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I embarked on this book with trepidation, knowing it was violent beyond compare, but it's the only McCarthy I haven't read yet, outside of the Border Trilogy, which I have no interest in. I was reading with a very small group, otherwise I would have dnf'd it. The violence and barbarity were over the top in my opinion, it was difficult to read because of that, there was a horrifying massacre in every chapter, sometimes 2 or 3, and I found it difficult to believe that this was on the list of 100 best books ever written. Some of the most terrifying characters were based on real people and real history regarding incidents on the US/Mexican border in 1850, especially the Judge, an almost superhuman personification of evil and mystery.

And yet.......

The last chapter turned it all around for me, not making sense of what I had read before, but calling into question my perceptions of the action. It left me with a sense of foreboding about McCarthy's vision of our world and our future. I truly don't know how this author does what he does, but it is brilliant in that he makes beauty out of awfulness, makes you question what you think you know, and leaves you haunted by questions.

It's good this was my last McCarthy, because I can't read any more of them. I'm done.