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Milo Milodragovitch #4
The Final Country
A one-night stand with a beautiful woman takes a strange turn for part-time private eye Milo Milodragovitch when he agrees to help her catch the man who raped and murdered her sister. By the award-winning author of The Mexican Tree Duck. 50,000 first printing.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
47 people are currently reading
404 people want to read
About the author
James Crumley
60 books311 followersJames Arthur Crumley was the author of violent hardboiled crime novels and several volumes of short stories and essays, as well as published and unpublished screenplays. He has been described as "one of modern crime writing's best practitioners", who was "a patron saint of the post-Vietnam private eye novel"and a cross between Raymond Chandler and Hunter S. Thompson.His book The Last Good Kiss has been described as "the most influential crime novel of the last 50 years."
Crumley, who was born in Three Rivers, Texas, grew up in south Texas, where his father was an oil-field supervisor and his mother was a waitress.
Crumley was a grade-A student and a football player, an offensive lineman, in high school. He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology on a Navy ROTC scholarship, but left to serve in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1961 in the Philippines. He then attended the Texas College of Arts and Industries on a football scholarship, where he received his B.A. degree with a major in history in 1964. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing at the University of Iowa in 1966. His master's thesis was later published as the Vietnam War novel One to Count Cadence in 1969.
Crumley had not read any detective fiction until prompted to by Montana poet Richard Hugo, who recommended the work of Raymond Chandler for the quality of his sentences. Crumley finally picked up a copy of one of Chandler's books in Guadalajara, Mexico. Impressed by Chandler's writing, and that of Ross Macdonald, Crumley began writing his first detective novel, The Wrong Case, which was published in 1975.
Crumley served on the English faculty of the University of Montana at Missoula, and as a visiting professor at a number of other colleges, including the University of Arkansas, Colorado State University, the University of Texas at El Paso, Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
From the mid-80s on he lived in Missoula, Montana, where he found inspiration for his novels at Charlie B's bar. A regular there, he had many longstanding friends who have been portrayed as characters in his books.
Crumley died at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Montana on September 17, 2008 of complications from kidney and pulmonary diseases after many years of health problems. He was survived by his wife of 16 years, Martha Elizabeth, a poet and artist who was his fifth wife. He had five children – three from his second marriage and two from his fourth – eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Crumley, who was born in Three Rivers, Texas, grew up in south Texas, where his father was an oil-field supervisor and his mother was a waitress.
Crumley was a grade-A student and a football player, an offensive lineman, in high school. He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology on a Navy ROTC scholarship, but left to serve in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1961 in the Philippines. He then attended the Texas College of Arts and Industries on a football scholarship, where he received his B.A. degree with a major in history in 1964. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing at the University of Iowa in 1966. His master's thesis was later published as the Vietnam War novel One to Count Cadence in 1969.
Crumley had not read any detective fiction until prompted to by Montana poet Richard Hugo, who recommended the work of Raymond Chandler for the quality of his sentences. Crumley finally picked up a copy of one of Chandler's books in Guadalajara, Mexico. Impressed by Chandler's writing, and that of Ross Macdonald, Crumley began writing his first detective novel, The Wrong Case, which was published in 1975.
Crumley served on the English faculty of the University of Montana at Missoula, and as a visiting professor at a number of other colleges, including the University of Arkansas, Colorado State University, the University of Texas at El Paso, Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
From the mid-80s on he lived in Missoula, Montana, where he found inspiration for his novels at Charlie B's bar. A regular there, he had many longstanding friends who have been portrayed as characters in his books.
Crumley died at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Montana on September 17, 2008 of complications from kidney and pulmonary diseases after many years of health problems. He was survived by his wife of 16 years, Martha Elizabeth, a poet and artist who was his fifth wife. He had five children – three from his second marriage and two from his fourth – eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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August 20, 2017
This is the last book in Crumley's Milo series. Can one say hard boiled? If so this is about as hard boiled as one can get. I will definitely be reading more from Crumley. It's a shame he didn't have more books, however those few that are out there are excellent reads.
