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Hell's Half Acre
A historical novel about "the Paris of the Plains," a part of Fort Worth known as the most dangerous strip of land west of the Mississippi for nearly three decades, captures a place where there are twice as many whorehouses as churches and more murders per square yard than anywhere else along the frontier. Original.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1996
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November 8, 2011
Bean writes a gritty and in most ways a realistic western novel in this offering set in Fort Worth's red light district of the 1870's. The story surrounds a cowboy seeking a better life and a laundress seeking the same. The laundress is tempted into prostitution by desperate circumstances, and the author presents her not as a cold and immoral whore, but rather as a young girl faced with tough choices. The author does an excellent job demonstrating both her dilemma and her thought process as she struggles with those choices.
The cowboy, the son of a reformed outlaw of some repute, falls into a job as a jailer, bringing him into conflict with the historical figure, George Curry, also known as "flat nose" Kid Curry. The author is careful not to overlay his ahistorical story over the real history, which showed s respect for the history while allowing him to further his own fictional storyline. The cowboy is a melodramatic hero, who grows from being a bragging, swaggering tough guy into a character who views the life of a lawman from a realistic and honest viewpoint.
The author gets the historical and technical details right. He does an excellent job discussing wagon maintenance, reminding the reader of the bucket that dangled from nearly every wagon, fill with grease for lubricating the hubs. In fact, I had tom do some research to find out what a "Mason" Colt pistol was. Two employees of Colt filed for a patent for converting older percussion pistols to accept cartridges. These pistols, aft conversion, became known as Mason Pistols combined with the original manufacturer's name. So a Mason Colt was an older Colt pistol modified to fire cartridges, instead of cap and ball.
The best part of the book for me was the author's note about the area known as Hell's Half Acre. A tour of the area was well written and would have served. A great article in almost any of the "true west" historical magazines.
The only place the author really slipped up was in referring to individuals as being a "fast gun.". This particular nomenclature is a unique creation of Hollywood. In the old west it was never about being fast with a gun, but whether you were willing to carry and use one. The "you draw first" contest was not something seen in the old west. There were those who were quick to pull a gun and resort to violence, but it was their attitude towards that violence that earned their reputation. There was not a lot of discussion about who could outdraw who.
While the author creates dialogue about fast guns, etc. He does not make the fast draw part of the action. Instead, he describes shootouts pretty much the way that they would have taken place.
The characters, from outlaw to lawman, are all very much cut from a historical cloth that breathes realism into each of them. Therefore, I recommend this one as a decent example of what a western novel should be.
The cowboy, the son of a reformed outlaw of some repute, falls into a job as a jailer, bringing him into conflict with the historical figure, George Curry, also known as "flat nose" Kid Curry. The author is careful not to overlay his ahistorical story over the real history, which showed s respect for the history while allowing him to further his own fictional storyline. The cowboy is a melodramatic hero, who grows from being a bragging, swaggering tough guy into a character who views the life of a lawman from a realistic and honest viewpoint.
The author gets the historical and technical details right. He does an excellent job discussing wagon maintenance, reminding the reader of the bucket that dangled from nearly every wagon, fill with grease for lubricating the hubs. In fact, I had tom do some research to find out what a "Mason" Colt pistol was. Two employees of Colt filed for a patent for converting older percussion pistols to accept cartridges. These pistols, aft conversion, became known as Mason Pistols combined with the original manufacturer's name. So a Mason Colt was an older Colt pistol modified to fire cartridges, instead of cap and ball.
The best part of the book for me was the author's note about the area known as Hell's Half Acre. A tour of the area was well written and would have served. A great article in almost any of the "true west" historical magazines.
The only place the author really slipped up was in referring to individuals as being a "fast gun.". This particular nomenclature is a unique creation of Hollywood. In the old west it was never about being fast with a gun, but whether you were willing to carry and use one. The "you draw first" contest was not something seen in the old west. There were those who were quick to pull a gun and resort to violence, but it was their attitude towards that violence that earned their reputation. There was not a lot of discussion about who could outdraw who.
While the author creates dialogue about fast guns, etc. He does not make the fast draw part of the action. Instead, he describes shootouts pretty much the way that they would have taken place.
The characters, from outlaw to lawman, are all very much cut from a historical cloth that breathes realism into each of them. Therefore, I recommend this one as a decent example of what a western novel should be.
Displaying 1 of 1 review