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251st out of 600 books
—
1,404 voters
Gone South
"It was hell's season, and the air smelled of burning children...." With "one of the most arresting first sentences in contemporary writing" "(The Atlanta Journal-Constitution), " Robert McCammon unfurls his visionary masterpiece of survival, redemption, and the astonishing transformations love can create.
GONE SOUTH
chronicles a desperate man's journey through a desperate l...more
GONE SOUTH
chronicles a desperate man's journey through a desperate l...more
Paperback, 400 pages
Published
August 1st 1993
by Pocket Books
(first published 1992)
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Entertaining, gritty, and funny Southern Gothic/noir tale involving a Viet Nam vet who kills a banker and then chased by a pair of unusual bounty hunters for a $15K bounty. Great stuff.
May 18, 2011
Belinda
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Belinda by:
Sarah T
Shelves:
horror-fiction
I read this title as part of a double set with Boy's Life. I enjoyed both and even better, enjoyed finding an author that I would like to read more of their stuff. I find McCammon's writing to be similar to Stephen King's--not in a derivative way, but more in terms of a style or feeling. Boy's Life was much more of a traditional coming of age with a touch of horror kind of thing (a specialty of King's) whereas Gone South contains the following elements: a leukemia stricken, down on his luck Viet...more
1 like · like · see review
I absolutely loved Gone South. Not only does it have some of the most interesting characters I've come across in a while (the bounty hunters will be on my mind for a long time!), but its a compact, concise and well-told story that tries to do a lot of things...and it works. Gone South deftly weaves together war trauma, illness, physical deformity, impersonation, humor, quest, and crime drama, and none of the aforementioned suffers from lack of attention or threatens the cohesiveness of the plot...more
2 likes · like · see review
I really wish I’d enjoyed this more. I remember in my late teens reading Stinger, Swan Song and Blue World and really appreciating them. I have gone back to books I liked as a teen only to find them wanting now that I’m an adult.
McCammon has also been harsh on his early work. He’s very active online; I have a small fear that he or his fans will find this review. I hope anyone who reads this will understand the respect I have for writers.
The story is about Dan, a Vietnam vet dying of cancer, livi...more
McCammon has also been harsh on his early work. He’s very active online; I have a small fear that he or his fans will find this review. I hope anyone who reads this will understand the respect I have for writers.
The story is about Dan, a Vietnam vet dying of cancer, livi...more
I think the British term is "gobsmacked"! What a book! (No I did not read it in a day, I posted a book of similar title back on April 22 and just discovered the error.) This has been my lunch book since then and I must admit it caused me to take a few longer lunch hours than normal. I picked this up at a used bookstore for $1.25 because I thought I had read "Boy's Life" by the same author. Turns out if I did it was so long ago I forgot it but it will become my new lunch book shortly based on the...more
I absolutely love this book. It's a drama, it's a comedy, it's everything in between. McCammon writes the unbelieveable and makes you believe every word of it. His main character is undeniably flawed and certainly does not paint the portrait of a hero - rather, he is a survivor who gains the reader's sympathy and loyalty from the start. The characters are incredible, the plot is crazy, the ending, satisfying. This book is fun, fun, fun!
2 likes · like · see review
I first encountered McCammon years ago when i read Swan's Song and I loved the book and ages have passed between then and a few months ago when i picked up Speaks the Nightbird which was book one of the matthew corbitt novel set in colonial new york, and those books captured my attention fully. while looking for another in the series at the library, i found gone south and picked it up..it could not be more different from the other books that i have read and i loved this book. The characters are...more
I read this along time ago and it was good. It was more funny than anything else. Both of the bounty hunters was a trip. They was like comic relief in a horror flick. McCammon was the man back in the day.
This book is on par with
, which is one of the books I would rescue if my house was on fire.
Dan is a Viet Nam vet suffering from PTSD. He has lost his family, his health and has no job. In a fit of despair, he causes the death of a loan manager about to repossess his truck. Fleeing to escape prison, he runs across some unusual characters.
McCammon seems to have two different writing styles. His mainstream horror writing is fine but he also writes a different kind of horror. I don’t know what to...more
, which is one of the books I would rescue if my house was on fire.Dan is a Viet Nam vet suffering from PTSD. He has lost his family, his health and has no job. In a fit of despair, he causes the death of a loan manager about to repossess his truck. Fleeing to escape prison, he runs across some unusual characters.