January 3, 2009
I'm not doing any plot summary except PI Milo Milodragovich, 60, investigates a murder in Texas with forays to his native state of Montanna. Milo loves his nose candy and booze but still manages to get the job done with aplomb.
What I like is the humanity embedded under his rough veneer. He goes to extraordinary lengths to help not only his pals but his fellow man. There's masculine humor here, sure, but the precise turned phrase on almost every page catches me. I guess it's poetic but the phrases don't strike me as overplayed or too lush.
Hardboiled and noir at the same time, the plot clips along at a heady pace, always a plus for me. Milo in Texas is a little like the fish out of water. The action sequences are violent but not that many crop up. In sum, a great read and I'll dip into other titles in this series.
What I like is the humanity embedded under his rough veneer. He goes to extraordinary lengths to help not only his pals but his fellow man. There's masculine humor here, sure, but the precise turned phrase on almost every page catches me. I guess it's poetic but the phrases don't strike me as overplayed or too lush.
Hardboiled and noir at the same time, the plot clips along at a heady pace, always a plus for me. Milo in Texas is a little like the fish out of water. The action sequences are violent but not that many crop up. In sum, a great read and I'll dip into other titles in this series.
August 22, 2013
I used to be a lover of James Crumley crime novels. Especially ones of the Milo Milodragovitch and C.W. Sughrue hardboiled detectives. And then I evolved I guess, and snobbery became a part of my character, and I tried to be true to my new calling and yet I failed and succumbed to another try at the last great novel composed by James Crumley. He died in 2008, and after many years of my studying and reading cerebral, but essentially feeling works written by Thomas Bernhard, Robert Walser, Samuel Beckett and the like I decided I would take a little break and have some fun with my old pal James Crumley. But as Thomas Wolfe already warned us, "You can't go home again".
I finished it, The Final Country, and put it away on the shelf of things I do want to sell back to Amazon. I was disappointed in the book, and I really shouldn't have been if I were honest with myself. I expected too much. I expected sentences that were constructed artistically, but instead found sentences boring to their core. Straight reportage of chronological events that nobody I currently read would ever produce willfully on the page. I almost put the book down for good, but in deference to Crumley and his life's work, I decided to plow through to the end and be finally completed with him forever. Much as I had already done with the writers Jim Harrison and Thomas McGuane who had originally led me to the foothills of the promised land beginning around 1984. But old friends sometimes just have to part ways.
When my wife's mother died several years ago we were in the midst of tearing off the old roof on the house we lived in. Underneath two layers of asphalt shingles was an additional ravaged and dusty layer of cedar shakes nailed much too profusely to the 1x4 pine boards installed horizontal to the roof rafters. It was a messy and unhealthy job removing the debris. The weight and scope of the project can only be imagined here, and I will ask you to do just that. Use your imagination. Dust flew everywhere and when a typical hundred and twenty square foot section was removed it opened our house to any warranted intrusion slash invasion whether it be rain, bugs, birds, or an awkwardly errant leg. The morning when word came that her mother had died an eight foot wide section, peak to base, had already been opened to the world and thrown down to the ground. There was no other option available but to close up the space between the existing 1x4 wood slats with new lumber, apply tar paper, shingle the newly prepared area, and tarp over the remaining gap between old and new as usual. That took time. That also meant I had to watch my wife make trips back and forth to the dumpster with armload after armload of dirty shingles, tar paper, and nails, not to mention her trips up and down the ladder bringing me as many new shingles as she could possibly handle at one time, given her non-girth and warmly attractive, but somewhat ectomorphic, frame.
