My official review to be posted…

I couldn’t finish it. I got 25% through and just couldn’t go any further. I kept saying is try, but it just sat for about a week on my nightstand. It just wasn’t for me.

I was interested in this book since I am from east Texas. I liked the idea of this book, but the way it was written just lost me entirely.
This authors attempt to feel relevant and cool was forced. I could tell when things were meant to be humorous but I didn’t find it funny at all. I also didn’t really love the women in this book - I can’t quite put my finger on it. I wanted to try to read it all to give it a fair shake, but I just couldn’t get back into it.

I really appreciate the opportunity to read this one though!

Where’s Mulder and Scully when you need them? The Donut Legion plays out like a fantastic X-files episode full of ghostly visions, alien doomsday cults, sordid small town drama and more. You won’t be able to put it down! This was my first Lansdale novel and what a fantastic writer. Loaded with humor, action, mystery, emotion, I loved it all. The first chapter literally took my breath away and it only gets better and crazier from there. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

I struggled with this, not because it was bad but because it tackled a subject (qanon style radical groups) that I find deeply upsetting and so this was just a little bit too much for me but that's my own problem not a fault with the book.

Lansdale thrills and delights like no other, and like all of his work, The Donut Legion is no exception. From page one until the very last, it's a wild and marvelously unwrapped tale of mystery. A tale of mystery I couldn't put down. Okay, I had the occasional break for a snack or two and whatnot, but those moments aside, this book is a page after page after page turner.

Of all the players in all of Lansdale's books, our crew here -- Charlie, Felix, Cherry, and Scrappy -- might just be my favorite. I would love to dive into further mysteries and tales with each and every one of them. The Donut Legion, however, is billed as a standalone, and that's fine and peachy by me as well. Whatever comes next from Lansdale will no doubt thrill me just as much (they always do).

If you like the Joe R Lansdale genre, I'm guessing you've already got this on pre-order, or maybe even in your hands for some advance read-review action, like myownself here and now. If the name Lansdale is just hitting your radar and you're deciding which of his many stories to dive into first, I'd say The Donut Legion would make for a darn fine entry point.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

The Donut Legion is classic Lansdale. The plot and tone almost feel like this could've been a Hap and Leonard book, but the sparse interplay between Charlie and his brother, Felix, ultimately lends a different dynamic. Mystery unravels, accompanied by a UFO cult, a cowboy on the warpath complete with chimpanzee, an explosive finale, and some very creative uses for the alphabet. As one might expect when picking up a book by the master of Lansdalian Literature, the Donut Legion will make you laugh, make you wince, make you wonder why fart jokes are still so damn funny, and make you realize that somewhere along this ridiculous journey, you started to genuinely care about the lives of these people. A terrific addition to a terrific body of work, and a strong standalone place to start for those unfamiliar with Lansdale's work.

A former PI investigates when his ex wife is missing. I appreciated the attempt at wittiness but I didn’t get into this story as much as I thought I would.

Joe R. Lansdale really knows how to write compelling characters and snappy dialog that is nothing short of brilliant. He is in top form with THE DONUT LEGION, a mystery about a flying saucer cult much like the Heaven's Gate cult, except they run donut shops and murder their followers. This book has plenty of mystery, action, humor, and charm. Charlie, Felix, Scrappy, Cherry, and even Tag the pit bull are wonderful characters with unique personalities and they feel completely real. I would love to see more of them in a sequel or even a series. There's not much mystery to the saucer cult story, but it's enjoyable and the Meg subplot is well done. Another masterpiece by Lansdale.

Thanks to Mulholland Books, NetGalley, and Mr. Lansdale for an advance reader's copy of the book in exchange for this honest review.

Another great fun story by Lansdale. I decided a long time ago that I will read anything the man writes. He just gets better with time. He will always be one of the greatest.

This book has interesting topics, space ships, donuts, a chimpanzee and throw in some evangelical influence. It all weaves together to tell a story. I enjoyed it!!

Suspend your disbelief and bring your imagination while reading The Donut Legion. The ghosts, aliens and zany characters will entertain you throughout this mystery.

Thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Another fun filled, zany ride with Joe Lansdale. Charlie Garner's ex-wife has disappeared along with her new husband under circumstances that Charlie thinks look a little suspicious. Along with his brute-of-a-brother Felix, they look into Meg's recent past and find a cult know as "The Saucer People" who operate a frightening compound. Filled with Lansdale's trademark humor and prose, as well as his usual colorful characters (including a chimpanzee named Mr.Biggs), this was a very fun read.

I don't remember ever requesting this book and not for sure how I got picked for it.. It's not typically a book that would interest me. I gave it 4 stars since I didn't read this one, just don't know why I got picked for this. It's not a book that I would personally read. Thanks!

Why have I never read Joe Lansdale before? Besides his last name being the name of the Pennsylvania town where the extended family on my mother's side began, I've noticed his name and books in reviews. What a brilliant writer. Understated and lovely while building suspense. I'm a quarter of the way in and I have to say thank you for providing a copy on Netgalley.