McCammon seems to have two different writing styles. His mainstream horror writing is fine but he also writes a different kind of horror. I don’t know what to...more
"It was hell's season, and the air smelled of burning children".
Another really good Mccammon Book. The first line hooked me and once I started reading it I couldn't stop.
Another really good Mccammon Book. The first line hooked me and once I started reading it I couldn't stop.
It was . . . OK. The structure worked, both the alternating chapters between the bounty hunters and the murderer (and girl with whom he travels), and the general narrative structure. The problem was that it seemed too obvious. Oh, here is where the two bounty hunters start becoming friends. Oh, here is where the murderer and the woman with whom he travels start to respect each other. Oh, here is where they face a major decision. Etc., etc. The prose was workmanlike, the dialogue fine--but it nev...more
I borrowed this book from a friend YEARS ago, and I've been periodically thinking about it and telling people about it.
I remembered the plot, but for the life of me I couldn't remember the name. Well... 1 google search of: "book about a bounty hunter and an elvis impersonator and his little dog", and here it is.
It's a TWISTED story about a Vietnam vet that just "lost it" one day and shot a man. A bounty was put on his head, and two bounty hunters (an Elvis Impersonator with a little yappy dog an...more
I remembered the plot, but for the life of me I couldn't remember the name. Well... 1 google search of: "book about a bounty hunter and an elvis impersonator and his little dog", and here it is.
It's a TWISTED story about a Vietnam vet that just "lost it" one day and shot a man. A bounty was put on his head, and two bounty hunters (an Elvis Impersonator with a little yappy dog an...more
A good book - maybe not quite 4 stars but definitely better than 3.
Dan, a Vietman Vet who has fallen on hard times, 'goes south' after he is about to have his truck repossed and mistakenly shoots and kills a bank loan officer. As he is fleeing and trying to stay ahead of 2 freak bounty hunters that are hot on his trail, he meets up with a young woman, Arden, who is also down on her luck and who is searching for the Bright Girl, a mystical faith healer that resides somewhere in the Louisiana bayo...more
Dan, a Vietman Vet who has fallen on hard times, 'goes south' after he is about to have his truck repossed and mistakenly shoots and kills a bank loan officer. As he is fleeing and trying to stay ahead of 2 freak bounty hunters that are hot on his trail, he meets up with a young woman, Arden, who is also down on her luck and who is searching for the Bright Girl, a mystical faith healer that resides somewhere in the Louisiana bayo...more
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...more
Apr 17, 2013
Michael Hebler
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Nobody
Recommended to Michael by:
Nobody
Shelves:
horror
Robert McCammon had written one of my favorite novels back in the early 1990's, entitled, The Wolf's Hour. Being placed in what would probably be considered my Top 5 favorite horror/thriller contemporary fiction novels, understandably, it is a pedestal on which I have placed Mr. McCammon. Having said that, perhaps a 2-star rating is slightly severe, but I just can't bring myself to rate higher.
Gone South begins interestingly enough, and I found the lead character Dan Lambert to be easy to relate...more
Gone South begins interestingly enough, and I found the lead character Dan Lambert to be easy to relate...more
Gone South by Robert R McCammon was published in 1992 is 392 pages long.
