Sheriff Bell is a good man. Un fortunately for the other char

acters in No Country for Old Men, he is in a minority. There are many bad guys, and the most villainous villain they may ever encounter. Of course, once they encounter him, they may well not encounter anyone else in this life.

It all begins when Llewelyn Moss, out in the West Texas countryside hunting antelope, finds, along with some dead men and some heroin, a great deal of money. The reader knows that he had better leave that money right there, but the temptation is too much. It's a great deal of money. Moss thinks that he can flee the consequences of his very bad choice.

This is a modern Western, and we have fast cars and trucks instead of horses. We have competent lawmen like Sheriff Bell, but the forces of evil set against them are too many and too powerful for the reader to have much hope for Moss or his wife. Her innocence and his foolish courage put us on their side.

"I'm fixin to go do something dumbern hell but I'm goin anyways. If I don't come back tell Mother I love her."

"Your mother's dead, Llewelyn."

"Well I'll tell her myself then."

That kind of dialect is sustained throughout the book in the dialog and in the Sheriff's "soliloquies" which reveal his character and personality, as well as reporting some of the action.

Action there is aplenty. The Sheriff would prefer not to hurt anyone, but he feels responsible for the people of his county, and to protect them from the desperate criminals, especially the scary Chigurh, some shooting may be necessary. Chigurh and the drug dealers and their customers have no compunction at all about hurting people. This is a very violent book.

Moments of philosophy and attitudes are present in Sheriff Bell's passages. He believes that manners are important. "Anytime you quit hearing 'Sir' and 'Ma'am', the end is pretty much in sight." He has a "back story" of his own, but we do not doubt his honesty and integrity.

Mostly, though, the fighting and fleeing and searching create a fastpaced narrative that gives the reader no time to reflect on the quality of the writing or the believability of the story. Take a deep breath before you start this one.

It's available at the Mary Willis Library.