It was hell’s season, and the air smelled of burning children. Think you want to read more? Exactly.Dan is a Vietnam War vet, suffering the lingering effects of Agent Orange. He fought for his country and got pissed on. He has lost everything: his wife, his son, his home. He is on his way to the bank, to see the loans officer, with whom he has a good rapport, in a last ditch effort to keep his truck. But things have changed, most notably the loans officer. A scuffle ensues; the new loans officer lay dead. Guilty of a desperate act, made in an equally desperate moment, this veteran now has a price on his head, and is suddenly on the run, wanted by the law. He heads south toward the Louisiana bayou.At a truck stop he meets Arden Halliday, who bears a disfiguring purple birthmark that covers half her face. Life has not been kind to Arden. She is clutching to the only hope she has left; her belief in The Bright Girl, a legendary faith healer, who can be found in the bayou. Dan may be Arden’s ticket to actually finding her. On their tail, also swamp bound, are two of the most curious bounty hunters you will ever encounter. I do not say this lightly. On the shelf above the “pretties” were eight photo albums that contained the pictures Smoates had collected of what seemed to be his driving passion next to making money and eating. Smoates was a connoisseur of freaks. As other men enjoyed vintage wine, fine paintings, or sculpture, Smoates craved grotesque oddities of flesh and bone. He acquired Flint Murtaugh, our bounty hunter, at a side show. But then Flint himself might still be an object of disgusting fascination had Smoates not visited the side show tent that advertised, among other attractions, Flint and Clint, the Two in One. Soon you will meet his brother.And then there’s Pelvis Eisley, the big bellied, fat-jowled twin of Elvis Presley as he’d been the year of his death at Graceland. He is actually, a hunter in training, and he’s got Mama with him.Did I mention the bayou……..McCammon ushered me in, to that isolated, god forsaken place we all imagine, deep in the sluggish, overgrown waters. His descriptive powers paint an overwhelming sense of place. Down in Louisiana where the alligators grow so mean…………..and it’s not all Polk salad. The locals govern themselves, no poh…..lice to be found here. The bayou’s green walls closed in. Thirty feet overhead the tree branches merged, breaking the light into yellow shards. Burt reduced their speed by half and steered the curve of another bend where the mossy tree trunks were as big around as tractor tires. And there, ahead of them in a still and silent cove, was Little Train’s house."See, Dan, it’s like this: you look on a map of the country, you see this swamp down here and it still looks like it’s part of The United States right? Well, the map lies. This down here is a world all to its ownself. It’s got its own language, its own industries, its own……well, I wouldn’t call em laws, exactly. Codes would be more like it. Yeah, codes. The first one is: you don’t mess with me, I don’t mess with you." Hope paddles this boat: searching for redemption, searching for a miracle, searching for a way out, searching for ones own self, searching, for a little dignity.The swamp, the gators, the locals, this trip; it will change them all. McCammon is a gifted storyteller and this is an all round excellent adventure. I savoured it slowly, as one would mighty, fine wine or a mighty, fine story.
"It was Hell's season, and the air smelled of burning children." This is how the journey South of Dan Lambert begins, on a stifling hot summer in Shreveport. The year is 1991, and Dan is painfully reminded of the horrors of the Vietnam War - an experience that scarred him for life both physically, as a result of exposure to Agent Orange, and emotionally, as his PTSD has driven his wife and child away. As if his illness and family troubles were not enough, the country is in a middle of a recession, and Dan is out of work. The straw that broke the camel's back takes the form of a bank summons to repossess his pickup truck, the only means he has left for looking for work. Dan gets into an argument with the bank manager, security is called in, a fight breaks up and a man is killed. Suddenly Dan is on the run from the law. He has "gone south" . McCammon explains through the novel that the expression has several interpretations, all valid: - it's Cajun talk for bein' dead- it's an expression used in Vietnam for somebody who goes crazy, who snaps and goes on a rampage- it's actually the journey Dan takes towards the Alabama bayou, the Mississippi Delta water labyrinth where he hopes to escape pursuit and to take stock of his situation.Dan Lambert is not the only character on a quest here. He meets on the road a girl on the run from herself as much as from society: Arden, with her face disfigured by a huge birthmark, is trying to find the Bright Girl, a mythical creature hiding in the bayou and reported to be able to heal every illness with a touch of her hands. Clint and Pelvis Eisley are a couple of mismatched bounty hunters, one cynical, experienced and introverted, the other a babbling rookie who made a previous career out of impersonating Elvis. The duo is responsible for much of the humor in the novel, but McCammon deftly avoids painting them as caricatures by slowly revealing the pain and the rejection they in their turn have experienced in life, treated as freaks and oddballs. Little Train is a solitary fisherman in the bayou, another war veteran who has chosen to live in isolation in the middle of nature. Each member of the group, with the exception of Little Train, is looking for a way out of his problems: Dan has to accept responsibility for his killing rage and to come to terms with his illness, Arden has to come to terms with her disfigurement, Clint has to decide about his job dissatisfaction and Pelvis to move away from his Elvis infatuation:(view spoiler)[ - All of us came from different places, for different reasons. But we all have shared one very, very important thing. - What's that? - We believed. In miracles. - But it was a lie. It was always a lie. - No. It was an illusion, and there's a difference. What the Bright Girl could do - what she was - became what the people wanted to believe. If there is no hope, what reason is there to live? A world without miracles ... well, that would be a world I wouldn't care to live in. (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about Gone South (1993)?
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. Gone South is a gripping example of magical realism with an ending that completes a much needed legacy.
—Scott
I loved this book. The story, the characters, the setting, the pace of the story were all perfect. The characters were very unique and quite different from characters in the other books I've read over the years which alone gives it a big thumbs up from me. I don't really want to go into plot much but the story definitely caught my interest from page one all the way to the very end. After committing a crime that was more out of desperation and knowledge that he will lose the last remaining thing he has in life, Dan Lambert goes on a run. With limited amount of money in his pocket and a head full of "What the fuck am I to do now?!?" Dan gets in his truck and drives as far from a scene of crime as possible. On the way he meets quite a few colorful characters and tries as best as possible to get his thoughts in line. This was such a fun read. Dan is so desperate and scared (more for his family than himself. Read the book and you'll find out why) and even though you just saw him kill a man, you just can't help but feel sorry for him because he seems like a good guy, a person who never stepped on anybody's toes and always kept his mind on a right path. He spends a good portion of the book trying to (not in an obvious way) redeem himself and show that he is not necessarily a bad person. I highly recommend this book to all of my GR friends. McCammon can really write a compelling story that keeps you entertained from start to finish.
—Rade
Learning about the man behind the books is fascinating, especially when you see how they connect to each other.After finishing "Boy's Life" mccammon decided he wanted to branch out and try new things, and his editors told him no. They wanted more horror novels, and they didn't want to give him a chance to branch out.Boy's Life isn't a horror novel, it's a beautiful portrait of magical realism and childhood. Gone South isn't really a horror novel either. While pitched and promoted as a spiritual brother to Jack ketchum's Cover, this is a whole other beast.It's a story about a bunch of people who are fed up with life and the way things are, people who are looking for escape.It is no surprise then, that after publishing this book, Mccammon walked away from writing. He was fed up with people telling him what to write and what not to write. He loved horror, but his books weren't scary story cash-cows, he viewed them as art. These are books that mean something to him, and you always get that feeling when you read his stuff. He wanted an escape, so he gave it all up after this book.Fortunately, mccammon has returned to writing, my understanding is that they're colonial American mystery novels. I am glad he is back, I am glad that he is getting his old stuff out there on e-book because it is magic.
—David
