Joe R. Lansdale goes too far - as a rule, an admirable quality in a genre writer - but he may have gone too far with the buddy-buddy routine between Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, two East Texas roughnecks who tear up the scenery in their second Hardy Boys adventure, THE TWO-BEAR MAMBO (Mysterious Press/Warner $19.95). Hap, who is white and straight, and Leonard, who is black and gay, are so pleased with themselves that they never stop talking about their unorthodox friendship or using it to bait the racists and bigots who swing from every tree.
The bottle start flying when Hap and Leonard visit a Klan stronghold called Grovetown in search of a missing friend. Mr. Lansdale writes explosive fight scenes, and Grovetown is a great place to pick a fight. Better yet are his mocking character studies of redneck storytellers who can't wait to tell you about Tiny Joe Timpson's cats and the voodoo graveyard. But even these good ol' goofs have to take off their hats when Hap spins his own Texas tall tale about flesh-eating Christmas ants.
This is the raw and raunchy voice that the author stifles when Hap and Leonard get carried away with the bragging, the racial banter, the insult jokes,the sexual one-upmanship, the shoulder punching, and the relentless backslapping. Give it a rest, guys.