White Line Fever by KC Jones
Tor Nightfire (March 2025)
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
County Road 951. Not exactly a name that evokes chills, is it? Maybe not, but go ahead and spend a little time on this 15-mile stretch of road, this “two-lane scar across the Cascade foothills of Central Oregon,” and let KC Jones show you why it’s better known as “The Devil’s Driveway.”
I love me a good “detour/shortcut/road trip gone wrong” story. The Hills Have Eyes. Wrong Turn. Wolf Creek. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Anything where you pile a group of friends and/or family into a vehicle and send them off on an adventure in an unfamiliar place, and then spend a couple of hours watching it all go horribly wrong.
Typically in this sub-genre of horror, the threat comes in human form. They might be inbred, or radioactively altered, or just plain mad, but they almost always have access to very sharp objects. Based on the back cover copy, I expected something along those lines when I picked up White Line Fever. Four women are headed for a weekend getaway when they find themselves in danger, “pursued by a horror beyond anything they’ve ever imagined.”
I’m going to dance around the nature of that horror as much as I kind so as to preserve the experience for future readers, but suffice to say it’s much, much more than a hitchhiker with a butcher knife. Instead, I’ll point out that the horror works for two reasons: 1) it’s a terrifying concept, and 2) Jones has created a cast of characters you will quickly become invested in.
Livia has just discovered that her husband has been living a double life behind her back. She’s shocked and hurt, and turns to lifelong friends Ash, Becka, and Morgan for solace. The three agree to take her away for a few days to help her get her mind right. A tense encounter with a tow truck has them seeking an alternate route just miles from their resort destination, and on The Devil’s Highway they go.
There’s an undercurrent of tension in the foursome’s relationship, something that Jones slowly picks at and reveals through flashbacks to some unpleasant episodes they shared growing up. Livia’s husband is not the first man in her life to treat her poorly, and while those experiences have bound them together, the forces they encounter on their shortcut threaten to use them to tear the close-knit group of friends apart.
White Line Fever moves at a brisk pace, but never gets rushed. Jones knows how to construct a chapter ending to make you eager to move straight into the next one. The flashback sequences interspersed throughout the book are just as compelling as the main story, so it’s never a question of wanting to rush through one to get back to the other.
Jones has put together a solid novel that takes a familiar horror trope and bends it into something new and, at times, truly terrifying. It’s a white-knuckle ride for sure, and is highly recommended.
