Deadwood

by Pete Dexter

DEADWOOD, DAKOTA TERRITORIES, 1876: Legendary gunman Wild Bill Hickcock and his friend Charlie Utter have come to the Black Hills town of Deadwood fresh from Cheyenne, fleeing an ungrateful populace. Bill, aging and sick but still able to best any man in a fair gunfight, just wants to be left alone to drink and play cards. But in this town of played-out miners, bounty hunters, upstairs girls, Chinese immigrants, and various other entrepeneurs and miscreants, he finds himself pursued by a vicious sheriff, a perverse whore man bent on revenge, and a besotted Calamity Jane. Fueled by liquor, sex, and violence, this is the real wild west, unlike anything portrayed in the dime novels that first told its story.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical, Novels, Crime, Audiobook

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Pete Dexter is the author of the National Book Award-winning novel Paris Trout and five other novels: God's Pocket, Deadwood, Brotherly Love, The Paperboy, and Train. He has been a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News and the Sacramento Bee, and has contributed to many magazines, including Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and Playboy. His screenplays include Rush and Mulholland Falls. Dexter was born in Michigan and raised in Georgia, Illinois, and eastern South Dakota. He lives on an island off the coast of Washington.

See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Dexter

Reviews

[Tom Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

'I was the same as Bill, and I was different.' (270)

Upon a second reading, years after the first, I was surprised to find the "main" plot lasts just 150 pages and then come three full sections I'd completely forgotten.

In that regard, the way a very big character shuffles off the mortal coil earlier than anybody would have predicted, this story seems far less about Wild Bill specifically and far more about grief, universally.

*

It's intriguing that Deadwood was published in 1986, yet has been called "the best Western ever written."

More intriguing is the plot summary, which reads like a Law and Order treatment. It's even got the introductory "based on true events" epigram.

And, my god, what events they were. Gunsmiths, outlaws, frontiersmen, gambling, liquor, and grit. Hell of an opening line, too. The book is tight and cinematic. And while it's exciting, it's also somber and soaked in foreboding. You can't have very many twists or surprises with historical fiction, but it's still a page-turner that's easy to get swept away in. But the tale is so rich and quietly insightful that you can't rush. It's paced very well, steady and methodical like the fabled Old West heroes are supposed to have been.  My only nitpicking is that some of the language, intended to build a setting through dialect I assume, felt very strained.

So, after much deliberation: 5 stars. Deadwood feels like a reinvention of a genre, and hooked me -- a non-Western fan -- into picking up more Western titles. But it isn't just a good Western, it's a good book, period. It's extremely well-crafted and the author's effort really pays off in a sometimes comic, always human, and engrossingly atmospheric way.

[Dave Edmunds · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The dreams would wake him, and he would lie in his blankets knowing that the place where his dreams met the world was the place he would die."

4.75⭐'s

Initial Thoughts

I received Deadwood as a late Secret Santa gift from a good friend on a Facebook book community I take part in called The Night Shift Horror Group. I was absolutely over the moon. I mean what's a more perfect present than a good book? It's like giving someone a whole new world to take part in and a whole new bunch of friends to get to know. Seriously if you're ever stuck on an idea for a present for a loved one the contingency should be, get them a book! But I think I'm preaching to the converted here.

The reason I was particularly excited though was that I was brought up on Westerns while watching them with one of the most awesome grandfathers in history and even reading a few of the pulp westerns that inhabited his overcrowded bookshelf. Fast forward and that love has grown and now Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove could quite possibly be my favourite novel of all time. So the chance of reading another novel talked about in the same vein really did get my spurs jangling.

A little research on the author Pete Dexter before I dove into this one revealed he had received some critical acclaim for work outside of this particular genre and in fact this book was the only recognised western he had written. He was also a tough as nails character who had survived a near death experience in a Philadelphia barroom brawl. It would be interesting to see if he could bring that experience, grit and toughness to this particular novel. Let's find out!

The Story

So the story starts in 1876, during the 'gold rush,' in the rough and ready boom town of Deadwood situated in the Dakota Territory. Its based on actual historical events and details the demise of "Wild Bill" Hickock, a legendary figure in the wild west, and the characters around him at the time. Dexter splits it into five parts and the first one, titled "Bill", opens with Hickock riding into town on a wagon with his right hand man and best friend 'Colorado Charlie' Utterly. He's certainly not on top form, suffering from syphilis and self medicating with copious amounts of alcohol.

Although the majority of Deadwood's inhabitants are starstruck by the living legend not everyone is pleased to see him. Particularly the mean-spirited bounty hunter Boone May. There's ugly rumblings and you can sense a chain of events that may just spell trouble for Wild Bill. But Hickock is way too busy drinking and gambling to notice. He's a man that looks like he's lost the will to live.

In the meantime his pal Utter is doing all he can to take care of him, while starting to see this heroic figure in a new light. But I've only scratched the surface and there's a lot more going on in this one. And the only way your going to find out is by reading this damn fine book.

"Men are led by the blind man inside them."

The Writing

I immediately took to Dexter's writing style. It's no nonsense and smooth, but every now and then he hit me with a fantastic passage that made me sit back and take notice. It often gets philosophical as the main character of Charlie Utter reflects on life in an often hostile environment. Theres a range of subject and emotion. Sometimes violent, sometimes bleak and sometimes darkly humorous, it's a fantastic introspection of life at the time. When you really look at the style there's an effortless grace that gives you a warm feeling as you digest the story that's unfolding.

You can tell Dexter put his heart and sole into the history, with a lot of research, and it's clearly a real passion for him. But honestly the most impressive thing is the way he's used the facts to produce a fantastically engaging story. It's a vivid picture of life at the time and it certainly feels like he's actually lived this life he's describing. It's truly impressive.

Some readers may find the pacing a little slow, but I loved all the slice of life stuff that was thrown in to give a complete picture. It's all necessary to make you feel a part of the characters lives. In all honesty, there's nothing bad I can say about it.

"It was a relief like bad news that proved untrue. That's how he thought of the onset of pain, like bad news. Once you weren't afraid of it, it comes to you like reported facts."

The Characters

I got to meet a brilliant set of characters and there's an extra special bit of feeling as, although fictionalised, they are all based on actual people with a lot of the events taking place being historically accurate. Wait a second, did I actually say "a special bit of feeling?" I'm going to make myself sick with such gushy language, but that's genuinely how I felt about them.

