'Gone South' is the final book Robert McCammon completed before his early retirement - and it's a shame, because he was maturing into a writer that had outgrown the 'Horror' label he had given himself in the eighties. The novel focuses on a Vietnam veteran who commits murder whilst in an understandable rage. He goes on the run and a road-movie begins with the character coming across all sorts of weird and whacky people as he runs from the law. It is the bounty hunter, though, that takes the gong for weirdness and I can only picture David Lynch making this into a film. Dan Lambert, the main character, has a wonderfully sympathetic persona but McCammon never gets sugary and sentimental. There's a bit for everyone in this story - the road movie plot, the broken hero, a messed up bounty hunter, a couple of real, major psychos and a little romance to boot. This story could have been just a run of the mill thriller but in McCammon's warped head it is a moving but surreal 'chase across the states' story that moves with a frantic pace and never allows you to take a breather. Overall, 'Gone South' is not McCammon's best (we'll leave that for 'Boy's Life' and 'Swan Song') but that is not a bad thing. This story is a well structured thriller going through the hands of a horror writer that can create well rounded characters as efficiently as Stephen King.
'Gone South' is an enjoyable, touching and funky book.