Patrick Glancy (Author of Shivering in Hell)

Patrick Glancy entered a giveaway Petrified Dreams: A Hap and Leonard Novel by Joe R. Lansdale (Goodreads Author) 20 copies available, ends on August 19, 2026 Enter to win »
Jul 20, 2026 04:30AM · like · see giveaway
Patrick Glancy entered a giveaway Truth to Power: A Luke Cage Marvel Crime Novel by S.A. Cosby (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 05, 2026 04:48AM · like · see giveaway
Patrick Glancy rated a book really liked it Things Get Ugly: The Best Crime Fiction of Joe R. Lansdale by Joe R. Lansdale (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Patrick Glancy is now following Marshall Garvey Author of Interstate '85: The Royals, The Cardinals, and ...
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Patrick Glancy rated a book it was amazing Interstate '85: The Royals, The Cardinals, and the Show-Me World Series (Sports and American Culture) by Marshall Garvey	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Patrick Glancy rated a book it was amazing Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
S.A. Cosby has sort of become the face of crime fiction in recent years, an honor that is well-deserved. He writes gripping, violent stories that flow with the ease of great pulp, but with the kind of substance that makes the characters stick with yo ...more
Jan 12, 2026 01:57PM · like · see review
Patrick Glancy made a comment in the group Pulp Fiction — January 2026 - The Light of Day topic " It's been a few years since I read this one, so my grasp of the details is kind of hazy at this point. It's still on my bookshelf, so maybe I should r ...more "
Jan 07, 2026 10:33AM
Patrick Glancy made a comment in the group Pulp Fiction — The Last King of California topic " In case you missed the intro post I made earlier, I'm new here. This is my first group and my first group post, so hopefully, I'm not screwing it up. ...more "
Jan 07, 2026 10:19AM
Patrick Glancy rated a book it was amazing The Last King of California by Jordan Harper (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Crime fiction is my favorite genre. Don't get me wrong, I read all sorts of stuff, but anything that falls into the crime/noir/pulp category is at the top of the list for me. And not just as a reader. I also write it, which adds to its personal signi ...more
Jan 07, 2026 09:35AM · 2 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Last King of California by Jordan Harper. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Last King of California by Jordan Harper <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

Patrick Glancy entered a giveaway

Petrified Dreams: A Hap and Leonard Novel
by Joe R. Lansdale (Goodreads Author)

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Patrick Glancy entered a giveaway

Truth to Power: A Luke Cage Marvel Crime Novel
by S.A. Cosby (Goodreads Author)

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Things Get Ugly: The Best Crime Fiction of Joe R. Lansdale
by Joe R. Lansdale (Goodreads Author)

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Marshall Garvey

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Interstate '85: The Royals, The Cardinals, and the Show-Me World Series (Sports and American Culture)
by Marshall Garvey

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Patrick Glancy rated a book it was amazing

Razorblade Tears
by S.A. Cosby (Goodreads Author)

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S.A. Cosby has sort of become the face of crime fiction in recent years, an honor that is well-deserved. He writes gripping, violent stories that flow with the ease of great pulp, but with the kind of substance that makes the characters stick with yo S.A. Cosby has sort of become the face of crime fiction in recent years, an honor that is well-deserved. He writes gripping, violent stories that flow with the ease of great pulp, but with the kind of substance that makes the characters stick with you long after you put the book down. As someone who also writes crime fiction, his work has certainly influenced my own, but while our work and our overall lives probably share some things in common, it's the differences in our experiences, many of which form the backbone of his work, that really draw me to Cosby. For example, we both come from modest means, and I get the impression we both have more experience with real-life shady characters than we'd prefer, but I'm a white dude from the Midwest, and he's a black guy from the South. It's not always pretty, which is the point, but his experiences in that setting inform his novels, and that is one of the great thrills of fiction, to see the world (and in particular, different parts of it) through another's eyes. That, combined with his gifts as a storyteller, really makes his stuff sing. When I started hearing all the buzz about Cosby a few years back, I kept an eye out for his stuff and picked each novel up at a bargain price, but they sat on my shelf for a while. I'm not sure why, but I didn't feel sense of urgency. That was a mistake on my part. When I finally picked up Blacktop Wasteland, I was instantly hooked. I read it, and the other three novels he'd published at that time in a matter of weeks.