The main character of Charley provides a fantastic lense through which to see this story with some fantastic insight and empathy, particularly for Wild Bill. He's the main thread throughout and is certainly more restrained and contemplative than those around him. The perfect POV for us readers to occupy.

But is he the standout? Not for me. Id have to go with 'Calamity Jane' who's chaotic and larger than life but has her heart in the right place. When she's not busy saving people or shrieking like an eagle she's chasing the memory of her one true love Bill Hickock. She's got one hell of a reputation and the only thing bigger than that is her smell, which certainly precedes her. Maybe my favourite female character so far.



More than the plot, this book is about its wonderful characters and if that's what you look for in a novel you won't be disappointed. It's amazing how Dexter has taken these real people and breathed new life into them filling them with warmth. They really are one of the best bunch I've had the pleasure of spending my time with.

Final Thoughts

Did I enjoy this book? Yee-hah! There's your answer. What a wonderful gift. And one I'll always remember fondly.

It's a tremendous book that, much like Lonesome Dove, provides an unconventional but more realistic take on the Wild West. It's nothing like those typical white hat, black hat scenarios that we're all used to. Don't get me wrong there is action but there's no gunfights at OK coral. What you're getting is a more realistic flavour that will make you laugh, make you cry and make you reflect on life and how easy we have it these days. It definitely left me wanting more!

I can see why the author didn't like to describe Deadwood as a western as historical fiction would be more accurate. But whether you enjoy either genre I think you'll hugely enjoy it. Particularly for fans of Lonesome Dove who are looking for something similar. A firm recommendation from me and if we're calling it a western, it's one of the greatest ever written.

Thanks for reading and...cheers!

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one grew on me. It starts out slow and weird and despite wallowing in the weird, the pace picks up quite a but. I was a huge fan of the HBO series about Deadwood and so this probably colored my mental pictures of Charlie Utter, Wild Bill, Sheriff Bullock, Al Swearengen, and Calamity Jane. As opposed to the TV show which is more or less from Bullock’s and Swearengen’s perspectives, Dexter’s Deadwood is told from Charlie’s viewpoint. I still haven’t taken the time to dust off my DVDs to rewatch the show and I don’t have HBO to watch the Deadwood: The Movie, but I think I may take the time to do so.

We see most of the story through the eyes of Charley Utter, Wild Bill Hickock's best friend. The two of them land in Deadwood after Bill had killed someone in Arkansas. Bill sets to drinking pink gun (which becomes a bit of a fashion in town) and hanging out with the gamblers and drunkards of town. Charley accompanies the teetotaler Captain Jack and Bill on a moose hunt in which an old lame moose is killed leaving a few forlorn females. It struck Charley that the cows would come back after they were gone, and smell pink gin and think that was the smell of death. (p. 120). This turns out to be a prefiguration of Bill's death, a key pivotal moment in the story. For the moment though, the expedition serves as comic relief, They were two thirds of the way across when the moose sank...Charley turned around too, and watched the moose sink...and then he was in the water too. (p. 121)

Once back in Deadwood, Charley feels a bit shaken by his near-drowning. He lay sleepless for most of the night...and stared at the cricket on the floor. The cricket's movements were mostly in his whiskers. Charley believed God was in every creature on earth, even people, and waited about ten minutes for Him to reveal Himself. It didn't happen. (p. 138) After all, it there was a godless place on earth, that place would be Deadwood.

Dexter's Deadwood features several tragic characters that are not in the TV show, Malcolm and the Bottle Fiend. Malcolm Nash is Charley's son-in-law and a victim sexual abuse (including a wild gang rape) by the "whore man", Al Swearengen who is on the wagon train with Bill and Charley arriving in Deadwood. The rape nearly kills him and drives him insane. This is one place where Dexter's story differs quite a bit from that of the HBO show because in the latter, Al is never portrayed as a homosexual and is already established in Deadwood when Bill and Charley appear. We see Calamity Jane nursing Malcolm back to life, similar to Jane's saving of smallpox victims in the TV show.

The other character, the Bottle Fiend, is a "soft brain" that takes care of the public bath in Deadwood and Charley befriends and defends him throughout the book in one of the more charming, touching relationships. He is a well-drawn character with his collection of thousands of bottles which was a beautiful visual device.

As things turn out, Bill is, of course, murdered in cold blood leaving Charley feeling alone and hurt. He seeks solace at the bottom of a whiskey bottle, before finding his way back, because that's where Charley wanted to be again, back to the beginning of how things were made. Along the way there, he expected to see every living thing in Deadwood, on its own level, and in the end he would know what he needed to do. (p. 172). It is thus that we get his view of life in Deadwood as he figures out what his next steps will be.

Another crazy character that was not, as far as I recall, in the TV show was Mrs. Langrishe with whom Charley has an ongoing love affair (her husband didn't like women). She is another strong Western woman who sees death everywhere but is able to maintain a sense of decorum and get some pleasure out of like - with Charley.

Agnes Lake Hickok, Bill's widow, arrives in Deadwood for the funeral and there ensues a funny seen where Charley is too drunk to even rest in his "trick chair" (p. 273) as he tries to avoid contact between the widow and the roaring drunk Calamity Jane who, as in the TV show, is distraught over Bill's demise. He and Agnes have a poignant conversation about Bill:
"That's why I ask you things. I don't know how else to find out what I lost."
She said that and stopped, and Charley saw she was through talking now. He ran his hands through his hair - it was Bill's gesture. He thought of the things he'd lost when Bill died, there weren't words to explain them. But she needed him to explain something.
"Things end out of balance," he said after a while. "There isn't any other way they can end, because that's the way they happen. In the end, you want things equal, but it doesn't happen." He saw her eyes begin to fill, he never expected it.
And he stood up and crossed the room, dizzy, and sat down next to her on the bed. He smelled soap again, fresh-scrubbed skin. He noticed age marks around the bottom of her neck. He put his arms around her and held her a long time.
And he loved her for all the lost parts of his life. (p. 274)
I felt that this was one of the more masterful moments of the whole book.

