If only most novels were as good as Cormac McCarthy's first novel.
Set during prohibition, "The Orchard Keeper" weaves together the lives of three characters, connected first by a circumstance of which none of them are aware and later by their mutual contempt for the law.
Like a pitcher warming up before a baseball game, McCarthy's first novel is not quite up to his usual standards, but you can still see hints of what is to come later. The voice of the prose is not quite fine-tuned yet, but is obviously distinct. This is not a criticism, but merely an observation.
As a writer, McCarthy mastered early the ability to let the characters and their circumstances carry their own gravity. He assumes that his reader is intelligent and can make important connections without those connections being explicitly outlined or discussed. For example: whose body is Uncle Ather hiding? It's obvious, so it is never outright declared. Few writers would be so bold as to leave such an important detail unnamed, but it seems natural - if not necessary - for McCarthy to do so.
I'm not sure whether or not this would be a good place to start for newcomers to McCarthy's work. On the one hand, it's a solid general sampling of what his work is usually like. On the other hand, it's not one of his best pieces. (Although, on a side note, I feel like comparing his books to one another is a futile venture akin to comparing Hall of Fame baseball players. Is it fair to compare Joe DiMaggio to Hank Aaron? No. They were both amazing at what they did, and there's no value added by making the comparison.)
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