Lansdale is an absolute master at creating memorable characters who use witty, biting dialogue. The banter back and forth between his cast is unrivaled by any author I’ve ever read… and I’ve read my share.

Ex-detective, now turned full-time writer, Charlie receives a late-night visit from his ex-wife, Meg. Or does he? Wondering if he’s going crazy, he attempts to contact her the next day. No dice. She’s missing. But where did she go? And why is he getting a visit from her what? Apparition? Charlie needs answers, and his question of Meg’s whereabouts leads him down one mysterious rabbit hole after another, including a UFO cult who has done a remarkable job of not only luring in weak-minded followers looking for answers, but control the money and the minds of their little Texas burg, May Town.

Only Lansdale could take these characters, add in a cantankerous sheriff, a money laundering donut shop, a UFO cult run by an evil seven-foot tall ex-con who has a penchant for starting fires, a face-ripping chimpanzee, a rhino for a brother who runs his old detective firm, and a spunky grifter who shows up to write a book and ends up catching more than his eye. I blew through The Donut Legion like a runaway freight train and loved every delightful page. Lansdale is money in the bank. I can’t recommend his writing any higher than this. If you haven’t read Joe’s work, The Donut Legion would be a great place to start before moving on to his Hap and Leonard series.


Rating: 5 Acid-Laced Donuts out of 5

I’m going to put this right at the top where you can’t miss it—pre-order The Donut Legion now! The novel releases March 21st, 2023, but believe me when I tell you, this is one you want in your hands the second it’s available. For fans of Lansdale, for fans of top-notch crime fiction, for fans of addictive page-turners in general, The Donut Legion is more fun than a murderous chimpanzee in cowboy hat and boots with a penchant for tearing the arms and legs clean off folks.

Did I mention the novel features a murderous chimpanzee in a cowboy hat and boots with a penchant for tearing the arms and legs clean off folks? There’s also a possible ghostly visitation, a flying saucer cult waiting to be raptured by aliens, a warehouse allegedly stockpiled with weapons, assorted donuts, assorted psychotic bad guys, and a gorgeous redheaded journalist named Scrappy.

Charlie has an ex-wife named Meg he still has feelings for, so when she goes missing he gets a bad feeling. A retired private detective turned writer, Charlie enlists the help of his brother Felix (who took over the detective biz from him) and the aforementioned Scrappy to find Meg. The three are soon embroiled in a deadly game of cat and mouse with those saucer people and psychos. As the bodies pile up, Lansdale does what he does best, ratcheting up the tension in a tightly wound plot that grabs you by the neck and never lets go. The cool thing with Lansdale is, even as the story propels you forward, he never forgets to season it with large dollops of his trademark, often profane humor, much of it in the form of dialogue. The Donut Legion is a novel begging to be read out loud, preferably in an East Texas twang, just to hear those words sing.

Charlie, Meg, and Felix are my favorite Lansdale creations since Hap and Leonard. And, as usual, he surround them with a rogues gallery of characters as colorful as they are dangerous. The Donut Legion is a fast, fun, immensely satisfying read. Like I said, pre-order it now, and maybe take March 21st off of work for some you-time. You’ll be glad you did.

Joe R. Lansdale's latest, The Donut Legion, at first blush seems a departure from his usual novels (see:
his Hap and Leonard series-especially if you haven't). But as always, laugh out loud situations and dialogue are constant throughout. The story revolves around an East Texas flying saucer cult, and a writer who believes his ex may have been brainwashed by them.
By turns suspenseful and hilarious, The Donut Legion is a stand-alone example of Mr. Lansdale's amazing storytelling abilities. Not to be missed!

After an otherworldly visit from his ex-wife Meg, writer and former cop turned PI Charlie decides to look into her disappearance. This leads him to a cult who owns and operates Saucer Donuts, where Meg had worked. Charlie recruits his beefy brother Felix, Felix’s beautiful lawyer girlfriend Cherry, and Amelia, a mysterious stranger who is already looking into the cult. Unfortunately, what they find is a murderous upper-level cult manager called Cowboy and his terrifying attack-chimpanzee Mr. Biggs whose mission is to keep cult business quiet.

The quirky characters make this book a super fun read. Charlie is a likable protagonist and his writing journey and love of astronomy add to his appeal. Felix and Cherry complement each other. Their relationship is sweet and their skills often give Charlie an edge. The only character I didn’t adore was Amelia, who fit the manic pixie dream girl trope a bit too much for my taste. However, she did add to the humor and served as a wild card in the plot. My favorite secondary characters were donut shop employee Kevin, Cowboy, and Mr. Biggs. Even when Cowboy and his pet weren’t in the scene, they still provided plenty of menace and conflict. This book definitely tapped into my primal primate fear.

Being such a huge fan of Lansdale’s more dramatic books such as THE THICKET, LEATHER MAIDEN, THE BOTTOMS, and COLD IN JULY to name a few, I found that DONUT LEGION proves that he is also a master at comedy. Despite the comedic elements, there’s plenty of murder and mayhem to keep hardcore crime readers hooked.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Mulholland Books, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc., for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley.