But, of course, it could never work out for Agnes and Charley. Later Charley attends a party at Mrs. Lagrishe's house where she seduces him with a pleasant banter as a black servant serves them wine on a platter.
Glasses were exchanged, two for one. It was unpleasant stuff, but it grew on you, and he drank one before he resumed the conversation.
"This drink is closer to love than love itself," he said. He was looking at the glasses together- one full, one empty - when he said that.
She smiled at him and cocked her head, waiting for him to finish. He noticed the freckles on her chest again - where had the freckles been when they were upstairs? - and the tendons in her neck where it met her shoulders. He was hypnotized by her tendons. "Was that a toast" she said. "'This drink is closer to love than love itself'?"
He felt himself changing ten ways a second. "Just that it grows on you until you need it," he said. (p. 293)
This easy-going philosophy is truly what keeps Charley alive and vibrant throughout the book. I would say that the Charley of the TV show is probably as charming as Dexter's, but Dexter's is a tad bit more human.

I felt that the writing improved as the plot developed and by the end, I was hooked. While not as moving or vast as Lonesome Dove, Deadwood was a great western book and should be taken as a different work of art from the TV show and breathes a vibrant life into some of the characters that the TV show glossed over.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite being written 20 years before the excellent show on HBO was first broadcast, it's hard to imagine that it didn't serve as a template for the show's creator, David Milch (minus the profanity ubiquitous throughout the show). So in sync are the characterizations in both the book and show, despite the age difference, that I easily and comfortably envisioned the actors playing the various real-life roles reciting the dialogue from the book.

Since I think the program might well be the best thing ever shown on TV, the book had a lot to measure up to, and I'm happy to say to it was equal to the task. While ostensibly a western, it actually transcends the genre as it is really more about character, friendship, family, love, and the still-present attitudes men have about women and their perceived limitations. But it was all served up in the crucible of a practically lawless mining town deep in Sioux territory, virtually outside the jurisdiction and protection of the US government.

THe only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is I don't trust my objectivity with this one, but I have to say I'm really glad I read it and thought it was great.

[Jan Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have long known about this book, in fact, gave it as a gift a while back, but what propelled me to read it was reading about the trials and tribulations of David Milch, the originator of the HBO series of the same name.

Also I wanted to read it on the occasion of my husband's birthday (or was it our anniversary?). We are in our seventh year of reading books out loud at dinnertime. I do most of the reading, having developed the skill of eating and reading without choking (so far), although he reads other things (usually articles) to me at other times. At one point I used to try to get him to talk more during dinner, but all we could do was argue over it, with the consequence that after our children had left the nest, I sometimes resorted to reading to myself. I am not sure how we came up with the serendipitous idea to read together although we were able to pinpoint the first book, and it was one a significant person in our lives had recommended. The upshot is that we have read 29 books since early 2013, some of them impressive tomes, and that we now talk all the time as well!

To make a long story short(er), this is a very good book. I am just about to add it to my favorites. Wow.

The author has a gift for bringing characters to life. He also is good at making them inhabit an earlier point in time. I can't vouch for how perfectly accurate is his rendition of the American west in 1876, but I can say these are not modern people prancing around in period costume. The four characters who have chapters named for them are Wild Bill Hickock, the China Doll (Ci-an), Agnes Lake, and Calamity Jane Cannery, but the linchpin character who pulls them and the rest of the characters together is Charley Utter. All the characters in the book are real historical figures except for Malcolm Nash, the brother of Charley's wife, but the man Charley is a historical footnote whom Dexter expanded into his role in the book.

My one qualm is whether everybody said torpid fever and whether everybody called a mentally-ill or mentally-challenged person a soft-brain (and one other common term I'll let you discover for yourself 🤠). Was there no variability in their parlance?

As I said, the author brings the characters to life and maybe larger than life, simultaneously grandly gifted in their particular and specific ways yet sadly subject to human limitations.

Speaking of human limitations, alcohol plays an outsized role, making me remember something I once read about the real significance of Johnny Appleseed in the settlement of the land.

Sex has a big role too. Also permanent partnerships between males, not sexual in nature -- something we've forgotten about. And people who need to live on the forefront of a frontier rather than a settled and domesticated life, and not only brutal people who couldn't adapt to a nonviolent way of life after the Civil War but people not given to settling down.

I'm lucky I didn't watch the TV series in case it could have spoiled this book for me, although in my case there may have not been much chance of that. I did watch the first episode but didn't become imprinted. I have some hypotheses about the show and may watch some episodes to see whether they are borne out; Dennis has it and has watched a lot and still found the book to his tastes.

This one makes me want to read Pete Dexter's National Book Award winner too.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dexter’s Deadwood is boisterous, wild, and darkly humored epic. The humor and the intricate exploring of the characters makes you forget that this book catalogues murder, insanity, sickness, suicides, mutilation, prostitution, and the mud and the squalor of a frontier town. This mingling of darkness and character driven comedy is as finely tuned as anything since Heller’s Catch 22.

[Paul Ataua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wild Bill Hickok and Charlie Utter find themselves in Deadwood. Bill, getting on in years and with failing health, just wants to be left alone to play cards and get drunk. The world, however, isn‘t going to let him rest. On the descriptive level, this was so good. I got a real feel of the time and place. Beyond that however, I felt it lacked an intensity. Everything, whether of great or little importance, seemed to be given the same treatment and I needed a change of pace. Worth reading , yes, but the best western novel ever written, no.

[Wayne Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I came across this book I wanted to read it because I had seen the HBO series, Deadwood, and thought it was fantastic. Unfortunately, the book was nowhere as good as the series. Just so I don't confuse anyone, I want to point out that the series was not a film adaption of this book. They are both based on the same town and characters but are two different animals when it comes to the telling and style. The book is not bad, it's just that it lacks the dark, dramatic backdrop set in the series. Even though the book gives some harsh details and explicit sex scenes, it has more of a whimsical feel about it. That style put me off and I had a hard time taking the story seriously.

This may be far more entertaining for those who don't know the history of the town and the legend of Bill Hickok. If you haven't heard the story, take my opinion with a grain of salt and know that this might be an enjoyable read for you.

[Theo Logos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild Bill Hickok, famous scout, soldier, lawman, gambler, gunslinger, and showman, is responsible for the ongoing interest in the wild and raw mining town of Deadwood. The irony is that he spent less than a month there, and did nothing more than stay drunk and get killed. Peter Dexter captures this irony by writing the character of Hickok as something between a cipher and an enigma. Though Dexter names the first section of his five part novel for Bill, it’s not really his story. Hickok is more of a living ghost haunting the lives of those around him, primarily his partner and great friend Charlie Utter.

