- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Mysterious Press (October 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0892966661
- ISBN-13: 978-0892966660
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.5 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 544 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #585,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
It's been too long since James Crumley's last Milo Milodragovitch adventure, but the wait was worth it. The Final Country is a fully satisfying read with plenty of action, even more sex, and superb characterization.
"A chase after money and revenge had brought me to Texas, and a woman had kept me here," Milo explains. But trying to salvage a love affair, keep his PI business going, and run a tavern (whose real business is laundering drug money) hasn't kept trouble from following Milo--or maybe it's the other way around. When a man kills a drug dealer right in front of him, Milo can't help but track the shooter down, if only to keep the Texas cops from railroading him into the death chamber. Soon one beautiful woman frames Milo for the murder of a well- connected Texan, and another one with ties to both killings disappears, setting up the intricately plotted action of this fast-paced thriller.
Crumley's narrative gifts and poetic talents set this crazy-funny mystery apart. Milo is a consistently interesting protagonist, especially here, as Crumley depicts him in the fullness of middle age, a hard-boiled, bruised, and battered dick who, despite all evidence to the contrary, still believes in the redemptive powers of love--not to mention liquor, cocaine, and sex. Texas may not be Milo's natural habitat, but it's a big enough backdrop for his unique talents, and for Crumley's, too. --Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
PI Milo Milodragovich turns a very hammered 60 years old in this energetic, poetic, violent and extremely funny ride, which comes within a belly laugh or two of equaling Crumley's absolute masterpiece, The Last Good Kiss (1978). "The rumors of my near demise haven't been exaggerated," Milo says, "but unfortunately for my enemies, I'm not dead yet." After finally collecting his long-deferred family inheritance (plus a huge cache of loot from the bad guys) in Bordersnakes (1996), the author's previous novel, he seems ready to settle down in Texas, the state with "more handguns than cows." He has a woman he may love, and now owns a bar. Milo, however, just can't let go of investigative work. As he tracks down a wandering wife whose implants have made her the pool-playing terror of many roadhouse, he is on the scene as a gigantic black man named Enos Walker tears into a dive and kills a drug dealer. When Milo asks a couple of questions about Walker, bullets start coming his way, sending him on a cocaine-and alcohol fueled trip for answers that may be 20 years old, hidden behind deception and sex and death, going from Texas to Las Vegas and Montana. Plot twists and details seem loose and easy, yet every thread is sewn tight as a hardball. This is a brilliant achievement, with Crumley returned to his full powers, seeming to say with each assured sentence, Yeah, I'm an old dog, but I still wag the baddest bone. (Oct. 23).
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Final is a permanent state of mind.,
By Betty Burks "Betty Burks" (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Final Country (Hardcover)
This is the story of hard-drinking Milo, the antihero of previous novels in this series. He appears more like an arch villian, the exact opposite of a hero.The thing I liked about this book is its white binding. You don't see many in white, more so in black. White is for purity. Pure is what this book is not about. Betty had her own pickup truck in this tale. There is a black Buddha who is good enough to buy Milo a drink. He, like my son Geoffrey complains of a bad back, but it doesn't slow down his pace or actions. The final country is supposedly Texas, that big state which thinks it is a country of its own. Or it could be Montana, according to John Steinbeck in TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY. He seems to think that Paris is the new 'country' where he might just end up, but I'm not taking bets on that happening. Using voodoo hit close to home, as did B. L.Brammer's description of it as the boondocks. I know first hand about living in the boondocks and the possibility of having the curse of voodoo alive and thriving in today's world. The author, a college English teacher who gets his kicks out of writing crime novels,has previously had seven books published. He puts me in mind of Larry McMurtry who wrote a novel, SUTTREE, about my hometown of Knoxville, TN. He, too, is touted by the publishers as a good writer. I know someone here who has met him in a bar on Gay Street and appreciates him as a fellow drinker and writer.
3.0 out of 5 stars
a uneven effort; surely not Crumley's best?,
By lazza (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Final Country (Paperback)
'The Final Country' is my first novel by James Crumley. Since it is an award-winning mystery, complete with accolades from amazon.com (on their Best of 2001 list), I thought I couldn't go wrong with it. Wrong. No, the book isn't awful. It's more like a mess with some interesting bits strewn about.As for the story, well this is hard to explain. We have an aging private investigator from Montana fighting all sorts of nasty people (druggies, tramps, law enforcers) in Austin, Texas. Lots of strange characters, which is one of the book's strengths, caught up in a completely ridiculous plot. The book is also compromised by its absurd violence, on the order of a Quentin ('Kill Bill') Tarentino film. Yet Crumley's prose is rather decent, complete with crisp (and often hilarious) dialogue. Bottom line: a hit-and-miss sort of book. But for this reader it was mostly a miss.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A worthwhile but depressing read,
By
This review is from: The Final Country (Hardcover)
There were certain books that we had to read while in school. They were considered great novels and classic literature. They were the sort of books the reader had little doubt of their greatness. The writing was sound and the characters were unforgettable. However, they just simply were not fun or enjoyable books to read. THE FINAL COUNTRY reminds me of that type of book.Milo Milodragovich is a PI and bar owner in Texas. He comes across a large black man, Enos Walker, who offers to buy him a drink. Unbeknownst to Milo, Walker has, apparently, just killed a drug dealer. Later, the police want Milo to track Enos down so they could prosecute him for the murder. He also searches for a beautiful female con artist who might possibly have Milo convicted for murder unless he could clear himself. THE FINAL COUNTRY is actually more of a slice of life or a look at some of the most unpleasant characters a reader might ever come across. It is not a pleasant journey. Yet, there is much poetry in the lyrical writing of Mr. Crumley: "The norther had finally blown itself out by daylight. Dawn came to a wide clear blue sky and cool, dry air. It could have been spring in Eastern Montana. From the green, I could see the flagstone clubhouse where groups of irritated early morning golfers milled around their fancy carts and were obviously bitching about losing their tee times. Like cocaine junkies who had too much money and nothing to do with themselves." The story, itself, is remarkably dull with the book concentrating on language and character. James Crumley is not a writer for the masses. However, he might very well appeal to the fans of noir fiction.
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