Charlie Garner moved away from town for privacy's sake, but a side benefit is the ability to study the heavens with his telescope. One night while he's doing so, his ex-wife Meg drives up for a chat. She's not herself, talking about hiring him to look into a murder. He's not a private detective anymore, but curiosity doesn't die when you leave a career. Who's murder? Her new husband's. As he chews this over, she offers a few cryptic tidbits: "watch out for omelets" is one, and "beware of the mound in the circle" is the other. She disappears while Charlie's turned around, gone like she was never there in the first place. The muddy ground shows no signs of either her footprints or the tracks from her car's tires. Has he just seen and chatted with a ghost?

Like it or not, Charlie has been drawn into a mystery. Turns out Meg and her new husband Ethan have disappeared, leaving their job, apartment, and possessions without letting anyone know. The police suspect they've dodged paying rent, but that doesn't quite jibe with the facts. Does their disappearance have something to do with their own peculiar fascination with the heaven? The couple are part of the Saucer People, a group of UFO afficionados who believe they are destined to be drawn away from earth to win an intergalactic war. This organization operates from a compound outside of May Town, Texas stockpiled with food and weapons so you know they're upstanding citizens.

Looking into the Saucer People reveals the group also has ties to local law and politics. Also, they are the owners of a popular chain of flying saucer-themed donut shops and the town bank. In fact, loyal members work all over town, listening and reporting back if some people ask challenging questions.

A case of missing persons leads to murder, drawing Charlie, his brother Felix, Felix's lawyer girlfriend Cherry, and the mysterious Amelia "Scrappy" Moon, a reporter with an agenda, into deep, deep trouble. Joe R. Lansdale blurs surreal, supernatural, and sf elements in his latest dark suspense yarn, The Donut Legion.

Leave it to the delightfully crazy imagination of East Texas raconteur Joe R. Lansdale to fill his latest suspense yarn's antagonist slots with hired thugs, the members of a creepy cult, a leg breaker ex-con called Cowboy, and a vicious chimpanzee called Mr. Biggs. The author is nothing if not quirky, and The Donut Legion plays to many of his strengths.

When Lansdale is on his game, his yarns move lightning fast. The Donut Legion is one such yarn, a page turner par excellence, a showcase for one of the finest talents currently working in the suspense field, and a delightful study of the quirky characters and situations to be found in East Texas. Lansdale has spent his career chronicling this side of the Great State. Luckily there's enough material that he doesn't find need to repeat himself.

Here we have an offbeat story, a crime fiction novel that dabbles with the weird, features a likeable, folksy protagonist, a tough as nails big brother, and two clever, capable women. The narrative is fearless about throwing this cast into some harrowing situations. Although neither Felix nor Charlie are believers in the supernatural or the otherworldly, we are left to wonder about the paranormal elements. The book opens with a ghostly encounter, and there's a supposed alien buried under the ground in a creepy cult's compound. Are any of these things for real, or is there a much more mundane explanation for them? Lansdale keeps his cards close to the vest through much of the book, spinning a yarn that's full up with debunking statements for mankind's propensity toward superstition while also feeding us supernatural speculations. I particularly enjoy books that can walk the line between supernatural explanations and mundane rationales for a good portion. Lansdale makes this challenging task look easy.

Of course, that peculiar Lansdalian humor runs strong throughout the text. Clever similes, witty conversation, and the occasional scatological gag gives us the chance to like the characters, to ease off tension from one scene or to provide the preamble build up to the next scene's dose of suspense.

Like Twain, Lansdale is a keen observer of behavior and a critic of some folks' need to believe. Thus, we find the expected critiques of religions and cults. However, instead of targeting the believers themselves, The Donut Legion is much more concerned with the sorts of people who draw their power from the rubes of the world and hold their station of capital-A Authority over those rubes with emotional chokeholds, physical threats, and murder. A few telling references to the tragic events that destroyed the People's Temple in Jonestown, Guyana lend the situation added gravitas.

Suffice to say, The Donut Legion is a solid thriller from a master of the form. Written with an ear for dialogue, an eye for telling details, and an understanding of the curious characters found in its East Texas region, the book delivers suspense, humor, and heartbreak in the author's classic style. This one feels like the start to a series, and I hope it succeeds enough to foster more yarns with the surviving characters. I liked seeing them work together, getting up to their throats in trouble, and I look forward to maybe doing so again.
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A special thank you to both NetGalley and Mulholland Books for providing an electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.

What: southern-fried mystery with humor, action, twists
About: Joe R Lansdale is a genre unto himself — while a mystery crime novel, it's never that straightforward, and this is why we love Lansdale. A missing persons case may be tied to a spaceship cult that operates donut shops in the region, and it's up to a writer and his PI brother to crack the case.
Features: amazing turns of phrase
Assets: pure enjoyment
Who it’s for: it's a mystery for people who don't normally read mysteries — it would be a fun friends/family/couples read-together.