White Line Fever
- Judith D Collins
- Mar 29, 2025
- 6 min read
By: K.C. Jones
Narrator: Kate Handford
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Tor Nightfire
ISBN: 978-1250792716
Publication Date: 03/18/2025
Format: Audio
My Rating: 4 Stars (ALC)
From Bram Stoker Award finalist KC Jones comes White Line Fever, a harrowing thrill ride about friendship, trauma, and learning how to take the wheel of your own life.
THEY'LL BREAK MORE THAN SPEED LIMITS ON THIS GIRLS' TRIP FROM HELL.
At a passing glance, County Road 951 is an entirely unremarkable stretch of blacktop, a two-lane scar across the Cascade foothills of Central Oregon.
But the road is known by another name, coined by locals who’ve had to clean up after all those scenic detours went horribly wrong: The Devil’s Driveway.
When Livia and her long-time friends take the Driveway as a shortcut to a much-needed weekend getaway, what begins as a morning joyride quickly becomes anything but. Soon, they’re driving for their lives, pursued by a horror beyond anything they ever imagined.
The Devil’s Driveway might be only 15 miles long, but with danger at every turn, it will take the four women to the very limits of their friendships and their sanity.
And there’s no telling what else lies in wait just beyond the bend.
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire.
My Review
In this horror-filled thriller, WHITE LINE FEVER by KC Jones, four inseparable friends embark on an exhilarating weekend getaway, their laughter echoing against the backdrop of adventure. Seeking a shortcut, they unknowingly veer onto a treacherous and eerie path known as the "Devil's Driveway."
As the chilling air thickens around them, they soon realize they are not alone. A malevolent supernatural entity surfaces from the shadows, relentlessly pursuing them. This dark force compels each friend to confront the haunting echoes of their past traumas and the terrifying specters of their inner demons. As they navigate the twists and turns of the road, fear intertwines with nostalgia, forcing them to face the ghosts they thought were long buried.
About...
The Weekend Getaway: Livia, reeling from the discovery of her husband's infidelity, is encouraged by her lifelong friends, Ash, Becka, and Morgan, to take a weekend trip to an Oregon resort to de-stress and reconnect.
The Shortcut: Due to a traffic jam and a tense encounter with a tow truck driver, the women decide to take a shortcut onto County Road 951, a road known locally as "The Devil's Driveway" that was closed after a fatal accident involving 15 people.
Supernatural Encounters: Once on the road, oddities begin immediately. The women experience strange visions, including a giant shadowy figure and a complete lack of wildlife sounds. They soon realize they are trapped on the 15-mile stretch, unable to find a way off.
Confronting Trauma: The supernatural entity on the road, described as a "Harrowling" that feeds on suffering, projects the characters' past traumas and fears as horrifying hallucinations. This forces the women to confront difficult childhood experiences, such as abusive parents and unhealthy relationships.
Dual Timelines: The narrative shifts between the present-day ordeal on the Devil's Driveway and flashbacks to the characters' youth, revealing the formative and often painful events that bonded them together as "The Scoundrels".
Fight for Survival: The friends must work together to survive the psychological and physical horrors of the road, eventually running into a separate group of men who were also trapped there. Their journey becomes a desperate fight for survival and sanity.
My thoughts...
WHITE LINE FEVER is a contemporary take on classic horror themes, drawing influences primarily from established tropes and specific works.
The book is heavily influenced by psychological horror and the exploration of the long-term effects of trauma, using the supernatural setting to force the characters to confront their pasts.
In White Line Fever, the "Harrowling" entity feeds on the group’s suffering by forcing them to relive deeply personal and collective scars. The primary traumas confronted include:
~Paternal Abuse and Domestic Fear
~Betrayal and Infidelity
~Physical Trauma and Near-Death Experiences
~Collective Childhood Guilt
Flashbacks reveal that all four friends—collectively known as "The Scoundrels"—bonded while navigating the perils of having "dangerous" or "inept" parents.