Deadwood is Charlie Utter’s story. He is the primary point of view character, and we learn more about the inner workings of his mind and perspectives than any of the other characters the book follows. Loyal, thoughtful, resourceful, yet lonely and tormented by loss, Utter is a complex, flawed, but sympathetic protagonist. He is more reactive to events than active, and serves as our main tour guide to the town and its denizens.

In addition to Charlie Utter, other historical personages play major roles in this fascinating character study. Seth Bullock, lawman and businessman, is written as calculating, amoral, almost Machiavellian — more concerned with appearances and his business interests than with the law. But at least he comes across as competent. Al Swearengen, the pimp who ran the Gem Theater and brothel, is a one dimensional nasty, utterly lacking in morality, courage, basic decency or effectiveness. Calamity Jane strides across Deadwood as a colossus of drunkenness, bravado, brokenness and confusion, uncomfortably combined with a genuine angel of mercy when confronted with sickness. These and others keep the narrative hopping.

Dexter’s novel feels less like a traditional Western and more like a surreal soap opera, concentrating on the interactions, intrigues, sex lives, and feuds of Deadwood’s famous and semi famous residents — just with more gunplay, brutal violence, mayhem, and severed human heads than most soaps. He deftly combines humor and pathos to bring to life this unique piece of Wild West history and legend.

[Shirley Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I watched every episode of the Deadwood series, and was so disappointed when it ended so abruptly after only 3 seasons. When I saw that this book was actualy the book that David Milch built his series around, I had to read it. The book is similar in many ways to the excellent series, but it is different too. It's actually much deeper and Charlie Utter (one of my characters in the series) is the main character in the book. He is the glue that holds everything together. The book is totally surprising, and there is so much depicted in it. Utter is the voice of reason in the wilds of Deadwood. He's a man who is best friend to the legend, Wild Bill Hickok, and he's a man who studies and examines humankind all around him, and even if he's not surprised at the depravity he encounters, his ability to mediate and provide a voice of reason even under the most shocking circumstanes, helps his friends and acquaintenances through difficult times. Charlie is very much a man of his time (1870's), but he's also a modern man in a changing world. The book is hilariously funny in spots, and totally shocking in others, but through it all we have Charlie making his way through it, and his experiences are so well depicted that it helps us assimilate the multitude of humanity and the multitude of viloence in Deadwood, USA. I didn't think I'd find another book about the old west that I would like as much as Lonesome Dove, but this book can hold its' place beside Lonesome Dove and even rises above in many aspects.

[Random Spider (on a hiatus?) · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Deadwood may well be the best Western ever written." — The Washington Post Book World

To whoever wrote this blurb during the book's first publish (1986), I'm not even confident this was true that time.

"It weighed on him," Charley said. "He never met a human being that didn't already have an opinion on him, and it was his nature to feel an obligation to fill their expectations..."

Synopsis and/or Premise:
Bill Hickok, Charley Utter, and Malcolm Nash arrives in Deadwood, a riotous mining town where anything can happen anywhere at anytime. Comes next are a series of wild events that defined the place through history while we follow a set of characters unfolding their interconnected personal stories.

The Good and The Bad:
Let's start with some positives. I liked how it embraced the full tone of the stereotypical Wild West yet it was still grounded on the realism of true historical events. A true definition of unpredictable, and the campiness just exaggerated its absurdity. It wasn't even trying to be funny in many parts, yet I find myself chortling 😂 from the zaniness.

I determined within the pages some shining moments ✨. There were scenes that was either amusing or just generally written well. There's also dialogues that had profound depth and nuances behind them, which was treat to stumble upon. There were even characters (like Soft brain/Bottle Fiend and Malcolm Nash) that I found to be my personal favorites because of their unique traits. Lastly, by being a historical fiction (accurate or perhaps not as much) it earned at least some merit through its nature of immortalizing certain place, time, and people within literature.

I'm not hiding this disappointment 😞. I could peek into the novel's full capabilities, but it was riddled with flaws. This is why it's impossible for me to rate it higher. Here they are:

1. Much needed digestible chapters - It did have 'chapters' encompassing separate dates and events. So technically, this book contained the longest chapter I've ever encountered (150+ pages.) 📏 But I think they served more on the purpose of story acts. It should had been divided into much smaller parts for better reading experience (ex. improvement on pacing.)

2. Unpersuasive and shaky writing style - The characters weren't written compellingly. Thus, it's too difficult to connect to them 😒. This should have been No. 1 priority especially if the plot cannot decide on either focusing on a central character (Charley) or to be a third person omniscient POV. It just felt like we follow most of these casts only for plot purposes. Yes — you get the general story, but only understood it retrospectively from a bunch of tedious and stale writing.

3. All over the place narrative - The overall narrative was more of a collection of interweaving novellas 📚. There wasn't an alluring foundation aside from depictions of true historical events. This meandering plot slows the pacing much further.

4. Wasted potentials - This was more of a fundamental problem of the book and its chosen genre. I genuinely believe that Historical Fiction is one of, if not the hardest genre to pull successfully ✍️. One needs to take care of three important objectives:
- To deliver an effective and moving narrative,
- To give tribute and be relatively accurate on its contextual inspiration, and
- To provide a fresh/novel perspective for the readers.
Examples of books that accomplished them are All the Light We Cannot See (by Anthony Doerr) and Bone Talk (by Candy Gourlay). Books that that missed some are The Sentinels of Andersonville (by Tracy Groot) and, unfortunately, this one.

Final Thoughts:
Deadwood (by Pete Dexter) is a gritty Western, Historical Fiction of said real-life location alongside its true events. It doesn't have one storyline but of intertwined chronicles, and it does come off more like a memoir with bits of fiction. PLEASE, don't let your children read this because there's a ton of smut. To be quite frank, it wasn't an enjoyable read especially when my hopes of the writing improving gets repeatedly broken. However, it was odd that I felt saddened as the book found closures to its characters. Well...maybe I'll admit that I was attached to them even for a little 😅. I heard the TV show was much better though.

