The Elephant of Surprise by Joe R. Lansdale

 

I don't know that I was looking for a Lansdale novel when I saw this at the library, but that title just made me smile and grab the book. Fortunately, the novel lives up to the title, in terms of the humor, of course, but also in terms of being a very effective thrillerish kinda crime novel, with some deeply imperfect characters on both sides of what turns out to be a pretty clear moral line. There are some things that are probably at least a little bit over the top, but nothing in the novel broke or even threatened my suspension of disbelief. A deeply human and immensely fun novel.