Besides installing the new roof shingles my job was tearing off and throwing down to the ground the crap she had to haul like a mule, her tears watering down the rising storm of dust surrounding her, almost-continuous wet cries and sobs coming from her dry throat and chest sometimes louder than the moving traffic. And in that period of her enormously fresh and profound grief I noticed all the cars on the street below us continuing on their way to and fro, hither and yon, never slowing down or stopping in reverence to her abruptly dead mother. In short, life went on. It was a very sad awakening to what the world was really about, and I didn't like it one bit. But accept it we did, and like others, we moved on. That is how I feel about James Crumley. He worked hard and it is hoped, as well as supposed, that he had some fun along the way. A writer as small and inconsequential as the measure of a James Crumley can only hope to matter to the world for the duration of his popular time. But if you think a few moves ahead and look at the bigger picture, isn't it more important to attempt to make literary history if immortality is wanted alongside your good name? And this heaven for writers, that place ahead for The Mighty Dead, is where I am sad to say as a place-setter he will never be found. But some could say it was fun while it lasted.
I finished it, The Final Country, and put it away on the shelf of things I do want to sell back to Amazon. I was disappointed in the book, and I really shouldn't have been if I were honest with myself. I expected too much. I expected sentences that were constructed artistically, but instead found sentences boring to their core. Straight reportage of chronological events that nobody I currently read would ever produce willfully on the page. I almost put the book down for good, but in deference to Crumley and his life's work, I decided to plow through to the end and be finally completed with him forever. Much as I had already done with the writers Jim Harrison and Thomas McGuane who had originally led me to the foothills of the promised land beginning around 1984. But old friends sometimes just have to part ways.
When my wife's mother died several years ago we were in the midst of tearing off the old roof on the house we lived in. Underneath two layers of asphalt shingles was an additional ravaged and dusty layer of cedar shakes nailed much too profusely to the 1x4 pine boards installed horizontal to the roof rafters. It was a messy and unhealthy job removing the debris. The weight and scope of the project can only be imagined here, and I will ask you to do just that. Use your imagination. Dust flew everywhere and when a typical hundred and twenty square foot section was removed it opened our house to any warranted intrusion slash invasion whether it be rain, bugs, birds, or an awkwardly errant leg. The morning when word came that her mother had died an eight foot wide section, peak to base, had already been opened to the world and thrown down to the ground. There was no other option available but to close up the space between the existing 1x4 wood slats with new lumber, apply tar paper, shingle the newly prepared area, and tarp over the remaining gap between old and new as usual. That took time. That also meant I had to watch my wife make trips back and forth to the dumpster with armload after armload of dirty shingles, tar paper, and nails, not to mention her trips up and down the ladder bringing me as many new shingles as she could possibly handle at one time, given her non-girth and warmly attractive, but somewhat ectomorphic, frame.
Besides installing the new roof shingles my job was tearing off and throwing down to the ground the crap she had to haul like a mule, her tears watering down the rising storm of dust surrounding her, almost-continuous wet cries and sobs coming from her dry throat and chest sometimes louder than the moving traffic. And in that period of her enormously fresh and profound grief I noticed all the cars on the street below us continuing on their way to and fro, hither and yon, never slowing down or stopping in reverence to her abruptly dead mother. In short, life went on. It was a very sad awakening to what the world was really about, and I didn't like it one bit. But accept it we did, and like others, we moved on. That is how I feel about James Crumley. He worked hard and it is hoped, as well as supposed, that he had some fun along the way. A writer as small and inconsequential as the measure of a James Crumley can only hope to matter to the world for the duration of his popular time. But if you think a few moves ahead and look at the bigger picture, isn't it more important to attempt to make literary history if immortality is wanted alongside your good name? And this heaven for writers, that place ahead for The Mighty Dead, is where I am sad to say as a place-setter he will never be found. But some could say it was fun while it lasted.
October 7, 2013
RATING: 3.25
Although his heart belongs in Montana, Milo Milodragovitch has been living in Texas for quite a spell, having moved there to be with a woman by the name of Betty Porterfield. Despite having been married 5 times, Milo has not quite mastered the relationship thing; and all the signs are there that this one is going sour too. He is ostensibly the owner of a bar, but the reality is that the business is just a front for laundering money. He's actually a rich man, but bored with his life. So he dabbles in a bit of private investigating now and again.
Settled down but not settled in, Milo is moved to change his circumstances when he has an encounter with a killer that leads him on to a quest that is hard to satisfy. He's going in a lot of different directions but ultimately finds some measure of peace, albeit at a very high price. Milo has turned 60 in this book, and there's a sense of world weariness. But never fear, he hasn't given up boozing, drugging and the pleasures of the boudoir. And a fairy tale ending is highly unlikely.
