dana Roberts out to be a cool-as-a-cucumber woman who is well versed in a variety of evil entities and how to eliminate them from our dimension. But as I mentioned, when Kasey joins forces with her father, the entire tone changes. The later stories are narrated by Jana, an unkempt, unorganized and slightly off-putting woman who just happened to have a weird experience of her own, and ended up becoming Dana’s assistant. Jana cracks jokes at inappropriate moments and talks too much, and she knows she is the polar opposite of Dana, who wears designer clothes and fights evil in stiletto heels. Meanwhile, Jana shows up to work in sweats and t-shirts, her hair a mess. She is also prone to making the reader uncomfortable (well, at least she made me uncomfortable!) by talking about such things as her constipation and describing her own breasts as “titties.” This crass behavior did not endear her to me, unfortunately, although I did find some of her antics laugh out loud funny.
What worked really well for me was the relationship between the two women, who are clearly at opposite ends of the social spectrum. Dana is rich, Jana is not. Dana is beautiful and charismatic, while Jana can barely get herself dressed and out the door each morning. Together they somehow manage to fight the forces of evil while making the reader laugh. They don’t really like each other, but deep down I could tell they respected each other, despite their differences. Jana knows she isn’t anywhere near the put-together woman that Dana is, but she’s clever and smart and I got the feeling that Dana knows she needs Jana’s help.
Oddly, I think my favorite story of the bunch was also the weirdest. “Blind Love” is Jana’s only solo tale, and it happens before she meets Dana. A friend of Jana’s talks her into going to an “Eye Gazing Party,” which is like speed dating except you gaze into the other person’s eyes for a couple of minutes, trying to make a connection. It was ridiculous and over-the-top, and I loved it.
I love the idea of a father/daughter collaboration, and I think the Lansdales have something good going. Although this collection overall was a bit uneven for me, I’m happy to have glimpsed the weird and dangerous world of Dana Roberts.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
Probably not one for me because, as I’ may have mentioned already (ahem), short stories don’t work well for me. Every now and again I crumble and pick one up but it feels like it takes me ages to complete.
Lynn 😀
Yeah, I know what you mean. I have to really connect with the writing or subject matter to read a collection quickly, otherwise it does take me a while too.
Hmm, I want to read this but most of the reviews are so lackluster. I’m so torn.
Yeah, honestly I’m not sure whether to recommend it. I enjoyed the stories but there are better collections out there.
ouuu this sounds like fun! I may have to pick this up around Halloween 🙂
Halloween would be very good timing:-)
I just saw this on another blog too. Definitely looks interesting!
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It was interesting, and I thought they did pretty well as a team.
With a title like this I could not avoid being wildly curious about the contents, and the hint of “lovecraftian horror” in the tales does appeal to me, as does the dichotomy between these two different characters. Another one for the ever-growing list! 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
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Yes, the differences between the characters really made this a dynamic relationship!
Aw, I think it’s cute that this is a father/daughter collab! And it does sound rather entertaining so I will scribble it down on my list. Thank you for the in-depth review, Tammy!
I agree, so sweet that they are both writers and enjoy working together:-)
Joe R. Lansdale is an author I’ve wanted to read for a long time! Shame that the quality of the stories in this collection wasn’t a bit more even, but that is a risk with any anthology, I think. Still really cool that he co-authored it with his daughter though!
I love the idea of a father/daughter writing team too, I would be curious to read other stories by them:-)
I tend to struggle with short stories but this collection actually sounds like a lot of fun. I’ll have to keep it in mind. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this collection!
I struggle sometimes as well with short stories. I think the key is to not read them all at once:-)
Wonderful and thorough review, Tammy! It does have an interesting structure, but it’s nice to see that it worked out as a collection. Your favourite story sounds hilarious though. I can’t imagine such a thing in real life. Not sure if it would make things easier or so much more insane!
Thanks Lashaan, that story was CRAZY. I don’t know if “eye gazing” is an actual thing? Probably not??
I love the sound of this — these two women investigating the supernormal. I think the two distinct styles might throw me at first, but it sounds like there’s so much goodness here, I’d love to have a chance to read. Wonderful review, Tammy!
Thanks Verushka, it was fun to see how different they were and how those differences actually made a really good story!
I know a lot of people struggle with short story collections, but I love ’em! As a diehard UF reader, women investigating paranormal happenings is very much up my alley. And how cool that this was coauthored by a parent/child duo!
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I love them too, in fact I seem to be reading quite a few this year so far, and I have more coming up:-)