Gone South

Unclear how this gets placed in the horror genre, other than that the author has written some other horror books. This is a classic road story with some admittedly weird elements. McCammon really gets to me. So far I've been sucked right into every book of his I've picked up. The genre is irrelevant.

I love that the antagonist is as interesting and sympathetic as the protagonist. As I read it, I wasn't exactly rooting for Flint to catch Dan, but I was very invested in what would happen to him and Pelvis.

Every character involved in the chase is a freak or unusual in some way, and every character has suffered. They are all looking for some sort of “prize” that is going to either temporarily or permanently solve their problems, soothe their soul.

The ending might be a bit idealized given the terrible things that preceded it, but it works because of how extreme (in the best possible way) the story and characters are. If it had ended with a whimper, not a bang, that would have been a waste.