Having read all of Crumley's Sughrue and Milo series books, I can state that the man is a master of the written word. The pages sing with the poetry of his prose with lyrical passages that leave the reader gasping at their beauty. However, the plotting generally tends to disappoint in his books. He turns his plot threads into strands of spaghetti, many of which never meet their sauce. The characters are well drawn, but Crumley operates in a whole different moral realm. Even though Milo is supposed to have cleaned up his act, he drank gallons of booze and snorted a million lines of cocaine. I generally feel like I need rehab after reading his books.
In spite of Milo's recreational choices, he remains a knight in shining armor who tries to redress wrongs and defend the innocent. In this book, he's searching for a missing wife, proving a convicted man innocent, dealing with piles of killers and more. Milo's core of goodness in the midst of so much evil is what keeps the reader coming back to these books. They are dark but with just enough of a glimmer of hope that they aren't depressing.
It's best to approach this book after reading some of the earlier books to understand just where Milo has been. He's the kind of character that grows on you. This is a book that a lot of people are not going to like. But I'm not one of them. The sheer beauty of his writing in spite of the weakness of some of the other narrative elements keeps me coming back to this series.
Although his heart belongs in Montana, Milo Milodragovitch has been living in Texas for quite a spell, having moved there to be with a woman by the name of Betty Porterfield. Despite having been married 5 times, Milo has not quite mastered the relationship thing; and all the signs are there that this one is going sour too. He is ostensibly the owner of a bar, but the reality is that the business is just a front for laundering money. He's actually a rich man, but bored with his life. So he dabbles in a bit of private investigating now and again.
Settled down but not settled in, Milo is moved to change his circumstances when he has an encounter with a killer that leads him on to a quest that is hard to satisfy. He's going in a lot of different directions but ultimately finds some measure of peace, albeit at a very high price. Milo has turned 60 in this book, and there's a sense of world weariness. But never fear, he hasn't given up boozing, drugging and the pleasures of the boudoir. And a fairy tale ending is highly unlikely.
Having read all of Crumley's Sughrue and Milo series books, I can state that the man is a master of the written word. The pages sing with the poetry of his prose with lyrical passages that leave the reader gasping at their beauty. However, the plotting generally tends to disappoint in his books. He turns his plot threads into strands of spaghetti, many of which never meet their sauce. The characters are well drawn, but Crumley operates in a whole different moral realm. Even though Milo is supposed to have cleaned up his act, he drank gallons of booze and snorted a million lines of cocaine. I generally feel like I need rehab after reading his books.
In spite of Milo's recreational choices, he remains a knight in shining armor who tries to redress wrongs and defend the innocent. In this book, he's searching for a missing wife, proving a convicted man innocent, dealing with piles of killers and more. Milo's core of goodness in the midst of so much evil is what keeps the reader coming back to these books. They are dark but with just enough of a glimmer of hope that they aren't depressing.
It's best to approach this book after reading some of the earlier books to understand just where Milo has been. He's the kind of character that grows on you. This is a book that a lot of people are not going to like. But I'm not one of them. The sheer beauty of his writing in spite of the weakness of some of the other narrative elements keeps me coming back to this series.
January 12, 2025
I've finally finished the Milo Milodragovitch/C.W. Sughrue saga. Each detective has their own four-book series, with both appearing in the third of book of each so there're seven books total. The two are similar in their appetite for drugs, alcohol, guns, women, and a big shoot 'em up at the end of the book. At times they seem interchangeable. If you like one of the books you'll probably like them all, and vice versa. The classic and best is The Last Good Kiss (1978), the first book in the C.W. Sughrue set. Beside the solid hard-boiled noir of all the books, there's also some evocative, painterly writing and the occasional moment of genuine emotion.
June 27, 2013
Another amazing novel from my second favorite crime/noir writer (the first being James Ellroy). This one's damn near as good as "The Mexican Tree Duck" with plenty of Crumley's obscene violence and drug use, brilliant hard-boiled prose, and absolutely insane twists and revelations. All hail Crumley.
