C. B. Jones (1)

Nearly from the moment I opened the book, Rules of the Road sucked me into its journey and refused exit. In another author's hands, I think the sometimes episodic nature of the book could have been disastrous, but Jones' deft weaving of story upon story--rule upon rule--made for such a fantastic sequence and build-up that I had difficulty looking away, and essentially ended up reading the book in two lengthy sittings. More than anything, the book was alive with different voices, and it's so show more rare that I've seen an author offer up such clearly distinct voices in a fashion like this, to where the voices felt as real as they were distinctive, and thus added reality to the book rather than only offering distraction. Keith Lee Morris' Dart Board King comes to mind in this regard, and again, the various voices are one of those things that I think could have gone tragically wrong (by sounding over-done or all the same) in some other author's hands, but here were treated with such nuance and natural forward motion that they worked beautifully. And then, even aside from the writing, there's such a unique creativity and craft to the story as a whole, the horror of the tale(s) feels all the more real.

I imagine most any reader or writer of horror will devour this book, and justifiably so. I'm so glad to have discovered it, and I'm anxious to read more of Jones' work.

Absolutely recommended. show less

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel of linked and nicely framed stories about Buck Hensley's Rules of the Road broadcasts. There were lots of scares but also a lot of heart. Some of my favorite chapters were "Call Me," "Cold as Ice," "Landslide," and "Left of the Dial." I also really enjoyed how the frame narrative wrapped up. We road-tripped constantly when I was a kid, and I like how the book captures that feeling.