It seems Patrick deWitt has noted the similarity between the laconic nature of Western heroes and the understated style of dark, dry humour. The Sisters Brothers is a fairly violent tale of two killers who are also brothers, but the narrative voice, coming from the POV of Eli Sisters, does much to undercut the violence of it all. Actual violent acts are quite graphic, but they are described briefly and realistically, and not dwelt upon. More time is spent on dialogue with the odd characters that the Sisters brothers meet on their journey.

The first half of the novel recounts the journey of the brothers as they make for California, where, by order of the Commodore, they are meant to kill Hermann Kermit Warm. This first lengthy half of the book is set up as a series of episodes, wherein the brothers meet offbeat characters and suffer various trials and tribulations. For some reason, though they meet three fairly important female characters, none of them are ever referred to by proper names; this could be an insight into Eli's psychology, since he has issues with women, or it could be a comment on the Western as a genre, and its depiction of women. Or possibly both.

My favourite of these random characters from the first half of the novel is the fifteen year old boy who tries to follow the brothers on his old, dilapidated horse. He keeps telling them that, though he doesn't look like much, this pony can sure move. And then the leave him in the dust. You'll have to trust me that it's funnier when you read it.

The second half of the novel is focused more specifically on their interactions with Warm, a fascinating man who has invented a formula which can reveal the location of gold in a river. This story is much more elaborate than the short vignettes that make up the first part of the book, but in that way I think it's less focused. The only real misstep in the novel, to my mind, is a very lengthy chapter (in a book where some chapters are only a page) recounting Warm's life. He's the only character that gets a full back story, and frankly I find him to be the character that needs one the least. As an oddball and inventor, he's inherently interesting, and his actual history is unnecessary, and frankly quite dull by comparison to the rest of the book.

But that's a minor peccadillo. The Sisters Brothers is a highly entertaining novel, the first one in some time that I've read in only a couple of sittings, because I wanted to get through it.