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Book Review of No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men
reviewed on + 268 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4


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.