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From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Seven years after Cities of the Plain brought his acclaimed Border Trilogy to a close, McCarthy returns with a mesmerizing modern-day western. In 1980 southwest Texas, Llewelyn Moss, hunting antelope near the Rio Grande, stumbles across several dead men, a bunch of heroin and $2.4 million in cash. The bulk of the novel is a gripping man-on-the-run sequence relayed in terse, masterful prose as Moss, who's taken the money, tries to evade Wells, an ex–Special Forces agent employed by a powerful cartel, and Chigurh, an icy psychopathic murderer armed with a cattle gun and a dangerous philosophy of justice. Also concerned about Moss's whereabouts is Sheriff Bell, an aging lawman struggling with his sense that there's a new breed of man (embodied in Chigurh) whose destructive power he simply cannot match. In a series of thoughtful first-person passages interspersed throughout, Sheriff Bell laments the changing world, wrestles with an uncomfortable memory from his service in WWII and—a soft ray of light in a book so steeped in bloodshed—rejoices in the great good fortune of his marriage. While the action of the novel thrills, it's the sensitivity and wisdom of Sheriff Bell that makes the book a profound meditation on the battle between good and evil and the roles choice and chance play in the shaping of a life.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Dark themes suffuse McCarthy's first offering since his completion of The Border Trilogy, wose opening installment, All the Pretty Horses earned him both the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award in 1992. Texas welder Llewelyn Moss makes a dubious discovery while out hunting antelope near the banks of the Rio Grande: a dead man, a stash of heroin, and more than $2 million in cash. Moss packs out the money, knowing his actions will imperil him for the rest of his life. He's soon on the run, left to his own devices against vengeful drug dealers, a former Special Forces agent, and a psychopathic freelance killer with ice blue eyes. Shades of Dostoyevsky, Hemingway, and Faulkner resonate in McCarthy's blend of lyrical narrative, staccato dialogue, and action-packed scenes splattered with bullets and blood. McCarthy fans will revel in the author's renderings of the raw landscapes of Mexico and the Southwest and the precarious souls scattered along the border that separates the two. Many are the men here who maim in the name of drugs. "If you killed 'em all," says the local sheriff, "they'd have to build an annex onto hell." Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The master best novel yet!,
By
This review is from: No Country for Old Men (Hardcover)
I have read the "Border Trilogy," and "All the Pretty Horses" was my favorite, especially the horse breaking scenes and the scenes set in the Mexican Prison. BUT a lot of the time McCarthy leaves me scratching my head. Sometimes his stories go wandering off on tangents I just don't get (I sometimes fear I am just not intelligent enough to understand his point). This book however is more direct and simply laid out. A kind of modern day thriller that has so much more going on.The basic story is this: While out hunting along the Rio Grande river, Llewelyn Moss, a Texas welder, stumbles upon $2 million, and a bunch of herion ready for the street all guarded by a dead man. Ross takes the money and is soon on the run from drug dealers, assassins, and the law. The author uses the plot as way to explore good and evil, heaven and hell, right and wrong; and do these things even exist? The book also contains plenty of action and some very gory, brutal scenes, so if you are bothered by graphic violence be forwarned! The Violence, though is central to the story and the issues the author is exploring. To sum up this is an excellent thriller read with a lot more to say, than just entertain. I also recommend "Tourist in the Yucatan" another Violent thriller, set in Mexico, about a gringo on the run from people on both sides of the law, while also trying to find his missing wife.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Looking for clarity,
By
This review is from: No Country for Old Men (Paperback)
I have to admit that I bought the book after seeing the movie in the hopes that it would bring some clarity to the ending. It did, to some degree. The first third or so of the book is very close to the movie but the characters are much better developed. The sheriff is very much the main character in the book, unlike the movie.However, at times I felt like I was reading a book by a real gun nut because of the detail in which McCarthy described the weapons and methods of killing. There are a couple of places in the book that strain the credibility of the story, not least of which is what finally becomes of the money. This is the first book by Cormac McCarthy that I have ever read. It is certainly not an uplifting tale, but it is a powerful story that is written extremely well and it does make me want to read some of his previous works. I would recommend it highly.
5.0 out of 5 stars
`If the rule you followed led you to this of what use was the rule?',
By J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: No Country for Old Men (Paperback)
Llewelyn Moss, hunting antelope near the Rio Grande, stumbles across a drug deal gone horribly wrong. Amongst the dead bodies and abandoned vehicles he finds one badly wounded man who asks for water. Moss responds that he doesn't have any, and continues searching. He finds heroin, and then finds a man, dead beneath a tree with a caseload of cash. Moss chooses to take the money, and thus begins a chain of events which cannot then be stopped. Moss may be an opportunistic thief, but he is not totally without conscience. Later he returns to the scene with water for the dying man only to find that he has been murdered. Moss is seen, and the ensuing chase is the beginning of a hunt which forms much of the balance of the novel.`Somewhere out there is a true and living prophet of destruction, and I don't want to confront him.' The other central characters are: Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, a man haunted by aspects of his own past, who investigates the drug crime. Anton Chigurh, a murderer with his own absolutist code of honour who is tracking the money. Both converge on Moss. Bell is trying to make amends for the past by protecting his community while Chigurh will murder almost everyone who tries to prevent him from recovering the money. Chigurh is the most enigmatic of the three. We are not privy to his motivation, and the few insights we get into his justification is unsettling. Chigurh is relentless, self-sufficient and utterly focussed. `When I came into your life your life was over.' Sheriff Ed Tom Bell is the closest to a hero that the novel possesses, but the world is changing in ways he is not comfortable with, and he is hampered by memories of the past. Bell tries to help Moss and his wife Carla Jean but they are naive about what they are facing and by the time Bell puzzles out all of the clues it is too late. It took me a little while to get into the rhythm of this novel and to appreciate the broader issues behind the regional setting. I found this an unsettling novel because the ending is not a conclusion. `I don't know where you're at because I don't know who you are.' Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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