What is the setting in the novel, Comanche Moon?

The setting, as described by McMurty, is forbidding and harsh. Much if the novel is set in Texas, where the reader is exposed to the horrific tortures—skinning, impalement, among others—perpetrated by Ahumado. That Scull and Kicking Bird, the Indian who stole his horse, survive is a real testament to their hardiness against inhuman conditions. Kicking Bird walks from Mexico to the plains with double vision after being dragged by a horse; Scull, thrown into a pit of dead bodies, snakes, and scorpions, must bury the bodies to cover the terrible smell, avoid the poisonous creatures, and escape, all with no eyelids and a badly injured ankle.