Cormac McCarthy's brutal masterpiece of the American West follows the brutal exploits of the Kid, a teenage runaway who joins a scalp-hunting expedition along the Texas-Mexico border in the mid-19th century. More than a western, this novel is a profound meditation on violence, human nature, and the mythic brutality that shaped the American frontier. Judge Holden, one of literature's most terrifying antagonists, emerges as a philosophical embodiment of pure, amoral violence that transcends historical boundaries.

Because McCarthy rewrites the mythology of the American West, stripping away romantic notions to reveal a landscape of unrelenting horror and philosophical complexity. Blood Meridian is not just a novel, but an existential examination of humanity's capacity for cruelty and the thin veneer of civilization.

• Author: Cormac McCarthy

• Publisher: Vintage

• Format: Paperback