Deadwood

A Novel

By: Peter Dexter

Narrated by: J. Rodney Turner

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 entrepreneurs 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.

©1986 Pete Dexter (P)2019 Tantor

Absolutely loved it

Great story, well developed characters. I was caught up in the authenticity of it all. Great narrator's voice. Will listen to this one again.

A different story of Deadwood

I am a fan of the HBO series Deadwood, and as such, knowing the book had very little to do with the story in the series, was hesitant to purchase Mr. Dexter’s version. I am very glad I did. An excellent tale, I enjoyed the words as written by Mr. Dexter and as narrated by Mr. Turner and highly recommend it to anyone who loves good stories.

Not the Deadwood on HBO

Great novel. A different an very interesting story and character development from the HBO series “Deadwood”.

Good narrator at least

A little too graphic and vulgar for my tastes, but the narrator they chose was perfect.

This is more of a bodice ripper than a western.

The pacing of this novel is perfectly matched to the cadence of the narrator and can be described as ploddingly slow. A lot of the plot turns on well recognize history, But I have no idea whether the intimate details of the numerous encounters are accurate or not, and frankly don't care. I finished it, that's my policy, but I'm not better off for having done so.