The "Scoundrels" share specific "unpleasant episodes" from their youth on Livia's family property. These formative, traumatizing events created a lifelong bond, but the road forces them to face the unresolved guilt and tension that still exists within their group dynamic.
The central takeaway of White Line Fever is that surviving trauma requires taking the wheel of your own life rather than remaining a passenger to your past.
Key thematic messages include:
~The Power of Collective Support
~Confronting vs. Avoiding Trauma
~Reclaiming Personal Agency
~The Danger of Shortcuts
The 15-mile "Devil's Driveway" acts as a physical manifestation of a "dark ride down memory lane". The characters only begin to survive when they stop running from their deep-seated traumas—such as paternal abuse and infidelity—and face them directly.
The novel emphasizes that psychological survival is a "white-knuckle ride" involving personal defiance. The supernatural horror serves as a metaphor for the struggle to break free from toxic cycles and "taking the wheel" of one's future.
On a literal level, the story reinforces a classic horror lesson: don't take the shortcut. Metaphorically, it suggests there are no easy ways around processing pain; the only way out is through it.
Recs...
Readers who enjoyed WHITE LINE FEVER may appreciate other horror and thriller novels that focus on psychological trauma, cursed locations, strong female bonds, and road-based narratives.
~Black Tide (by the author)
~A Nightmare on Elm Street
~Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi
~The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
~Mile 81 by Stephen King:
~The Descent
~My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix:
~Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Special thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for graciously sharing an advanced listening copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Day: March 18, 2025
My Rating: 4 Stars
Praise
“White Line Fever is one pulse-pounding, cinematic hell ride. While 1408, The Descent, and Death Proof are cackling in the backseat, KC Jones is behind the wheel, foot on the gas, with new, terrifying destinations in mind. Climb on in. You won’t regret it.”
―Nat Cassidy, author of Mary and When the Wolf Comes Home
“A terrifying, nerve-shattering, white-knuckled road trip through hell. Jones takes the haunted house trope and stretches it like black tar across a landscape littered with inner demons, ghosts of the past, and the detritus of personal trauma―a rare blend of visceral horror and psychological suspense that will keep readers’ feet firmly on the gas pedal.”
―Philip Fracassi, author of Boys in the Valley
“In his latest scarefest, KC Jones mixes friendship, trauma, and the American road trip like a juvenile delinquent stirring sugar into a gas tank. White Line Fever is a searing page-turner that will make you consider avoiding cars for life. This is all-wheel-drive horror at its most fun!”
―Wendy N. Wagner, author of Girl in the Creek and The Deer Kings
“White Line Fever perfectly captures that chilling, hypnotizing type of terror you can’t help but feel when you’re behind the wheel and lose all sense of time – and yourself. Road trip horror has a new jewel in its gnarly, chrome crown.”
―Liz Kerin, author of Night’s Edge
"I LOVED this book. Perfectly crafted with characters that come alive on the page. Reminiscent of vintage King, White Line Fever is one of the best horror novels I've read in years."
―S.A. Barnes, author of Ghost Station
"White Line Fever is the only novel I ever got a speed ticket for reading so fast. Once you hit KC Jones' haunted highway, you're not going to want to stop until you reach the shocking end. It reads like a joyride with the devil himself."
―Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes
“Jones’s gift for crafting realistic characters and the slow buildup of eerie atmospherics makes suspending disbelief easy. Richard Chizmar fans will be pleased.” ―Publishers Weekly
“White Line Fever will appeal to readers who like thrillers and survival horror in which nothing is as it seems, with unexplained phenomena mixed with characters who call into question who the true villain is.”
―Booklist
About the Author
KC Jones is a screenwriter-turned-novelist currently living in western Washington. When not writing, he can be found watching movies, playing video and board games, or enjoying nature—whenever it isn’t raining.
He graduated from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas with a degree in film production. His first published novel, Black Tide, was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a first novel. WEBSITE
