In his 2005 novel No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy tells of a drug deal gone sour and the intense and bloody events that ensue. Set in 1980, in southern Texas, the story traces three main characters and their involvement with the botched drug deal. While hunting near the Rio Grande, Llewellyn Moss, a Vietnam Veteran, stumbles upon a scene that includes a handful of dead people, a truckload of drugs, and a satchel containing a large sum of money. Moss decides to take the money home, but foolishly he goes back to the scene where he is chased and eventually identified by hit men who are trying to recover the lost satchel. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, a World War II Veteran, is the “lawman” of the Texas county in which the failed drug deal takes place. Sheriff Bell investigates the scene and soon realizes that Moss has the money, is on the run, and has put himself and his wife in serious danger. Hired by the drug cartel, Anton Chigurh persistently and systematically hunts Moss. Chigurh, described as “exotic”, is a ruthless psychopath, with an unknown history who has no problems killing anyone and everyone who might impede his pursuit of Moss. The bulk of the novel is this chase, with Sheriff Bell trying to help Moss and his wife, and at the same time trying to make sense of the seemingly senseless crimes being committed. The action of the novel is told in the third person; however, a good portion of it is the musings of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell.
No Country for Old Men is a highly entertaining and well-written crime thriller; McCarthy is a tactful writer. The novel is occupied with forceful scenes of cat and mouse; it is laced with chilling characters, and dialogue that is both succinct and charming. However, it is much more than a “good read”; McCarthy offers a vision of the world through the traditional conservative political ideology. The characters themselves, their actions, roles, and reactions to events shape a message of good versus evil that is rooted...