February 26, 2019
This book inspired the title for the seventh episode of this season’s True Detective. When I finally finished Dave Halberstam’s wonderful-but-exhausting The Best and the Brightest, I decided to pick it up since it was the latest Crumley in my stack.
And it might be my favorite. I’ve always liked the Milo books more than the Sughrue ones. There’s really no difference between the two characters; they’re both old, gruff alky war vets who function as ancillaries for the author. But for whatever reason, the three Milo books (I have yet to read the third Sughrue one) tend to be more streamlined and focused plot wise.
This is definitely the clearest Crumley plot I’ve read and though there are still tics that annoy me (good God, I hope this man never talked about women in public), I really enjoyed it. It hit on a personal level to the character that has always been open about his personal baggage. And while the scene does shift to Las Vegas and (inevitably) Montana, this is a Texas novel through and through that gave me glimpses of some of Jim Thompson’s Lone Star social horror.
I’m still thinking about the ending and I refuse to spoil it but it was so, so good, far and away the best ending he’s done. Maybe the clues were there for the twist the whole time, in fact, they probably were and I just didn’t want to believe them. But I was genuinely surprised and felt sad for how it would impact the characters moving forward. The last paragraph of the book haunted me and I felt it a fitting conclusion to Milo’s arc. I don’t know if Crumley knew it was the last Milo book or not but what a way to go.
I would probably put The Last Good Kiss as Crumley’s most realized work, with Return of the Dancing Bear being his best in terms of quality. But this is my favorite one and I’ll be thinking about it for a spell.
And it might be my favorite. I’ve always liked the Milo books more than the Sughrue ones. There’s really no difference between the two characters; they’re both old, gruff alky war vets who function as ancillaries for the author. But for whatever reason, the three Milo books (I have yet to read the third Sughrue one) tend to be more streamlined and focused plot wise.
This is definitely the clearest Crumley plot I’ve read and though there are still tics that annoy me (good God, I hope this man never talked about women in public), I really enjoyed it. It hit on a personal level to the character that has always been open about his personal baggage. And while the scene does shift to Las Vegas and (inevitably) Montana, this is a Texas novel through and through that gave me glimpses of some of Jim Thompson’s Lone Star social horror.
I’m still thinking about the ending and I refuse to spoil it but it was so, so good, far and away the best ending he’s done. Maybe the clues were there for the twist the whole time, in fact, they probably were and I just didn’t want to believe them. But I was genuinely surprised and felt sad for how it would impact the characters moving forward. The last paragraph of the book haunted me and I felt it a fitting conclusion to Milo’s arc. I don’t know if Crumley knew it was the last Milo book or not but what a way to go.
I would probably put The Last Good Kiss as Crumley’s most realized work, with Return of the Dancing Bear being his best in terms of quality. But this is my favorite one and I’ll be thinking about it for a spell.
Want to read
February 13, 2019Synopsis: Milo is operating a hotel in Texas and hates it. Back to PI work. While tracking down a runaway wife, he meets an on-the-lam ex-con.
December 17, 2012
This was desperately disappointing stuff for me that with 100 pages to go became the first book that I have given up on since James Joyce Ulyses.
Its problem was the the plot and lack of characterisation meanth that it was impossible to tell what was happening to who - who people were and what their relationships to each other were.
Right from the start we have a reluctant PI who is in a bar when a freshly released convict comes into the bar, throws his weight around and then shoots the owner.
Why does the PI then feel the need to start tracking down the people involved in this tale? It makes no sense.
The whole book seems to be an excuse to allow the author to write "hard boiled" prose, which is just pants.
Not even going to give it justice by giving it a proper review here. Mainly because it was shite and I can't remember much about it.
Its problem was the the plot and lack of characterisation meanth that it was impossible to tell what was happening to who - who people were and what their relationships to each other were.
Right from the start we have a reluctant PI who is in a bar when a freshly released convict comes into the bar, throws his weight around and then shoots the owner.
