No Country for Old Men

by Cormac McCarthy

Llewelyn Moss, hunting antelope near the Rio Grande, instead finds men shot dead, a load of heroin, and more than $2 million in cash. Packing the money out, he knows, will change everything. But only after two more men are murdered does a victim's burning car lead Sheriff Bell to the carnage out in the desert, and he soon realizes that Moss and his young wife are in desperate need of protection. One party in the failed transaction hires an ex-Special Forces officer to defend his interests against a mesmerizing freelancer, while on either side are men accustomed to spectacular violence and mayhem. The pursuit stretches along and across the border, each participant seemingly determined to answer what one asks another: How does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?

A harrowing story of a war that society wages on itself, an enduring meditation on the ties of love and blood and duty that inform lives and shape destinies, and a novel of extraordinary resonance and power.

• ISBN10: 0375406778
• ISBN13: 9780375406775
• Publish Date: 19 July 2005 (first published 3 July 2005)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 20 May 2017
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Alfred A. Knopf
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 309
• Language: English

Reviews

Really good up until the end. I can see why the movie left some parts out. I didn't really get the last few chapters but maybe that was because I was listening to it instead of reading and had been driving all day.

[jamiereadthis]

Just as excellent as expected. It would have been five stars— again— had the last fifth not gotten a little too “Damn kids on my lawn” for my taste.

Also, it doubled my respect for the Coen brothers’ film, how closely they stuck to McCarthy’s roadmap. I have to say, though, I thought the Chigurgh found here— more terrifyingly “normal,” less immediately unhinged— was on the whole much more effective and disturbing. Which, if you know what I’m talking about... says a lot.