(1986) Deadwood

From Library JournalIn 1876 William "[Buffalo] Bill" [Hickok] and Charley Utter rode into Deadwood, a hellish frontier settlement in the Black Hills. Bill died there, victim of a possibly demented assassin. Fortunately, this is mostly the story of his constant companion, Charley, a man of sapient insight and, though less famous than his friend, of extensive and varied experience. Charley, Bill, their acquaintance the Bottle Fiend, and later Bill's widow Agnes and mourner Calamity Jane saw some remarkable things in Deadwood and raised considerable Cain. By turns heroic, ludicrous, vicious, pathetic, and infuriating, the exotic citizens of Deadwood grab the reader's interest immediately and never let go. Highly recommended for its deadpan, offbeat, credible frontier anarchy. Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army TRALINET Ctr., Fort Monroe, Va.Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review“If you want to call Deadwood a Western, you might as well call The House of Mirth chick lit. Dexter looked at the dark, twisted, ridiculous doings of Bill Hickok and company, said to himself, ‘I recognize that!’ and gave us a world-class entertainment.” —Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections “Unpredictable, hyperbolic and, page after page, uproarious; a joshing book written in high spirits and a raw appreciation of the past.” --_The New York Times Book Review_ “Splendid. . . . Rumor put straight. . . . A carefully researched knitting of events into their most dazzling fabric.” --_The Philadelphia Inquirer_ “Deadwood may well be the best western ever written.” —_The Washington Post Book World_ "What deepens and darkens [Dexter's] writing, so that art is the precise word to describe it, is a powerful understanding that character rules, that we live with our weaknesses and die of our strengths." --_Time_ "Dexter is a master of colloquial poetry, of moods revealed through gestures and settings." -_-Playboy_ "One of the greatest American writers... a storyteller who cuts straight to the nerve." --Scott L. Turow "Dexter's strongest suit is his exquisite understanding of the finely meshed engines of greed, appetite, and interest." --_The New York Times Book Review_ "Great, eccentric characters....Dexter's writing is a living thing." --_USA Today_