改編電影【野蠻正義】由蓋瑞．歐德曼、湯姆．哈迪、西亞．李畢夫主演，入圍2012坎城影展正式競賽片
本書是依據作者Matt Bondurant祖父與其兄弟間的真實事件發展而成，背景是大蕭條時期裡的富蘭克林郡，該郡位於維吉尼亞州西南方，素有「世界私酒之都」的封號。小說從Bondurant家三兄弟在禁酒令頒布期間經營私酒運銷事業出發，進而描繪那個動盪時代中的殘酷黑幫鬥爭。
三兄弟每日冒險求生，從酒販生意逐漸擴張勢力，鎮日遊走於法律邊緣，最終成為黑幫領導人，與貪汙警察對立。透過作者的筆端，整部作品投射出當年大環境下普遍艱難困窘的時代樣貌，也呈現美國早期走私酒販貧困與危難的生活，是一部精彩刻劃兄弟情誼與人性欲望的精彩黑幫小說。（文/博客來編譯）
A gritty, gripping tale of brotherhood, greed, and murder, this “ engrossing ” (Entertainment Weekly) novel is now a major motion picture starring Jessica Chastain, Tom Hardy, Shia Labeouf, Gary Oldman, Guy Pearce, and Mia Wasikowska.
Based on the true story of Matt Bondurant’s grandfather and two granduncles, Lawless is a gripping tale of brotherhood, greed, and murder. The Bondurant Boys were a notorious gang of roughnecks and moonshiners who ran liquor through Franklin County, Virginia, during Prohibition and in the years after. When Sherwood Anderson, the journalist and author of Winesburg, Ohio, was covering a story there he christened it the “wettest county in the world.” Anderson finds himself driving along dusty red roads, piecing together the clues linking the brothers to “The Great Franklin County Moonshine Conspiracy,” and breaking open the silence that shrouds Franklin County.
In vivid, muscular prose, Matt Bondurant brings these men — their dark deeds, their long silences, their deep desires — to life. His understanding of the passion, violence, and desperation at the center of this world is both heartbreaking and magnificent.
作者簡介
Matt Bondurant is the author of three novels, the most recent of which is The Night Swimmer. Lawless — previously published as The Wettest County in the World — was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and one of the San Francisco Chronicle’s 50 Best Books of the Year. His first novel, The Third Translation, was an international bestseller, translated into fourteen languages worldwide. He currently teaches literature and writing in the Arts and Humanities graduate program at the University of Texas at Dallas.