Dan Lambert is a Vietnam vet down on his luck. He's divorced, out of work, and sick. His bills are piling up and he is several months behind on his truck payment. When he goes to the bank to speak to the loan manager about working something out so he can keep his truck, he finds a world of trouble. The new bank manager won't give Dan any breathing room and Dan loses his temper. Before it's all said and done a man is killed a...more
Dan Lambert is a Vietnam vet down on his luck. He's divorced, out of work, and sick. His bills are piling up and he is several months behind on his truck payment. When he goes to the bank to speak to the loan manager about working something out so he can keep his truck, he finds a world of trouble. The new bank manager won't give Dan any breathing room and Dan loses his temper. Before it's all said and done a man is killed a...more
McCammon has the wonderful ability to blend local folklore, myth, and personal hardships in his books' misadventures. Here, a Bayou setting offers a mystical untouchable realm where the law does not abide and humanity must take care of itself. The characters in the novel are misfits from the "sideshow-freak" aspect to the fugitive aspect. Gone South's settings are the sweet and sour images of lush Spanish moss covered trees with the subject of a crocodile dangling a crumpled heron from its mouth...more
I've been a McCammon fan ever since Wolf Hour and Speaks The Nightbird, two remarkably different stories that showcase the author's skill for storytelling. Gone South is no exception, offering readers a modern "Quest" for acceptance and belonging with a title full of double meaning. Its protagonist is out-of-work carpenter Dan Lambert, a bitter Vietnam vet poisoned by agent-orange during the war whose life has "Gone South" ever since his discharge. When the bank threatens to repossess Lambert's...more
In the introduction to this book, Robert McCammon states that he was in a very dark place while writing this book. Dark place, indeed! I started reading this and became physically exhausted while following the plight of Dan Lambert. This character had the odds stacked against him so high, it's a wonder he could keep going. However, as exhausting as the character was, I enjoyed reading about his journey as he ran from the law and two bounty hunters. The bounty hunters, I must say, are quite the c...more
I LOVED this book. I totally didn't expect it to be so affecting. What I figured would be a reasonably run-of-the-mill story about a man down on his luck who becomes a fugitive from the law after killing another in the heat of the moment became the story of several strangers ultimately on a quest for purpose, for a refuge from their everyday lives. Ironically, this book was written in 1991, so when you'd expect some of the characters to whip out their cell phones or fire up the Internet, they do...more
I had never heard of Robert McCammon before joining Goodreads.'Boy's Life' was one of their recommendations (thank you Goodreads) so I decided to give it a go and loved it. This is my second Robert McCammon book and I wasn't disappointed. The characters are so wonderfully drawn and the story so well written and paced, you want to weep with frustration at the end becaise there's no more to read.
The blurb talks about the author's ability to draw 'word pictures' - cinematic is the word that spring...more
The blurb talks about the author's ability to draw 'word pictures' - cinematic is the word that spring...more
I really loved this book! Such an eclectic group of characters, and again Robert McCammon takes a deceptively simple plot and throws in his customary twists and turns that have you wondering what in all HELL does this have to do with the original plot? But all questions are answered and packaged up nicely by the last page, I guarantee. If you are going to read this, I would suggest trying to find the actual book, though. I read this on the Amazon Kindle Touch and there were so many errors in the...more
Vietnam vet Dan is down and out and gets himself in a pile of trouble when he looses his temper at the bank and goes on the run. His journey leads to lots of twist and turns in the story and an unusual pair of bounty hunters go after him for the reward money the bank is offering. The end of the story is nothing I expected but it was a cool way to end it! I felt like I was watching a movie it was so well written!
When I picked Gone South off my book shelf I didn't know what I was getting myself into! I was previously unfamiliar with McCammon but now have the potential to be a true fan. Early into the book I couldn't get over how strange it was but was quickly engaged with the story and the flawed cast of characters. I don't want to spoil so instead I will highly recommend Gone South!
My favorite McCammon book thus far. This book touched me in ways I never thought possible. The characters are very 3 dimensional and well written. I really believe that I might meet them on any street in a southern town.
Gripping story, wonderful characters. "Gone South" is a term for someone who has left the plan of action, and that has definitely happened with our main characters. Oh, Southern Gothic. Need I say more?
A very atmospheric book. I have never been to the swamp lands of the deep South, but this was the next best thing. The ending felt disappointing initially, but on reflection I thought it was done very well.
May 07, 2012
Glenn
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction-general,
mysteries-and-thrillers
This was my first McCammon book. It started off with a bang and kept up throughout. The level of tension was done well, and I think many readers can empathize with the predicament the protagonist finds himself in.
While not quite on the same level as Boy's Life, this was also a great read. I found myself easily following along with the different characters and wanting to find out what would happen next. Enjoyed the storyline and really liked the ending :)
A good read about an accidental murderer who escapes into the bayous of Louisiana. He meets some interesting folks along the way, and the two bounty hunters that chase after him are two very memorable characters, and in fact they steal the show. Though not his best, still another quality McCammon read.
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Robert R. McCammon was a full-time horror writer for many years. After taking a hiatus for his family, he returned to writing with an interest in historical fiction.
A new contemporary novel, The Five, was published in May 2011 by Subterranean Press.
The Hunter from the Woods, a collection of novellas and stories featuring Michael Gallatin, the main character from The Wolf's Hour, was published as a...more
More about Robert R. McCammon...
A new contemporary novel, The Five, was published in May 2011 by Subterranean Press.
The Hunter from the Woods, a collection of novellas and stories featuring Michael Gallatin, the main character from The Wolf's Hour, was published as a...more
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