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.

Dexter's ability to marry character and language is delightful. He is one of those rare writers who can portray deep emotion without slipping into the sentimental. Yes, the book might be subtitled, "Camp Crusty" due to profanity and sexual content, but it's also extremely funny and full of compassion. Highly recommended.

I really liked this book. I liked it so much I bought it for two friends even before I finished reading it. There were times I laughed out loud. The author knew how to insert humor without disrupting the story line. I highly recommend this book.

The novel that the series was based on....without the language the series had to offer. Smooth read.

I watched the Canadian History Channel's presentation of Deadwood last fall and became an instant fan. When my wife presented me with a copy of the 1986 novel I was immediately suspicious that this would be western pulp with no basis in history. Boy was I wrong! This novel could be sub-titled "The Charlie Utter Story". Charlie's colorful career is the vessel that carries you through this wonderful period of history; a history that's filled with comedy, tragedy, and always fascinating characters. Al Swearingen turns out to be somewhat more liberal in his sexual tastes than his HBO namesake. Handsome Dick, Bill's wife Agnes, Captain Jack, Pink Buford, the Bottle Fiend, the China Doll, the vile Boone May, and Sol Star's involvement in the great Deadwood fire could provide the basis for many new seasons of the HBO show.

Pete Dexter is a genius who has taken American histoy and turned it into one of the most entertaining books that I've read in the past year.

Pete Dexter's Deadwood hews closely to historical reality. The characters are there from the well-known Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane Cannary to the lesser known but vital Charlie Utter, Hickok's widow, Agnes Lake, the China Doll, and a host of others. The events are there from the murder of Hickok to the great Deadwood fire. Are the characters drawn accurately? It seems so - certainly more accurately than the HBO series of the same name (You won't find HBO's Al Swearengen in Dexter's pages).

Much of the book is taken up with tortured internal dialogues, especially of Hitchcock's buddy Charlie Utter. Many of the characters are at least half insane and in poor Jane's case, well over half. Cruelty is the rule not the exception. Dexter's `Deadwood' is an unhappy place.

By the way, according to a story from the Rapid City Journal newspaper posted on the web page `Deadwood Discovered, the HBO series is not based on Dexter's book and Dexter says he does not watch the show - his loss in my opinion.

Highly recommended.