0.44

by H.A. DeRosso, Michael Lackey (Narrator)

Dan Harland was a legend. A hired gun, Harland had earned a reputation as one of the fastest gunslingers in the West. He didn't like to kill, but he did it with deadly accuracy. The money wasn't too bad, either. However, when he is hired to kill a man who is seemingly all too ready to die, Harland begins to have second thoughts about his occupation and seeks out the shadowy figure who hired him.

Genres: Westerns, Historical Fiction

Audio CD

First published November 28, 1953

About the author

H(enry) A(ndrew) DeRosso was born on July 15, 1917 in Carey, Wisconsin. This area, in the northeast corner of the state near the Michigan border, is rich in its own pioneer history. Carey and its neighboring community of Hurley in which DeRosso made his home for many years were once rough-and-tumble iron-ore mining towns not unlike the gold, silver, and copper camps of the Far West frontier. This rural milieu, with its harsh winters and its proximity to the vast North Woods, may explain DeRosso's early interest in adventure and Western fiction and his lifelong fascination with the southwestern desert country, a wildness and a climate exactly opposite of the one in which he lived. He began producing Western short stories while a high-school student, making his first professional sale to Street & Smith's Western Story Magazine in 1941. Health problems kept him out of military service during World War II, and and thus he was able to continue writing on a daily basis and to begin piling up sales to Western Story and other pulps during this period, supplementing his income with farm work and as a mail carrier. By the end of the war he had established himself to the point where he was able to devote his full time to writing. Nearly all his tales are set in the stark, desolate wastes of the Southwest. In the decades between 1940 and 1960 he published approximately two hundred Western short stories and short novels in various pulp magazines that became known for their dark and compelling visions of the night side of life and their austere realism. He was also the author of six Western novels, perhaps the most notable of which are .44 (1953) and End of the Gun (1955). He died on October 14, 1960.

Reviews

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A western as noir. I can really get behind that idea.

Harland is a reluctant hired gun, his latest job leaves him questioning himself and his job even more than usual and so he sets out on a determined mission to find out who hired him and why. Taking the well worn route a generation of hardboiled pulp private detectives have taken in finding the truth, and just maybe not everybody he runs in to is plotting to deceive, inveigle and obfuscate.

DeRosso's style is far too dry for me after my recent play date with Ed Gorman's Leo Guild series but what it lacks in excitement it makes up for in brooding introspection and the kind of bleak ending you always hope for in a classic noir movie but very rarely receive. DeRosso paints a convincing portrait of a Western township with some interesting characters but aside from the protagonist you don't spend enough time with any of them or their establishments to really care and that is what really lets this one down for me.

If you like a quick pulp story that only scratches the surface then you might get more enjoyment out of this than me, but as with the more traditional hardboiled crime noir's the more depth to the story and characters the more pleasure I take from my reading.

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good example of a Western as Noir. Dan Harland is reluctantly drawn into a life as a hired gun. His last hit job on a man named Lancaster nearly costs him his life when Lancaster outdraws him, only to let Harland gun him down instead. Harland decides to find out who exactly wanted Lancaster killed and why. It's Western, it's a Mystery and it's a ride along with a man whose destiny will only end badly. I liked it. Originally published in 1953.

[Edwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dark an bloody noir telling the story of a reluctant assassin tracking down the party that hired him. The short novel is exceptionally well-plotted with several surprising twists as the killer uncovers clues in detective novel type fashion. Recommended.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story line was typical old western and okay. It is narrated by a Michael Lackey whose reading is stilted and mostly monotonous... like someone not practiced at reading aloud. The writing was elementary with several descriptive words being repeated all through the book; Words that were apparently looked up and not used often by the writer. It isn't written in conversational tone. You can tell that writing this didn't flow for the author.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rare afternoon reading allowed me to finish this. Simply excellent. Tightly plotted, concise, bleak as hell. A great book.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, if not great, western with an interesting premise.