Rating: Borderline top of 4/10

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

- Charley Utter & Wild Bill Hickock approach Deadwood…

… following the Whitewood Creek & where things widened enough for a town sign, that was Deadwood.

“How's it look to you?” Bill said.

“Like something out of the Bible,” Charley said.

“What part of the Bible?” Bill said.

“Where God got angry” Charley said.

When I started reading this book, I thought it was about Wild Bill & his off-sider & companion Charlie Utter. In fact, Wild Bill is a bit player & departs relatively early, although Utter remains a constant presence & sometime narrator throughout this narrative, the real character is Deadwood; a wild frontier mining town, with it's cast of offbeat, wild & eccentric characters. It's a gritty tale of the Wild West in the late 19th & early 20th century, populated with tales of murder, decapitations, whores, lawlessness, psychopaths, casual violence, mayhem, Smallpox, mud & a colorful cast of characters. In addition to Wild Bill & Charlie Utter, there is a reluctant Sheriff, the whore-man, a psychopath, Calamity Jane (who lives up to her name), the soft-brain, a cowardly, blow hard, self appointed Captain & an endless coterie of the deranged & eccentric.

Throughout this tale of debauchery & gritty mayhem , the author Pete Dexter, has woven his own brand of dark, droll humor.
***
“Dr. O. E. Sick had tucked his nightshirt into his pants & tucked his pants into his boots…. “Everyone's a shootist,” he said. “Bang, bang.”
***
“A woman that can wield an axe is a gift from God to her husband,” the captain said, smiling again.
***
“Did you shoot him?” she said. Charlie scratched his neck, thinking of a way to explain it. “You did, didn't you?” And she came out of bed naked to look at Handsome's leg.
“It happened in Chinatown,” Charley said.
Boone sat up & began dressing himself under the covers. Seeing he was suddenly polite, Charlie realized Boone might have to be shot too, after he was decent.
***
I've been meaning to read Pete Dexter for some time. I thought Deadwood might be a good place to start. It is. I'm now a fan & look forward to reading his other books of which I have several. Even if you think you are not a fan of Westerns, approach this as a work of historical fiction, interspersed liberally with dark humor.

One of the most enjoyable books I have read this year. An easy 5 out of 5 stars from this reader.

[Jaylen · Rating 4 out of 5]

"She was as strong as most men, but it was unnoticeable except in her legs, where she was stronger than any man. Bill had liked the muscles of her calves and told her not to be ashamed. HE would find her like that out of nowhere, and touch her heart. No one else had ever seen that she was ashamed.
And he could say that one moment, and the next he would be staring at the sky, expounding on the nature of the problems it caused to be famous, like there was some secret to it that only the two of them knew. And that was as far from her interests as the moon."

"With the door closed, the noise from downstairs was like something past, that you heard in your head remembering it. Little specks of dust floated in the air around her shoulders. The room was full of motion, and nothing moved at all."

"He listened without a word, facing the morning sun and the ocean. It was from a woman named Agnes Lake, and much of it concerned her trip to Deadwood to find what had become of him. It said she loved him, it said they had mending hearts."

[Deborah Sheldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is quite possibly the most perfect book I have ever read.

[Stephen Durrant · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novel difficult to rank (3.5 stars[?]) and to summarize. "Deadwood" is set in the Badlands during the 1870s and concerns Wild Bill Hickok, his sidekick Charlie Utter, who narrates much of the novel, and an array of other historical figures, Calamity Jane perhaps the most skillfully and delightfully drawn. It is the product both of careful research and of genuine literary talent. The novel begins with two desperados carrying human heads around the town of Deadwood, South Dakota, one of which briefly becomes a prostitute's pillow, and ends with two men struggling with the stiff corpse of Wild Bill Hickock, who falls from his coffin as his grave is being relocated three years after his death, a scene apparently based upon an actual event. Much in between is equally grotesque and exaggerated, and sometimes also very, very funny. Dexter puts an original spin on the Old West, one that simultaneously de-romanticizes and, in a peculiar way, re-romanticizes. There is nothing here of the clean, nicely pressed West of so many films and novels. At the same time, the Neanderthal quality of Deadwood carries a perverse charm of its own, as long as one is not shot in the leg, or some other appendage, too many times. "Deadwood" is not a novel one easily forgets--although one may well wish to forget some of its scenes and images! Dexter is a master of language who writes here in a strange and appealing mixture of registers ranging from the crudest colloquial to the most carefully crafted formal. One reviewer calls this "the best Western ever written." While I am not sure "Deadwood" warrants such high praise, it is surely one of the most original Westerns ever written. I suppose next I should watch the televisions series.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. This well written novel could have easily been titled "Charley Utter-- His life and times" since the stories of Deadwood, Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, et. al. all flow through this character.
Pete Dexter did a fine job portraying these well known figures as deeply complex and clearly flawed humans. To some degree, his story is sad and full of melancholy, but he usually manages to interject some humor or sex (often simultaneously) just when it's needed most.
Like many others, I thoroughly enjoyed the HBO series, Deadwood, but can state with confidence that the screenwriters charted their own course; one bearing very little resemblance to this book. Liking one by no means guarantees enjoying the other. I'm glad I saw the series prior to reading this book-- a rare statement from me-- but in the reverse I'd have probably been bothered by both casting and story decisions.
In sum, this is a leisurely stroll through the development of a few memorable characters that inhabited "the Badlands" of S. Dakota during the late 1800's. Fans of the period should enjoy.

