Reviews

Gone South by Robert R. McCammon

majban's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

cdeane61's review against another edition

3.0

I have read McCammon before, but not for some time now (mostly in the 90's) and found his style and plotting to be a bit simple in this one.

There was enough there to keep me reading, but just, and I'm glad I did as I really enjoyed the ending.

Quite a departure from Swan Song and Baal, more like Boys Life with this one.

Not great but entertaining over all.

dylan_dr3's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

the_evergrowing_library's review against another edition

4.0

Ok, ok, ok, it’s no surprise to anyone that I love Robert McCammon’s works, but there are still some better than others….. and he might disappoint one day!

Gone South, isn’t that day. This was another great read. It’s not his best for me personally, but it was still a very good book.

The way McCammon writes is wonderful in both his use of language in his writing and also in that you genuinely have no idea where the story is going to take you. You think you have an idea of what will happen and that is just totally pulled out from under you.

Dan is a great lead and I felt for him the whole time. Add in the other supporting cast(a couple of which you’d think I’d have dropped some strong drugs if I described to you) that also felt unique and with their own ideals and you have a wonderful line up.
The pace carried really well and was full of curveballs throughout and I found the ending to be a nice little stopping point.

paulataua's review against another edition

3.0

Dan Lambert , suffering the results of Agent Orange from his Vietnam days and on hard times, kills a man in a confused episode at the bank. It all results in him being on the run and being confronted by a range of odd characters seeking to cash in on the 15,000 dollar bounty. Great characterization of the main characters, but despite so many people I respect raving about this novel, It just didn’t grab me enough. I will get around to reading more McCammon, but this one just came in as a fairly average read.

torturedfiber's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

squaresofliving's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved this one. Just great storytelling, characters and plot! 

erat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Occasionally bleak, but I like how it all came together in the end. McCammon's books are hit or miss for me. This one definitely hit. 

david_agranoff's review against another edition

5.0

Gone South is a part of one of may favorite literary sub-genres. Weird Crime, adding horror or bizarro elements to a crime novel almost always works for me. This is one strange southern gothic crime novel but it is so perfectly with brutal and beautiful moments it is hard for me to imagine anyone not enjoying it.

Opening with an amazing first line… “"It was hell's season, and the air smelled of burning children...." It is the story of Dan Lambert a Vietnam vet who is having a rough go of it. He has leukemia, his wife kicked him out, he can’t find work and now the bank wants to take his truck. He tries to reason with the loan officer and stuff goes well south. He didn’t mean to kill the guy things just got out of control. So he takes off. The bank puts a reward on his head and before long every two-bit bounty hunter in Louisiana is after him.

The characters in this novel are vivid and interesting including A bounty hunter named flint who was recruited out of freak show(he has a third arm, well actually he has a little twin brother he absorbed before birth) and his Elvis impersonator partner.

Well trying to escape Dan has an adventure meets up with a young woman disfigured by a large birthmark and they journey together as she is looking for a healer. Dan doesn’t believe in the healer known as the bright girl but as they travel deeper into the bayou the journey continues to get even stranger.

McCammon is one of my favorite writers and may be the best pure story teller writing genre novels. He gets compared to King, but he is far more consistent than King. He milks the south setting in this book to create a novel that is unsettling , funny and at times charming. Is it McCammon’s best? No and that is the scary thing. Fans of weird crime should not miss this one.

felinefreak's review

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0