Why does the PI then feel the need to start tracking down the people involved in this tale? It makes no sense.
The whole book seems to be an excuse to allow the author to write "hard boiled" prose, which is just pants.
Not even going to give it justice by giving it a proper review here. Mainly because it was shite and I can't remember much about it.
July 31, 2013
i think this is the last (#4) of milo milodragovitch PI novels by crumley. and perhaps the weakest (i remember the "border snakes" be tighter and shorter). but if you like obscene plots, violence, sex, politics, capitalism, drugs and booze, you will like milo and his many problems doing private investigation.
of note too, "mexican tree duck" is a very good on of his other character, sughrue, another hard drinking, violent PI. and the book that made crumley famous i believe is his very first , the incredible One to Count Cadence
but anyhow, final country is an entertaining blood and bullet soaked austin tx based crime/PI novel. one good thing about crumley is his correct geography, botany, weather, and history. author does not cut corners on that.
of note too, "mexican tree duck" is a very good on of his other character, sughrue, another hard drinking, violent PI. and the book that made crumley famous i believe is his very first , the incredible One to Count Cadence
but anyhow, final country is an entertaining blood and bullet soaked austin tx based crime/PI novel. one good thing about crumley is his correct geography, botany, weather, and history. author does not cut corners on that.
June 30, 2014
Crumley's third and final "Milo" tale. Or more like a, booze and coked up road trip from hell. James Crumley had inspired the likes of, Connelly, Lehane and Pelecanos, with his hard-boiled crime stories. Reading one of his Milo or Sughrue cases....gives the reader feeling like they have the hangover.
I like this comment on one of his Sughrue novels, "The Right Madness" -
"More madness from the king of hard-boiled crime: 'Crumley writes like an angel on speed ...
That pretty much sums up any of his novels.
I like this comment on one of his Sughrue novels, "The Right Madness" -
"More madness from the king of hard-boiled crime: 'Crumley writes like an angel on speed ...
That pretty much sums up any of his novels.
November 7, 2017
Some humor, not enough. Characters and plot good.
February 2, 2021
one of the most violent books I have read in a long while...but kept me reading, and guessing, until the end.
February 18, 2023
Tragically, there are no more Crumley books to read.
January 10, 2025
Reading James Crumley is a joy. Simple as that.
August 10, 2018
The Final Country finds Milo Milodragovitch old, sulking, and snorting up a storm in Texas. He has a woman he may love, and now owns a ram shackled bar cleaning dirty money for some devious colleagues. A few twisted scenarios and Milo is on the hunt; and despite his age can’t quite give up being a private eye. With a few clues and questions, he’s commences a drug and alcohol-fueled quest to solve a 20-year-old mystery spanning the grittiness of Las Vegas and the beauties of Montana.
I’ve always heard you don’t necessarily read Crumley for plot; but his mysteries are so damn enjoyable to read. After reading his masterpiece Last Good Kiss earlier this year, I had to check out Milo in comparison to C.W. and it’s almost as equal. I now think any novel by Crumley is worth reading, and The Final Country is surely no exception. Quite an excellent, sprawling story and fascinating characters. Can't wait for more stories in the collection.
I’ve always heard you don’t necessarily read Crumley for plot; but his mysteries are so damn enjoyable to read. After reading his masterpiece Last Good Kiss earlier this year, I had to check out Milo in comparison to C.W. and it’s almost as equal. I now think any novel by Crumley is worth reading, and The Final Country is surely no exception. Quite an excellent, sprawling story and fascinating characters. Can't wait for more stories in the collection.
October 26, 2024
The last in the Milodragovitch series seems to wrap up most of the loose ends from the previous books. Milo, on the verge of 60, has decamped from Montana and purchased a bar in a dusty small town in Texas, hoping to settle with his current girlfriend.
As always, he finds himself falling back into a few odd jobs as a PI on the side, mostly from boredom. Things start to go sideways, and one old murder conviction leads him to kick over a couple rocks, sending long-time, rich town residents scurrying from the light.
The writing is still full of action and paints a wonderful picture of how Texans consider outsiders.