[Gavin Armour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Die Freunde Wild Bill Hickok und Charlie Utter reiten in Deadwood ein, wo sie sich niederlassen. Während Wild Bill seinen Hobbies Trinken und Schießen frönt, versucht Charlie, verschiedene Geschäfte aufzuziehen. Die Stadt Deadwood, gelegen im Dakota Territorium, ist in diesen Jahren 1876 bis 1878 (in etwa die Zeit der Handlung) nahezu gesetzloses Gebiet. Wer schnell zieht lebt länger. So haben sich hier verschiedene schräge Vögel und leichte Damen angesiedelt, die entweder mit der Goldsuche oder dem Betreiben eines Saloons (bedeutet in Deadwood zumeist: eines Bordells) versuchen, schnelles und gutes Geld zu machen. Schließlich wird Wild Bill Opfer eines feigen Anschlags auf sein Leben und Charlie müht sich, zwischen Hickoks Frau und der Western-Legende Calamity Jane, die sich für seine rechtmäßige Frau hält, zu vermitteln. Desweiteren werden die Geschichten verschiedener Personen der Stadt erzählt: die von China Doll, ein chinesisches Freudenmädchen, daß sich an Wild Bill und Charlie rächen will, da diese die Leiche ihres Bruders (in Unkenntnis der chinesischen Bestattungsgebräuche) verbrannt haben, zugleich aber vom Partner des Sherriffs gefreit wird, was zu diversen Verwicklungen führt; des „Flaschenfreundes“, auch „Schwachkopf“ genannt, ein Experte in Sachen Selbstmord und Betreiber der örtlichen Badeanstalt, die Geschichte von Charlies Stiefneffen, der Bills Pferd versehentlich tötet und alles dafür tut, es abzubezahlen, zumindest solange, bis er in den Händen eines Predigers zum Verkünder einer neuen Religion wird usw. usf.

Das alles wird ruhig und lakonisch erzählt, mit trockenem Witz und einem guten Gespür für die Figuren und die Situationen, in denen sich die Figuren wiederfinden. Dexter scheint genau recherchiert zu haben, sein titelgebendes Städtchen DEADWOOD (1986/Dt. 2011) kann man sich gut vorstellen und es entspricht mit seinen verschlammten Straßen und den Segeltuchwänden der Häuser, die noch keine sind, in etwa den Vorstellungen, die man sich so macht vom Westen, bevor die Zivilisation wirklich Einzug hielt. Nahezu alle Figuren, auch die des Charlie Utter, sind historisch verbürgt.

In Anbetracht der Tatsache, daß dieses Buch Mitte der 80er Jahre entstand und veröffentlicht wurde, verwundert es nicht, daß die Art des Erzählens eher an die sarkastische Erzählweise einer bestimmten amerikanischen Literaturszene der 60er und 70er Jahre erinnert, als an die moderne, durch viel mehr Filme geprägte, amerikanische Pop-Literatur, die heute vorherrscht. Dies ist eher Richard Brautigan, denn Bret Easton Ellis. Die Story (eigentlich: Stories, denn eine kohärente Erzählung gibt es hier eigentlich nicht) zieht sich dahin, manchmal geht Dexter bis an den Rand des Stillstands und das kann natürlich langweilen, v.a. wenn man das heutige Tempo in Unterhaltungsfilmen und der Unterhaltungsliteratur gewohnt ist. Der Humor erinnert an William Kotzwinkle oder Kurt Vonnegut. Er ist sarkastisch und ein wenig abgedreht. Auch die lassen schon mal ganze Handlungsabläufe und Spannungsbögen ins Leere laufen und versanden. Ein Kunstgriff, den auch Dexter durchaus anwendet. Und der win wenig aus der Zeit gefallen wirkt. So ist dies alles in allem ein unterhaltsamer Roman, dessen Alter man allerdings deutlich merkt.

Traurig übrigens, wenn stimmt, was Pete Dexter selbst über das Entstehen der Serie für HBO erzählt, die weitestgehend auf seinem Buch beruht, was allerdings nie Erwähnung fand. Belegt sieht er dies durch die Tatsache, daß auch in der Serie Charlie Utter die heimliche Hauptfigur ist, obwohl dieser in der Realität der Stadt Deadwood nie eine wirklich bedeutsame Rolle gespielt hat.

[Tim Healy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been sitting here for several minutes trying to think of what I should write about this book. Set in Deadwood during the mostly outlaw period of its existence, it is usually defined as a "Western". And to some degree, I guess that it is a modern Western. That being said, though, I think referring to this book as a Western sells it horribly short. This is a work that I was going to say defied genre. It really doesn't though. It's a tragedy, in the same sense that Shakespeare wrote tragedy. It's about rising, and then falling, and it's told in four acts.

The first act deals with Wild Bill Hickock and his death. You can't really write about this period of Deadwood's history without that story. Hickock really was a star. He couldn't go anywhere without drawing attention. Hickock, was aging, and ill, though, and couldn't be the man he had once been. It didn't much matter...he just wanted to drink, play cards, and spend time with his friend Charley Utter, among others. His reputation, though, brought everyone to him. There was always someone who wanted to talk with him, hunt with him, shoot with him, or have a beef with him. And for the most part, he wanted none of it.

The second act is the story of Solomon Starr and his Chinese prostitute. Sol, who owned a store in town with Seth Bullock, the sheriff, had built himself a good life. Now, though, he was in love with a Chinese prostitute. He was getting ready to throw everything away when she was murdered. Seth got involved with that and kept him from being a suspect. The girl, meanwhile, was waiting for an opportunity to kill Charley Utter for...improper care of a dead Chinese man he and Bill had carried away to an oven trying to be helpful.

The third act is the interaction between Bill's widow, the wife of the local theater owner, referred to throughout as "Mrs. Langrishe", and Charley. They all lose in that transaction.

The fourth act is all Calamity Jane. Jane was a hot mess. Drunk most of the time and mostly out of her gourd. Oddly gifted at healing, the only time she seemed to be able to take control of her own impulses was when she was taking care of someone. Her story is tragic in that her handling of a smallpox epidemic makes her seem almost sane. When she disintegrates again, to the point she doesn't know Charley anymore despite his closeness to Wild Bill, whom she adored. It's tremendously sad.

There are so many characters that slide through, Al Swearengen, the kid, related to Charley's wife, who is abused and insane when we know him, the bottle fiend, the upstairs girls, the Captain, Handsome Banjo, so many. All of them are drawn large in Dexter's version of events. There's even the survivor character, Charley, the only one who actually leaves Deadwood to try to be himself somewhere else and ends up in Panama.

What makes all of this work is Pete Dexter's prose. This is serious writing and done seriously well right from the first line. It continues so throughout. A typical passage between Boone May, the man plotting Bill's death, and his prostitute who seems, at the same time, not to like him very much but to desperately want his attention focused on her, is typical of the banality and humor that pepper the story and make it seem "everyday". It's surely not that.

[Dillwynia Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a little confused over this one when I consider the ratings. It's not a true 4, but there you go. I will point out the personal niggled later.

