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Quick answer: If you read No Country for Old Men, read Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian and The Road, then All the Pretty Horses, True Grit, Winter's Bone and A Simple Plan. All are spare, violent novels about chance, evil and men on the run.
Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel follows Llewelyn Moss, who finds two million dollars at the scene of a drug deal gone wrong, the killer Anton Chigurh who pursues him, and Sheriff Bell, who tries to make sense of it all. It is spare, fast and philosophical. The books below offer similar crime and Western stories of fate and violence.
Table of Contents
Quick Picks at a Glance
| Book | Author | Ages | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blood Meridian | Cormac McCarthy | Adult | violent Western |
| The Road | Cormac McCarthy | Adult | bleak survival |
| All the Pretty Horses | Cormac McCarthy | Adult | young cowboys |
| True Grit | Charles Portis | Adult | revenge Western |
| Winter's Bone | Daniel Woodrell | Adult | Ozarks noir |
| A Simple Plan | Scott Smith | Adult | greed and fear |
| The Sisters Brothers | Patrick deWitt | Adult | darkly comic Western |
| Lonesome Dove | Larry McMurtry | Adult | Western epic |
| Blacktop Wasteland | S. A. Cosby | Adult | rural crime |
| Savage Season | Joe R. Lansdale | Adult | Hap and Leonard |
| The Friends of Eddie Coyle | George V. Higgins | Adult | Boston crime classic |
| Red Harvest | Dashiell Hammett | Adult | brutal city |
| Hombre | Elmore Leonard | Adult | Western classic |
| Mystic River | Dennis Lehane | Adult | tragic crime |
| The Dry | Jane Harper | Adult | outback mystery |
1. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
A teenager joins a gang of scalp hunters. Bleak, poetic and violent.
Best for: violent Western.
2. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
A father and son walk through a burned America. Sparse and devastating.
Best for: bleak survival.
3. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Two boys ride into Mexico in 1949. Lyrical and violent.
Best for: young cowboys.
4. True Grit by Charles Portis
A girl hires a lawman to find her father's killer. Dry, funny and classic.
Best for: revenge Western.
5. Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
A teenage girl searches for her father in the Ozarks. Spare, tough and beautiful.
Best for: Ozarks noir.
6. A Simple Plan by Scott Smith
Two brothers find a bag of money in the snow. Tense and bleak.
Best for: greed and fear.
7. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
Two hired killers travel to California. Funny, violent and strange.
Best for: darkly comic Western.
8. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Two retired Texas Rangers drive cattle to Montana. Long, sad and beloved.
Best for: Western epic.
9. Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby
A mechanic and former getaway driver takes one last job. Fast and tense.
Best for: rural crime.
10. Savage Season by Joe R. Lansdale
Two friends in East Texas get tangled in a heist. Violent, funny and Southern.
Best for: Hap and Leonard.
11. The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins
A small-time criminal informs on his friends. Famous for dialogue.
Best for: Boston crime classic.
12. Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
An agent cleans up a corrupt town and leaves chaos. Violent and cynical.
Best for: brutal city.
13. Hombre by Elmore Leonard
A white man raised by Apaches rides a stagecoach. Lean and sharp.
Best for: Western classic.
14. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
Three childhood friends are pulled together by a murder. Dark and moving.
Best for: tragic crime.
15. The Dry by Jane Harper
Federal agent Aaron Falk returns to a drought-stricken town. Tense and vivid.
Best for: outback mystery.
How We Chose These Books
Every pick is a real, widely available book that shares something specific with No Country: its tone, its themes, its pace or the kind of characters it puts at the center. We mixed well-known favorites with a few less obvious titles, and we noted who each book suits best so you can match it to the reader. Where a book belongs to a series, we list the first volume so you can start at the beginning.
How to Choose
For more McCarthy begin with All the Pretty Horses or The Road. For violent Westerns choose Blood Meridian, True Grit or The Sisters Brothers. For rural crime pick Winter's Bone, A Simple Plan or Blacktop Wasteland. For dialogue-driven crime read The Friends of Eddie Coyle or Hombre. No Country for Old Men is brief and brutal, so these picks suit readers who like clean prose. The Coen brothers' 2007 film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and is very faithful to the book, though the novel includes more of Sheriff Bell's reflections. McCarthy's prose is spare, and the dialogue is stripped of quotation marks, which surprises some readers. Reading a few pages aloud helps you catch the rhythm. If you prefer a gentler western, True Grit and Lonesome Dove are warmer. The audiobook is available.
Related: What Age Is Of Mice and Men Appropriate For? A Parent’s Guide · Of Mice and Men Book Club Discussion Questions (With Summary and Themes)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is No Country for Old Men about?
A man finds drug money, and a killer and a sheriff pursue him.
Who wrote it?
Cormac McCarthy.
When was it published?
2005.
Is the film faithful?
Yes, it follows the book closely.
Who is Anton Chigurh?
The relentless hired killer who hunts Moss.
Is it a quick read?
Yes, about 300 pages of sparse prose.
Is it violent?
Yes, very.
What should I read next?
Try The Road or All the Pretty Horses.
What does the title mean?
It comes from a poem by W. B. Yeats and reflects the sheriff's sense of a world that has changed.
Is the ending satisfying?
It is famously open and bleak.