It is, in fact, one of the most depressing books that I've ever read. The others are also by McCarthy. I mean, some of the stuff in Burroughs or Abercrombie or Morgan could be worse. But their tone is far more humorous than McCarthy's. Or maybe his humor is just too black. The humor of battlefields and slaughterhouses, as Abercrombie puts it. And he's just joking about it.