Who is the main character here, I thought?? Initially, I thought it was Wild Bill Hickock, but then he up & dies. None of the others seemed strong enough to carry it for me, I felt adrift. Then I realised there where TWO main characters: Deadwood town itself, & Charley Utter was carrying the narrative in his gentle way.

A great book about an important town in the 1870s. Wild Bill & Calamity Jane both wash up there & the actions of the others are bizarre, nasty & lawless. Once, I overcame my uncertainty, I did whoosh thru the book as I learnt more & more about events in the town. This is a well researched book & I wonder if it wouldn't have been better as a non-fiction. The facts come thick and fast, but for me the dialogue was uncomfortable, almost intrusive.

And that's why the 1.5 star removal. Some of the language in the text &dialogues just plain pissed me off: peeder, pilgrims, tourists etc, just felt intrusive. I was happen to have them in the speech, but not in the narrative. I will admist this part is purely very personal, and on others this might add local colour & thus pleasure.

I do recommend this however, as I recognise it might just be me that was the problem :-D

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wild Bill HIckok comes to Deadwood to try to make a living and support his wife. Deadwood is definitely not a nice place to be.

We all know what happens at the end.

[Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow that was truly a surprisingly good read! I saw a quote by Jonathan Franzen on the book cover and as I didn't know what else to read I gave this one a try.

Pete Dexter manages to show you on the very first page what this book is going to be like. He really knows how to set the tone straight away. It is full of masculine, dark humour, lots of violence and so many weird, but vivid characters. The thing is that I've never watched a single Western movie or read a book like this one before so I am definitely not a fan but it was really quite amazing!

This book tells tough stories about tough guys and tough ladies with a lot of off beat humour. If you're interested in that kind of stuff you should pick this one up!

[Fred Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pete Dexter is an excellent writer and story teller. This novel is about the mining town of Deadwood in the 1870's. At that time, J.B. "Wild Bill" Hickok and his friend and "pard" Charley Utter ended up there. Dexter tells what happened. If you'd like to understand what the real old west was like, I believe it's described here. Oh, by the way, "Calamity Jane" was there too. Enjoy!

[Louis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dexter takes a famed gold rush town and creates a world of hardship. Each character faces a sort of bleak destiny. This bargaining with fate and the hardships of frontier life make for an unforgettable tale that turns a western into literature.

[Jay Gertzman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pete Dexter’s marvelous novel Deadwood (1986) begins with the fateful year 1876, when Wild Bill Hicock [sic] was killed, and ends about 1879, when a terrible fire destroyed the wooden homes, supply stores, saloons, cold water bathhouses, lumber yards, and dance halls. He describes the original pioneers, miners, saloon owners, “soft heads,” gamblers, firebrand preachers, and shootists. During that time, Deadwood developed from “camp” to city. Business people planned for arc lighting and telephone service.
The fire was set by Solomon Star, sheriff Seth Bullock’s partner in their brick foundry, much in demand after the fire. Star’s act was a kind of revenge for the death of China Doll, possibly b/c she had entertained Star’s affections. It is a story of ethnic hatred that leaves one stunned at its evil power.
Bill and Charlie, indispensable in the early camp, are Dexter’s aging protagonists. Other notables from the beginnings of Deadwood—shootist Boone May, Al Swearington, Calamity Jane, and Hiram, a visionary preacher who had written his own bible about the dark side of God-- are all past prime, sick, or dying. But their energy, indomitable perseverance, reckless courage, and knowledge of the territory is what is important, thanks to Dexter’s skill as a story teller and a prober of personal integrity, or lack of it. His best portrait is of Calamity Jane, a natural healer and outcast.

[Abtin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think any book that takes place before the invention of indoor plumbing should feel dirty. This book does a great job of bringing that world to life. I really enjoyed the description of the perfumes used to mask the scent of humanity, the mold growing in the folds of skin, and the ever present mud. 

The story itself starts strong with Wild Bill Hickock and his friend Charley Utter coming to Deadwood. Bill Hickok doesn't say or do much, but he is full of regret and foreboding that really sets the tone for the first half of the book. If you know about Bill Hickok you probably know that he doesn't stay in Deadwood long and the book goes on without him.    

Once Bill is gone, Charley Utter is left to carry the rest of the book. Charley is a great character. He feels 50 years out of time. He is not a killer, he doesn't sell his soul for gold, and he actually bathes. He is a decent man in an indecent place. 

But once Bill's story ends it doesn't feel like the author really knew how grand he wanted to make the book. This could have easily been a 1900 page sweeping epic about the colorful characters and the history of the city. Instead it covers three more side stories with Charley as your guide into different social strata (the chinese, the merchants, the theater entertainers, the whore-houses, etc ) of Deadwood. 

All in all I think this would be a stronger short story limited Charley and Bill Hickok's time in Deadwood. 

[Randall · Rating 3 out of 5]

And “NO” it’s not that on which the HBO series of the same name was based.

Before you reach the table of contents, you do get a word from the author, saying:

“The large events and the settings of this novel–the fire that destroyed Deadwood, the assassinations of Bill Hickok and the China Doll, the weather, the life and travels of Charley Utter–are all real.
The Characters, with the exception of Malcolm Nash, are also real, and were in Deadwood at the time these events occurred.”

I know I read several times (granted, on the internets) before watching the first season of the television series or reading this book that Pete Dexter’s work was very much integral to the creation of the HBO series.

I’m not going to say I’ve done a whole lot of investigating since finishing the book this morning, but I wouldn’t even be all that surprised to know that nobody on the creative team had even opened the front cover of Dexter’s book, especially in light of the aforementioned quote. My sense is that both pieces of art were derived from researching real-life historic persons and events from that place in American history and invoking the creative spirit from there.

In other words, aside from some names, I don’t see much similar between the show and the book. Hence, they should be considered separately, other than that I would not likely have read the book had I not also recently enjoyed watching the beginning of the series (and then found a second-hand copy of the book during a timely visit to Pegasus Book Exchange).

My interest level in the old “wild west” was never that great, so my knowledge of people like Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane was of such a level that I’d not necessarily have even though of them in the context of Deadwood, South Dakota any more than I would have, say, western Texas. Charley Utter, who is the central character throughout the novel, is someone whose name I believe I had never even heard, and, if I had, I’d completely forgotten the context.