[Call me Jeeves · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay I figure there are millions of books written every year. Half of those maybe all are about a good person in the wrong place at the wrong time. Dan Harland is that guy.
This book finds Dan in a place where he might be able to do some good for all the bad he has done. We all find ourselves able to choose right from wrong. Those wrong choices added up for old Dan.
Call noir or a straight ahead western drama. This book did not really do it for me . I believe Elmore Leonard Zane Grey, Louis Lamour and a few others had the western style down. The characters more driven the circumstances and the choices more believable in other stories. H.A. DeRosso just so happens to want work another niche.

[Van Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Western Noir

H.A. DeRosso’s “.44” is a hard oiled later that defies formulaic western traditions. The ending is downbeat. There is a touch of Hemingway’s short story “The Killers.” When a hired gun is paid to gun down a train robbers, he gets the surprise of his life. The man that he was paid to kill is faster on the draw, but he refuses to pull the trigger. Our protagonist Harland endures one torment after another after he sets out to solve the mystery of who hired him. Quite a gallery of sidewinders!

[Tom Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like someone who should appreciate Westerns more, so I chose one that people have said is as close to a noir as the genre gets. And it was, and I enjoyed it.

I will say though that I can't remember reading another book where every single appearance of a female character brought with it some passing reference to her breasts. Mostly it was around how much or how little of the lady's breasts could be seen through the opening of their shirt, but at one point some breasts 'jounced' while walking, and that was confusing to me.

[Benjamin Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard-boiled and pretty doggone bleak, especially for a western from 1953.

Dan Harland is bewildered that the guy he was hired to kill didn't fire when he beat Harland to the draw. Wondering why his prey must have wanted to die, Harland goes in search of the person behind his hiring. Things get pretty grim pretty fast.

DeRosso, to my surprise, writes Harland as a regretful assassin. He hates the man he's become and killing makes him physically sick. That doesn't stop him from sending dozens of bullets into the bodies of a half-dozen dudes.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Harland was a gunman. In fact he was a hired killer. When he kills a man for money and the man wants to die, he is upset and confused. He decides to trace back the reasoning for the killing. Agter many confusing complications, he solves the problem. An excellent western, written with enough backwards flair to make it even better

[Jack Knapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, not great.

I figured out the ending a long time before I got there, and you might too. Other than that, it was a typical pulp western, lots of shooting. But at the same time, entertaining.

[Royden Peabody lll · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weak !

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nifty little noir on the range.

[Aran · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Western novel written like a noir novel.

[Jeff Benham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Harland is a killer for hire, but he believes in even breaks. When the person he is hired to kill, Lancaster, outdraws him but doesn't shoot, Dan wants to know why.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is heavy on plot, and the body count builds with impressive momentum. DeRosso's prose is blunt, while his protagonist offers enough dimension to lend some thought-provoking weight to everything that goes down. Things are described as "sad," and that is the dominant feeling of the whole tale. As DeRosso spins it, it sucks to be bad, even while you're acing the competition.

[Paddyspub · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. Near the end when Harland would see a rider I thought "again?". Overall, a drugstore book that I wished I didn't waste my time with. I will always idolize the wild west, but this book didn't help me drink the Koolaid of the wild west.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a huge fan of westerns :)

[Martha Peebles]

good book, totally enjoyed reading it.

[kp]

Stylistically, a suspenseful noir-western gem. Tension and conflict in every line, great atmosphere throughout the entire thing. However, sometimes it moved into cliches and eye-rolling melodrama, as well as unneeded repetition at the word-for-word. Also, the female characters were all based the stereotype temptress-hussy, reduced to little more than sexual objects (the author mentions heaving breasts much too often). Would probably have given this a 2.5 if that was an option, but as it is not, I rounded up. Enjoyable, and exciting overall, but could have been much better with some tweaks in my opinion and female characters who don't act exactly like every female character in old western movies anyway.