I’ve read seven of McCarthy’s books and most of Thomas Hardy’s novels, actually onto the less well known ones now: The Hand of Ethelberta is my current reading.
I hadn’t made the connection but I can see what you mean to some extent. Someone described the landscapes as being characters in Hardy’s novels and you could say the same for some of McCarthy’s work.
Hardy doesn’t do happy endings either.

That might be what I have to turn to in the future!

Yes some books reveal more each time you read them. Like what you say they reveal more about the reader too.

I anticipate what’s going to happen and enjoy it even more each time. There are scenes and reactions from the rabbits I always look forward to. I can quote parts of it to this day.

I’ve heard Plague Dogs is hard. I remember when it was published, it made a bit of a splash at the time. Funny thing about Shardik, we’d just finished WD in class and were in the school library when two of us spotted it on the shelf. The other guy grabbed it gleefully and borrowed it. I forgot about it then. Later he said he only borrowed it because I wanted it and he didn’t even read it…

Thanks for the recommendation.