Novel Idea: Western Intrigue

Just after going to bed last night I had an idea for a story that excited me. It would combine the ruggedness of a western with the intricate, weblike plot of a John le Carré novel. I would set it in modern day Oklahoma City, the city I'm most familiar with, creating characters in places I knew well when I lived there. It would contain corrupt government officials and police. One character would live in a rural area and would make his living from a natural resource. Someone would be lied to and cheated. The hero, whoever he is, would be shot at the climax, but not fatally. Perhaps he'd lose the use of his hand.

That's all I have so far. I'll need to chart out a bunch of nameless characters and figure out how they're all connected before I can even know what the story would actually be about, or whom the main character would be. One thing I like a lot about this idea is that it can't be nailed down to a genre. It would just be an American novel, which is exactly what I want to write. It would be gritty, suspenseful, character-driven and full of great dialogue (hopefully).

We went to Beehive Books yesterday, to get the girls books for their birthday--a new birthday tradition. I saw a novel from last year called A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan. It's about an aging punk rocker and a woman he employs, and it visits their interesting history. It reminds me very much of a crazy action story I had recently begun to write. I quit when I realized it was way too far-fetched to keep my interest, as my aging punk rocker was nearly immortal due to a serum he'd been given in the '60s. I had been keeping the idea of an aging punk rocker handy, though. So this Goon Squad novel interests me.