This book has been made into a movie, and while I would not want to see it, the book made excellent reading. It is exceptionally violent, but McCarthy gets the reader to deeply care about the characters and what is happening to them. His style of writing is at first a litle disconcerting, since he leaves out most punctuation marks, i.e. apostrophies, quotation marks, and even some upper case. This is at first difficult to get used to and at times confusing as to who is actually doing the talking. But there are some pages of conversation that consist of all short sentences, and the reader can appreciate the absence of clutter the quotation marks would create.

The story flows quickly and is exciting. It is told from the perspective of a Texas sheriff who must try to pursue the drug dealers that left bodies in the desert outside his small town. One of the locals, Moss, becomes involved when he takes the drug money he finds at the site of the murders. From then on, it is a case of cat and mouse with Moss attempting to escape the drug overlords who are trying to kill him and get their money back, with the sheriff always just a step behind.

This is the second Cormac McCarthy book I have read. I don't normally read this type of book, but definitly liked the excitement and fast pace. Most of his books are centered in the southwest part of the country - New Mexico, Texas, etc. I will read this author again. D.

I saw the movie first, but even that prior knowledge did not prepare me for the impact of the writing. Spectacular and so totally original. Surprisingly, the movie stays very true to the book (deftly editing for length, of course).

The best part about reading the book, for me, was the narration by the sheriff. It is a person speaking to you, not a character in a book, with all of the 'folksy' turns of phrase and a simple, authentic point of view that makes me want to sit, have a cup of coffee and talk for hours. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

Funny, violent, thought provoking...what more can a reader ask for?

Great, engaging story, though a very graphic. Hard to put down.

Good, lots of violence. I perfered Cormac's other books to this one

This was one instance where I was glad I watched the movie before reading the book. The movie was an excellent adaptation of the book. I really liked both but I felt like I got more out of the book after seeing the movie.

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This is a very good story. If there was any confusion after watching the movie, this book will sort it out. I was a little put off by Mccarthy's writing style. He does not use quotation marks, commas, or apostrophes. So during his lengthy character conversations it is hard to keep track of who is talking and if they are talking or if it's narrative. I'm not sure why he likes that style. It's like he's snubbing traditional grammar. That's very iconoclastic but a little ridiculous. I'm not sure I want to read anymore of his work because of this style.

Wonderful dialogue and one of the best bad-guys of all time.

Star rating 1.5 starsI did not like this book. In fact, I did not finish it because it concentrated too much on murders and murderers. Gruesome! I like murder mysteries, but this was over-the-top.

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