That said, Razorblade Tears remains my personal favorite of his catalog. That's not a knock on his other stuff in any way. I could probably make a case for each of his books being his best, but Razorblade Tears resonated with me just a touch more. I think it's the father and son angle. I have three sons of my own, though they're all younger than the sons at the center of this book. To the best of my knowledge, none of them are gay, though the youngest is only nine, so time will tell. That's not the point though. I like to think I'm a far better father than either Ike or Buddy Lee were when their sons were young, and if any of my sons were to come out, I'm confident I would handle it better and be more accepting, but the bigger takeaway isn't necessarily about sexual orientation. Your children are their own people and they have to live their own lives, and that will not always take the shape we, as parents, are going to understand or approve. The lesson both Ike and Buddy Lee discover is that it doesn't really matter if we understand or approve. The more important thing is that we accept them for who they are and don't turn our backs on them. Unfortunately, this realization comes too late for our main characters to salvage their relationship with their sons, which is what makes Razorblade Tears such a heartbreaking read. Sure, it is extremely satisfying to follow them as they avenge their sons and dispense a measure of justice and retribution to their murderers, but what really elevates the story is that realization that their efforts, no matter how successful, will ultimately be somewhat hollow. The saving grace for our two heroes is that they understand this, and rather than allowing it to make their victory empty, they're open to change. They can't go back in time and repair their relationship with their sons, but they can be better men for their granddaughter's sake, and carry forward the spirit of their sons into the world around them. That's not a happily ever after ending, by any means, but it feels earned. Sometimes that has to be enough. ...more

Patrick Glancy made a comment in the group Pulp Fiction — January 2026 - The Light of Day topic

" It's been a few years since I read this one, so my grasp of the details is kind of hazy at this point. It's still on my bookshelf, so maybe I should r ...more "

Patrick Glancy made a comment in the group Pulp Fiction — The Last King of California topic

" In case you missed the intro post I made earlier, I'm new here. This is my first group and my first group post, so hopefully, I'm not screwing it up. ...more "

Patrick Glancy rated a book it was amazing

The Last King of California
by Jordan Harper (Goodreads Author)

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Crime fiction is my favorite genre. Don't get me wrong, I read all sorts of stuff, but anything that falls into the crime/noir/pulp category is at the top of the list for me. And not just as a reader. I also write it, which adds to its personal signi Crime fiction is my favorite genre. Don't get me wrong, I read all sorts of stuff, but anything that falls into the crime/noir/pulp category is at the top of the list for me. And not just as a reader. I also write it, which adds to its personal significance to me. Not surprisingly, given these factors, there is a group of crime writers, both living and dead, I hold in extremely high regard. These authors are a cut above everyone else in my book, not only because of their ability to craft great stories, but because they influence me and inspire my own work, whether they want credit for that or not. (Haha.) That list includes, among others, Jim Thompson, Elmore Leonard, Joe Lansdale, Sara Gran, S.A. Cosby, and, as you might have guessed, Jordan Harper.

I discovered Harper about two years ago when I read She Rides Shotgun, and I instantly clicked with his stuff. Much of his work is set in California, including this one, if it wasn't obvious from the title. I don't have a ton of personal experience in California— I've visited a few times, and I lived in LA for a few months when I was nineteen. Me and a friend took advantage of a free house his mom had in the city, and while our short-lived stay wasn't as dramatic as a Harper novel, it introduced me to both LA and the less glamorous desert wastelands that surround it, which is where this book spends most of its time. So there is a slight familiarity with the world he's writing about for me, even if I was never part of a criminal "family" or club like the Combine. Yet Luke, the protagonist of the book, really resonated with me all the same. There's very little overlap in the details of our lives, but I definitely know what it's like to be lost, searching for my place in the world. It's probably for the best that I didn't have close connections to a crime syndicate when I was Luke's age, but I indulged in plenty of self-destructive behavior at the time, and I connected with the character in a way that was frankly surprising, and maybe even a little jarring at times. That is due, in large part, to Jordan Harper's talent as a storyteller and artist, though there might also be something to our shared Midwest backgrounds as well. I don't want to overstate that. From what I know of Harper's bio, we've lived very different lives, but our formative years were spent in the same basic geographic footprint. He grew up in the Ozarks, while I came of age in the rural bluffs on the other side of the state, straddling the KS-MO border. I'm sure there are significant differences between the two places, but I have no doubt they share a lot of DNA too, and there is something in Harper's voice that speaks to me from there, regardless of where the actual story was set, and it's especially true with this particular book. Unlike Everybody Knows, which is quintessentially an LA story, The Last King of California feels like it easily could have been set in either of our boyhood homes, which, I suppose is kind of ironic, given the title. That's my take, at least, for whatever it's worth.

If you can't tell, I'm not a book critic and I'm spittin' off the cuff here, so I should probably wrap this up before I ramble too far away on a tangent. So, I'll reiterate how much I love Jordan Harper's work, and simply state that this is my favorite Harper book so far. I don't think there's anything outlandish about that statement, but I'll admit it surprised me a little when I realized it. Maybe it's because of all the love Everybody Knows has received (rightfully so), but I think I initially approached this as a lesser work. Not really sure why. Maybe it had to do with the synopsis on the back cover, which sounded interesting, but didn't strike me as the kind of story I was likely to feel in my bones. I was totally wrong about that, however, and I certainly won't underestimate Harper again. I have no idea if you will connect with it to the extent that I did, but even if you don't, if you like a good crime story, I have no doubt you'll be entertained. Long story short, I can't recommend this book enough. I loved it, and it's one of my favorite books that I've read in the last decade, even if I didn't see it coming. But hey, who doesn't love being blindsided by a fantastic book? It's the best. ...more

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