Because of this and, again, because I’d just watched 12 hours or so of the HBO series, I entered the world of Deadwood as described by Pete Dexter with some very strong conceptions about characters the second they appeared in writing. Within the first few pages, you have met Charley, Wild Bill, and Al Swearingen. If you’ve seen the HBO show, you know how strongly drawn those characters are on the screen.

It’s of great credit to Mr. Dexter that, writing the book without the knowledge his words would one day be competing with HBO-strength characterizations of the same historical figures, it isn’t long before you’re (mostly) considering the characters anew. It’s not only that he clearly staked his claim to the fictionalization of the history of Deadwood in a completely different manner as did the people with the HBO production, but also that he writes his characters in a very lively fashion. Maybe that’s partly a benefit of working within a genre such as the western, but I doubt it’s that simple.

I also happen to be a bit of a sucker for strong character development, so there’s that.

The style can be a bit tricky in some spots. The word “peeder” appears repeatedly and failed not once to give me a stop. I also think the use of “could of/would of/should of” in place of the proper contractions probably was meant to do something other than remind me of the fact that 90% of the people on the internet actually type those for all to see publicly without intention, but that’s what I got, again making me pause each instance.

Small, niggling things, but they stand out in my head. Should be noted that’s a small price for what was otherwise a very enjoyable book.

The narrative is divided into five “parts,” the first four of which are named for a character around whom much of the action within revolves. The fifth is a rather short summary of Charley’s life after leaving Deadwood that, honestly, adds little (if anything) to the story beyond a bit of closure .

Malcolm Nash, the one completely fictional character in the novel, plays an interesting thread through the story, but his role is a bit thin in the middle bits, which makes one wonder at the reason for creating him at all. It’s not that he seems out of place, mind you. It’s more that I had a natural tendency to wonder a little more about the character seeing as it was mentioned right at the top that he was not in the historic records and was, hence, created out of whole ink. Perhaps it is a failure of the reader to have expected more from such an entry into the story, but I can’t see how anyone would look at it differently.

There’s also a very realistic chance I’ve just missed something important in my reading. Wouldn’t be the first time.

On the front cover of the paperback is a quote from Jonathan Franzen, saying “If you want to call Deadwood a Western, you might as well call The House of Mirth chick lit.”

Not even having read the latter, I can say I understand what Franzen was getting at with this, and think it’s a valid consideration. Calling a book a “Western,” much as “chick lit” or “science fiction” does have that effect of “ghettoization” of the work into its genre and is somehow looked at as something less. Or, that’s the talk these days, isn’t it?

What I’m meaning to clarify as being important here is that nobody who enjoys a good book should pass on this one with a “but I don’t really like “Westerns.” The work itself will survive such an err, but is a huge disservice to the “serious reader” Mr. Franzen likes to concern himself about. Pete Dexter has written a serious book for serious readers of all sorts.

Even those who have cemented in their brain the image of Wild Bill Hickok as the brother of the guy from ‘Kung Fu.’

We can overcome.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arriving in Deadwood in 1876, was a bit like gate crashing a never-ending party whose hosts had left for good. The raucous Deadwood townsfolk let off steam every night amid wild gunshots, fuelled largely by gin, whiskey, and the powerful force of their nether regions. And that's just the women!
This novel contains some of the most colourful characters in fiction, and yes for the most part they were real legends of the West.
Dexters deceptively straightforward style blends truth and fiction to great effect. Creating a cast of miscreants from simple-minded to deeply-twisted, with a few largely upright and likeable ones somewhere in the middle ground. That you begin to genuinely care about and root for these people, is something Dexter has a knack of achieving in all his novels. This retelling of the notorious West, centres not around its legends like Calamity Jane or Wild Bill Hickok, but around the bit-part player Charlie Utter, and feels all the more believable for it.
Despite the fact that a 'Word Cloud' of this novel would feature the word 'Peeder' in six foot high letters, the female characters are as sharply drawn as the men, and in many cases have the greater dignity and inner strength (the enigmatic Agnes Lake being the obvious example, but more unexpectedly the whore Lurline, the Whore Mans wife, and to a lesser extent Mrs Langrishe, all get the better of their menfolk).
A down and dirty western with moments of genuine tenderness (Charley burying the bottles in the grave at the end). A classic American novel that deserves it plaudits.

[wally · Rating 4 out of 5]

finished this one this afternoon. good story. i really liked it. dunno if it helped that i visited deadwood...and nearby lead...as well as other locations there and abouts maybe ten years ago. never thought to look for a graveyard, cemetery.

i like how dexter writers a scene, plays it out some...and then he returns to and tells it again from the viewpoint of another character in the story. have seen him use the same technique in other stories...this i think is number 5 or 6 from him. doesn't do it to excess and seems like that fell off by what? the midpoint in the story? somewhere around there.

anyway, like the description says and then some.

and again in this one...like in one or two previous, there's a character or two who seem...something, aloof? hickok in this one. almost like the character is waiting for the story to unfold, to take them, as it does here in this story. aces and eights. quite a cast of characters, too, some real, a few imagined, even a dog. all is well. onward and upward.

[Harold · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's seems pretty obvious that this book had to play some role in the creation of the tv series of the same name. I have seen online that the producer of the series, David Milch, says that it didn't, but there is something about the attitude of this book that suggests to me it did, particularly the similar characterizations of Charley Utter, the main character of the book and a prominent character on the tv series, Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickock. That being said, many of the other familiar names from the series do not bear much resemblance to the portrayals in the book. I'm not enough of an expert on Deadwood to know how historically accurate either is. The names are real, but I know little of their actual story. It's safe to say that if you liked the series you will probably like this book, but one isn't a carbon copy of the other.

[O'linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading a history of Annie Oakley, Wild Bill, and Buffalo Bill Cody I picked up this book and wasn't disappointed with the research or insight into the characters and historic detail. Dexter draws on actual events and people to paint a portrait of the American West that is neither romanticized or based solely on violent drama. The demise of the town of Deadwood, a real place in the West, and Wild Bill Hickock's death are used as metaphors for the changes that came to America during the 1800s. Dexter's spin on Calamity Jane, the Sioux Indians, and the various "upstairs girls" and saloon owners in this town are humorous and filled with pathos. As is usual in Dexter's books, everyone in town is their own worst enemy and redemption comes in a variety of unpredictable ways.