
He also seems to be channeling Mark Twain. This novel has a lot of similarities to Huckleberry Finn right down to the raft and various racial issues. The novel takes place in East Texas in the Great Depression. Lansdale always had a feeling for this period and he catches the time and place perfectly.
This is definitely in the top ten of Lansdale's novel yet I removed a star due to the sameness of it when compared to the formerly mentioned book and other great Lansdale novels like The Bottoms.