The Donut Legion Audiobook By Joe R. Lansdale cover art

The Donut Legion

A Novel

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The Donut Legion

By: Joe R. Lansdale
Narrated by: Joe R. Lansdale, Kasey Lansdale, Finlay Stevenson, January LaVoy, Marc Vietor, Greg Littlefield, Brad Sanders
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Edgar award-winning author Joe R. Lansdale beams a light on an East Texas town held in the grip of conspiracy.

Charlie Garner has a bad feeling. His ex-wife, Meg, has been missing for over a week and one quick peek into her home shows all her possessions packed up in boxes. Neighbors claim she’s running from bill collectors, but Charlie suspects something more sinister is afoot. Meg was last seen working at the local donut shop, a business run by a shadow group most refer to as ‘The Saucer People’; a space-age, evangelist cult who believe their compound to be the site of an extraterrestrial Second Coming.

Along with his brother, Felix, and beautiful, randy journalist Amelia “Scrappy” Moon, Charlie uncovers strange and frightening details about the compound (read: a massive, doomsday storehouse of weapons, a leashed chimpanzee!) When the body of their key informer is found dead with his arms ripped out of their sockets, Charlie knows he’s in danger but remains dogged in his quest to rescue Meg.

Brimming with colorful characters and Lansdale’s characteristic bounce, this rollicking crime novel examines the insidious rise of fringe groups and those under their sway with black comedy and glints of pathos.

©2023 Joe R. Lansdale (P)2023 Mulholland Books Crime Fiction Fiction Hard-Boiled Historical Fiction Mystery Southern United States World Literature Crime Suspense

Critic reviews

"A breathlessly paced, suspenseful novel, revealing the dark underbelly of cults, and people's enduring fascination with the supernatural. Populated by his one-of-a-kind characters, Lansdale, with his signature humor and empathy, peels back the layers of bluster and hype, exposing the seductive and dangerous nature of predatory sects.”—Kathleen Kent, author of THE DIME
"The Donut Legion struck a crazy chord in my heart. Joe Lansdale employs his signature dark humor to shine a supremely strange and unflinchingly honest light on our present-day madness. Known for his colorful characters, Lansdale outdoes himself with this motley crew. Fingers crossed more Garner Brother books are on the way!"—Eli Cranor, author of DON’T KNOW TOUGH

“Joe R. Lansdale’s THE DONUT LEGION centers around a writer searching for his missing ex-wife with the help of his private dick brother and a wannabe journalist, diving headlong into the bowels of a flying-saucer cult and their sketchy donut shop front. It’s a full-tilt blast, shot through with Lansdale’s searching humanism and deft touch. His East Texas brims with weirdness. Vibrant and rowdy and just so much damn fun. I’ve lost faith in a lot of people and things and institutions over the years, but I’ve never lost faith in Lansdale’s books, and this is one of his best yet.”—William Boyle, author of SHOOT THE MOONLIGHT OUT
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Another East Texas tale from Joe Lansdale with new characters.
I was drawn into the story and characters and the mystery as to what happened to his ex-wife. The Donut Saucer people cult made sense. I normally don't like over the top violence, which you know you will get in a Joe Lansdale book, but he fits it into the story and the characters.
The voices are great for the story. There might be some very minor echoing glitches near the very end, but by then, I was too drawn into the story to care.

Great characters, story, mystery

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Not Lansdale’s best but a fun book either way. The only real gripe I had is that the audio recording goes sideways towards the end and sounds like the narrator recorded in an empty office while on his iPhone using the speaker option.

cults, donuts and noir of my!

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The story was pretty good, and I felt like the casting of the characters voices was good most of the time, except for a few. The biggest problem with his audiobook was that the producer obviously had the narrators separated in time and space. At times it seemed to jerky and halting. Other times characters did not understand the emotions and tone of the conversation. The worst part was probably the last few chapters were. The main narrator was apparently in a echo chamber. It did not match the rest of the book at all. I would recommend re-recording the last few chapters. All in all I enjoyed the book and it was worth the daily deal price.

Decent story, ok casting, bad producer

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Okay, so this thing has multiple narrators. And some of the audio quality varies. But I don’t think these are drawbacks. In fact, they’re pluses in my book. Joe Lansdale is the narrator, and he’s fantastic. And every other voice brings a lot of joy to their performance. This thing is like an independent film in audio form. Sure, you might see some seams from time to time, but that just adds to the whole experience. If you are a Joe Lansdale fan like me, then you’re gonna love this.

This audiobook will make you smile, especially if you love Joe Lansdale

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This is my second book by the author A Fine Dark Line is still a top favorite this one was good, weird characters but likeable, UFOs and small town mystery yes, please!

Likes me Characters, Donuts, and A Monkey??

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I enjoyed the story. Like many others listed, the performance wasn't great. The audio about chapter 54 begins to sound like he was recording through two cans and some string.

Excellent Story

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I enjoyed the story and thought most of the reading was good. Starting with chapter 53 or so, Joe R. Lansdale reading the main part sounded as if he was recording now on an iPhone in his kitchen or something. The other parts were more or less the same throughout. Whoever produced this audiobook must've been in a hurry to see it through. Too bad, it would have deserved better.

Eventful book - not sure what happened with audio

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While amusing, the storyline itself is less than plausible, and the humor often ill-placed relative to the gruesome and violence nature of the content.

A real stretch

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Joe R Lansdale is my favorite author, but I feel like this could easily have been a Hap and Leonard novel. It has all the characteristics except the main characters aren’t funny or have interesting backstories. Unfortunately, this is Lansdale in rinse and repeat mode as far as plot is concerned.

A note on the performances: for the final chapters, Lansdale sounds like he’s recording his narration in a tin can. He’s obviously on Zoom and not in a recording studio. The change is quite jarring and it really took me out of the story.

Fake Hap and Leonard

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Joe Landsdale's story is a fun one. The only problem I have is that some of the recording quality is lacking, especially towards the end. The narrator sounds like he's reading at the bottom of a metal well, distant and tinny with some slight echoes thrown in for good measure. it's a shame because the story is good. it deserved better.

A good book with a bad recording

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