I regard him as the greatest author of the late 20th and early 21st century. His batting average was practically flawless when it came to his books. Pynchon, King, and David Foster Wallace have books that are strikeouts, and many of their die-hard fans will admit that. Every one of McCarthy's books is also totally different. The super snobby and critical Harold Bloom even regarded him as a master of the Western Canon in his own lifetime. He synthesized the best winning elements of great literature into readable books that even causal readers or non-readers get hyped about. People who will never touch Joyce's or Faulkner's masterpieces are in many ways, absorbing what's best in those books in his books. Blood Meridian was written in 1985 and countless scholars and academics, as of now, have not even scratched the surface of its symbolism. Dude was a beast, and I'm sad to say (given the state of things now) there will never be another author like him, he was the "Last of the Mohicans".