The Final Country - Hardcover

Crumley, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007130791 ISBN 13: 9780007130795

Publisher: Collins Crime, 2002

Synopsis

A Byzantine tangle of crime, sex, drugs, violence and retribution in red-neck Texas from the ultimate hard-boiled writer

Milo Milogragovitch, Crumley’s uncontrollable, cocaine-snorting Montanan, takes centre stage in this adrenaline-fuelled thriller by the master of hard-boiled fiction. This time Milo’s trying to find his feet in Texas, earning a living as a bar owner and a PI on the side.

A tedious job tracking down a runaway wife takes a violent turn when he finds himself in a bar with ex-con Enos Walker, who’s out for revenge on the partners who turned him in. Turning a gun on Walker, bar manager Billy Long is accidently shot himself and the police are only too keen to add his murder to the long list of crimes Walker’s in the frame for. Only Milo’s testimony can save him from a death sentence, but Milo’s got problems of his own in the shape of sultry lawyer Molly McBride.

Hurtling from the plains of Texas to the desert town of Las Vegas, from the freezing Montana mountains to the Gulf of Mexico and the final bloody showdown, The Final Country is a non-stop roller-coaster ride that will leave you breathless.

About this title

Review:

Praise for The Final Country:

‘This is an extraordinary double-barrelled blast from a lost era. It’s a two-fisted epic of Texan treachery, packed to the gunwales with sex, drugs, booze and guns... ‘John Williams, Independent

‘Lyrical, liberal, exciting and humane. Sexy, too, with a generosity that transcends taste and as violent as needs be’ Literary Review

‘This complex thriller is so hardboiled it makes Ellroy and Connelly read like Simon and Garfunkel... it’s good. Very good’ Jim Driver, Time Out

From the Back Cover:

A Byzantine tangle of crime, sex, drugs, violence and retribution in red-neck Texas from the ultimate hard-boiled writer.

Texas is no place for tears. And Milo Milodragovitch couldn't shed them if he tried. Montana born and bread, Milo has come down from the high country to live on the cash he earned with blood and madness. Bored with life, failing at his relationship, and running a bar whose real business is cleaning dirty money, Milo aches for a change. Then he collides with Enos Walker, a big man holding a Desert Eagle.50 semi-automatic.

Fresh out of jail, Enos is looking for the partners who turned him in – and gentle persuasion is not his style. When a drug dealer who makes the mistake of pulling a gun on him gets shot, the cops are ready to add murder to the long list of crimes Walker is in the frame for. Only Milo stands between the fugitive and the death penalty, but the moment he starts looking for Enos he's hit by a wall of Texas voodoo.

First one gorgeous woman sets him up for a fall, then another goes missing, and the hissing lawns of a suburban golf course become the backdrop for an ugly little gunfight. Suddenly Milo is free-falling into another country, a land of big money, crooked politicians and two women willing to share their lust with a private eye with a bad back. By the time he knows the players and the plays, he's spit straight out of Texas, driving back to Montana for a meeting with a big man carrying a big gun – and a rendezvous with the most beautiful woman who has ever taken Milo for a ride.

About this edition

• Publisher: Collins Crime
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0007130791
• ISBN 13: 9780007130795
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400