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More known for his works of horror in the 80s, McCammon strikes for a pure thriller here in 1990 and hits at least a triple. Mine has two main leads-- Mary Terror, an ex (or not so ex) radical from the 60s and Laura, a former flower child and now a new suburban housewife/mother. We know from the back cover that Mary will steal Laura's child and Laura will go after her, and the last 300 pages or so involve that chase (and oh, what a chase). McCammon really drives you along here and while the book was long, it was effortless to read. The other strength of this novel is the nostalgia-- the two leads often reflect/remember their times in the 60s and where they are now. In a way, it reads like historical fiction now!

There are flaws to be sure. First, McCammon's treatment of LSD is laughable at best; I could go into details here, but I will just say that you do not start tripping 5 minutes after licking blotter. Second, he often falls into stereotypes with both the leads (radical revolutionary for Mary and unhappy wife assuaged by money) and the other characters (cheating husband looking back on his glory days, rube farmers, etc.). Nonetheless, it is pretty easy to forgive the faults for a rollicking good ride.