Nevada books

Here's a place to talk about fiction/nonfiction set in Nevada.

The Ox-bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark is set in Nevada.

Prey, Michael Crichton’s thriller about nanoparticles, is set in the Nevada desert, and then there’s Hunter Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It's still in my wishlist, but I think parts of The Stand by Stephen King also take place in Las Vegas.

Some non-fiction choices:

The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America by Sally Denton and Roger Morris

Mountain City by Gregory Martin -- a biography about life in a very small Nevada town.

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich

Hoover Dam: An American Adventure by Joseph E. Stevens

Ox-Bow is going on my wish list. It sound really great.

Mountain City and Hoover Dam both sound good for the nonfiction portion. Since ther is no time limit I think I will just read one of each for each state--if I live that long! :-)

The CSI books by Max Allan Collins are set in Vegas. Also the Temple Barr books by Carole Nelson Douglas.

Stray Dogs by John Ridley was recommended by another LT Reader. It's a dark book set for 24 hours in the desert town of Sierra when the main character, John's mustang breaksdown. The story flashes back to John, getting into financial difficulties in Vegas which explains why he's in Sierra. And all of his choices just push him deeper and deeper into trouble.

It's a short book, and very dark, and a good look at what gambling can lead to.

There are at least a couple of Nevada books by Robert Laxalt: Nevada: A History, and The Basque Hotel, set in Nevada and both very good.