2013 Anthony Award Winner
Imagine Chuck Palahniuk and Don Winslow’s love child—and that would be ribald author Johnny Shaw. His novel Big Maria is an unfiltered, wild romp in which three men get one chance to find a lost gold mine; the only problem is the Big Maria Mine is right in the middle of a US Army artillery range.
There’s gold in them thar hills—or more precisely, in Arizona’s Chocolate Mountains, where one hundred years ago a miner stashed a king’s ransom of the stuff. But times have changed. The world has changed. And now the Chocolate Mountains are the home of the largest military artillery range in the world.
Harry’s living on disability and getting liquored up and beaten down. Frank’s a feisty old-timer battling cancer and a domineering daughter. And Ricky’s a good kid in a bad spot, doing everything for family. Together they’re staking what little they have left on a dangerous quest to the Big Maria Mine—and the gold that can offer them a new beginning.
Unfortunately a meth-dealing biker wants a piece, a trigger-happy AWOL soldier wants to play chicken in a live minefield, two stubborn burros want to go home, a starving mountain lion wants his dinner, and the US Army wants to rain on our heroes’ parade with real bombs.
When you’re all out of crazy ideas, you’ve got to try the stupid ones.
I just loved this! Such a brilliant story, really well written and hilarious too. Everything about this just all adds up to a fabulous read.
Three lovable rogues. Harry, Ricky and Frank. Harry, Prison Guard on disability - trying to con disability payments from his employer. Ricky, unemployed - Drives the drug bus (driving the elderly from the seniors home across the border into Mexico to get cheap prescriptions) to make ends meet. Frank, elderly Native American - rides the drug bus. They team up to try and find Big Maria, an abandoned Gold mine in the center of an artillery proving ground and it's just one catastrophe after another while they try to get there. The dialogue, the plot, the characters and secondary characters...it's just all brilliant!!
This is just crying out to be made into a movie and I'd pay good money to watch it. I hope someone has the good sense to make that happen. It's very worthy.
If you like your humour on the dark site, don't mind frequent mentions of bodily fluids and copious amounts of swearing then this is definitely the book for you. It's a cracking read and so well done. I can't fault it.
I'll read anything Johnny Shaw writes from now on.
*Note - I was sent a copy of this by the publisher*
Reading updates
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Started reading
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30 August, 2014:
Finished reading
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30 August, 2014:
Reviewed