As always, he finds himself falling back into a few odd jobs as a PI on the side, mostly from boredom. Things start to go sideways, and one old murder conviction leads him to kick over a couple rocks, sending long-time, rich town residents scurrying from the light.
The writing is still full of action and paints a wonderful picture of how Texans consider outsiders.
January 21, 2020
In book 4 of the Milo Milodragovitch series, about a private investigator of the same name he consumes a whole heap of drugs and alcohol. The amount of beer he drinks while driving sounds like a very dangerous and dumb idea. By some miracle he follows the clues to get what he is looking for. The Final Country by James Crumley is a rambling book with people traveling from Montana to Texas without an interesting plot.
June 11, 2025
J’ai acheté ce livre par hasard pendant le quai du polar à Lyon. Tellement par hasard que c’est seulement maintenant que je réalise que c’était le dernier d’une série de 4.
Ma seule critique était qu’à certains moments j’étais un peu perdue, comme s’il me manquait des informations. Maintenant je sais pourquoi. ☺️
A part ça, le style est franc et brutal mais reste naturel, ce qui est toujours une belle perf.
Ma seule critique était qu’à certains moments j’étais un peu perdue, comme s’il me manquait des informations. Maintenant je sais pourquoi. ☺️
A part ça, le style est franc et brutal mais reste naturel, ce qui est toujours une belle perf.
May 24, 2018
This was extremely convoluted, and maybe I was missing context since I skipped two books, but I’m not exactly certain what happened here. I think I should have been taking notes to keep up with all the AKAs and connections. But still, it’s fun to follow the over-sexed, coked up adventures of the aging Milo.
July 20, 2020
Like many of the folks I read, Milo Milodragovitch surrounds a soft-ish heart with a hard shell. I am not sure how anyone who does that many drugs and alcohol and gets that beat up at the age where the toll gets higher (he turned 60 in the book) can keep going. He has a lot of money (ill-gotten mostly) but is generous with it. Crumley lived a hard life, apparently abusing his body much in the manner of Milo (with a life shortened because of it). In this book, he did write a good story and pulled together its threads pretty well.
May 25, 2023
Recommended.
This was better than the last Crumley I remember reading. It's the last in the Milo series and I get the sense that Crumley knew it would be (or intended it to be).
It is a very convoluted plot with a lot of characters. Attention must be paid. The action harkens back to his earlier works, which is to say, there's more of it.
This was better than the last Crumley I remember reading. It's the last in the Milo series and I get the sense that Crumley knew it would be (or intended it to be).
It is a very convoluted plot with a lot of characters. Attention must be paid. The action harkens back to his earlier works, which is to say, there's more of it.
May 25, 2022
When you open the saloon door you go down the rabbit hole and the madness begins. This book is also a social criticism , a bit like Sjöwall& Wahlöö. There are lot of stories of strange people and strange things.
A hard awakening as usual.
A hard awakening as usual.
December 7, 2024
I saw a few other reviews stating that all the ins and outs of the story were quite hard to follow, and that it was hard to keep track of who all the characters were. I can't say that i disagree, but I loved being along for the ride!!
did-not-finish
December 30, 2024DNF after first chapter.
The plot was already all over the place and felt like it wasn’t gonna get better.
Only after that did I realize this is the fourth in a series.
Don’t think reading the first three would have made the first chapter better. Just not a style of writing I enjoy.
The plot was already all over the place and felt like it wasn’t gonna get better.
Only after that did I realize this is the fourth in a series.
Don’t think reading the first three would have made the first chapter better. Just not a style of writing I enjoy.
October 24, 2021
Mistede desværre overblikket undervejs.
February 13, 2022
Read in 2002. Beautifully written with lyrical language.
May 13, 2022
Crumley belongs in the top rank. Always such a pleasure
October 21, 2022
Similar to the last few- beautifully written, like a gonzo mystery novel. The actual plot full of double, triple and quadruple crosses gets fuzzy along the way. But still tough to put down.
December 24, 2024
A bit of a struggle with ol the name's, and characters.
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