Big Maria / Johnny Shaw.

Title :

Big Maria

Author:

Shaw, Johnny.

Format:

Books

Summary:

There's gold in them thar hills-or more precisely, in Arizona's Chocolate Mountains, where one hundred years ago a miner stashed a king's ransom of the stuff. But times have changed. The world has changed. And now the Chocolate Mountains are the home of the largest military artillery range in the world. Harry's living on disability and getting liquored up and beaten down. Frank's a feisty old-timer battling cancer and a domineering daughter. And Ricky's a good kid in a bad spot, doing everything for family. Together they're staking what little they have left on a dangerous quest to the Big Maria Mine-and the gold that can offer them a new beginning. Unfortunately a meth-dealing biker wants a piece, a trigger-happy AWOL soldier wants to play chicken in a live minefield, two stubborn burros want to go home, a starving mountain lion wants his dinner, and the US Army wants to rain on our heroes' parade with real bombs. When you're all out of crazy ideas, you've got to try the stupid ones.

Language:

English

ISBN - ISSN:

9781612184395

1612184391

Physical Description:

319 pages ; 21 cm

Subject:

Gold mines and mining -- Fiction.

Treasure troves -- Fiction.

Arizona -- Fiction.

Fiction.

First Title value, for Searching:

Big Maria / Johnny Shaw.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Library	Audience	Home Location	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Central	Adult	Fiction	Book	SHAW	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Hillendahl	Adult	Fiction	Book	SHAW	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Johnson	Adult	Fiction	Book	SHAW	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

2013 Anthony Award Winner

Imagine Chuck Palahniuk and Don Winslow's love child--and that would be ribald author Johnny Shaw. His novel Big Maria is an unfiltered, wild romp in which three men get one chance to find a lost gold mine; the only problem is the Big Maria Mine is right in the middle of a US Army artillery range.

There's gold in them thar hills--or more precisely, in Arizona's Chocolate Mountains, where one hundred years ago a miner stashed a king's ransom of the stuff. But times have changed. The world has changed. And now the Chocolate Mountains are the home of the largest military artillery range in the world.

Harry's living on disability and getting liquored up and beaten down. Frank's a feisty old-timer battling cancer and a domineering daughter. And Ricky's a good kid in a bad spot, doing everything for family. Together they're staking what little they have left on a dangerous quest to the Big Maria Mine--and the gold that can offer them a new beginning.

Unfortunately a meth-dealing biker wants a piece, a trigger-happy AWOL soldier wants to play chicken in a live minefield, two stubborn burros want to go home, a starving mountain lion wants his dinner, and the US Army wants to rain on our heroes' parade with real bombs.

When you're all out of crazy ideas, you've got to try the stupid ones.

Reviews (1)

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Shaw is back with another crazy buddy picture of a caper novel (following Dove Season, 2011), this one featuring three engaging losers who band together for a Treasure of the Sierre Madre-like search for an abandoned gold mine. Fortunately, our gang of bumblers is a bit less greedy than Fred C. Dobbs and associates, but the job they've set for themselves is a lot more demanding: first, they must find the treasure map buried under a house that is itself residing at the bottom of a lake; then it's a simple matter of trespassing on federal land being used as a test-bombing site and climbing a mountain while dodging artillery and skipping through a minefield. It doesn't help that our heroes are, respectively, a drunk named Schmidttberger (guess what his nickname is) with a broken leg; another drunk, this one a foolish optimist with an atrophied arm; and a senior citizen suffering from cancer and a heart condition. The comedy is low but hilarious and often tinged with violence ( Everything got a lot more confusing after the burro exploded ), but the emotion is real and often heartrending. Shaw somehow manages to drag you into his mix of absurdity, mayhem, and pathos against all your better instincts. You really shouldn't be liking this book so much, you tell yourself before peeling off another 50 pages to see what explodes next and whether our guys get home safely. Comic thrillerdom has a new star.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2010 Booklist