No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, is a fictional story that takes place in western Texas near the Rio Grande. The suspense begins when Llewelyn Moss, the book’s protagonist, comes across a large sum of illegal money. This is great because, with the two million dollars, he could retire him and his wife Carla early. Everything comes crashing down as soon as the psychopathic murderer named Anton Chigurh breaks out of police custody and is hired to retrieve the money. Anton goes on a killing spree throughout the book using his infamous captive bolt pistol which is supposed to be used on cattle. McCarthy shows just how ruthless Chigurh can be when Chigurh uses a coin flip to determine if he should spare someone or kill them. Moss on the other hand tells his wife that he won’t kill anyone but for some reason, keeps a gun on him throughout the book. Chigurh hunts Moss down for the remainder of the story, killing anyone who inconveniences him or anyone who he has an issue with. After finishing the book, everything seemed to make sense, any thing that didn’t make sense earlier suddenly felt important. It was very fun to think back to previous killings and realize how much foreshadowing was there. I loved how Chigurh, despite being the antagonist of the book, felt to be focused more on when it came to character development. Many events showed what kind of person Chigurh really is. Even though he would kill random people, he still seemed to have some sort of standard for sparing people. My problem with this book is how every time cops appear they get sidelined. The police are supposed to be enforcers of the law but always seem to be late to the action. I honestly believe that the police were used to help show the personality of Moss and Chigurh but I may be wrong. Overall, this book was one of the best books I have ever read, it has an amazing plot and kept me on my toes for the entire time. After reading it, I would strongly recommend watching the movie because it shows you just how alien Chigurh is and how emotionless he was.
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