No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy | Review by Leonie Smith
What an eerie book. McCarthy weaves a gripping tale of intrigue that moves forward rapidly, at times more rapidly than you’d like it to. Set in the modern-day “Wild West”, the novel leaves no time for suspense as Llewlyn Moss is hunted down after taking a briefcase full of cash from the bloody scene of a botched drug deal. A violent chase of cat-and-mouse between Moss and the sinister, soulless Anton Chigurgh ensues. In between this, McCarthy shares the rambling, poignant thoughts of Sheriff Bell, the man in whose county all these crimes are occurring.
Despite the high-voltage action and shocking twists in the plot, towards the end of the novel readers will realise that this is a book unlike any other. By the time you’ve reached the last page you’ll see that No Country For Old Men is not so much a story about whether the good guy or the bad guy wins in the end, as it is a comment on the sad and rapid decline of American society, morals and culture. A brilliant, haunting read.
(Price R115, Picador, ISBN 978-0-330-45453-7)