Warlock (New York Review Books Classics) [Paperback]

A fictionalization of some genuine happenings in the old west, this one tells the story of events (over a relatively brief period of a few months) in a western boom town called Warlock, so named for one of the many silver mines whose output draws and sustains its disparate and often unsavory populace. Denied a town patent through the inattention of the territory's senile military governor and law enforcement by an uninterested County Sheriff who prefers the relative safety of the county seat to dealing with the bad men who plague Warlock, the town's businessmen and notables determine to take matters into their own hands. Without authorization or legal standing the citizens' committee sends for a gunfighter who has made a name for himself elsewhere as a lawman for hire. And Clay Blaisdell comes, along with his close friend, the somewhat disreputable gambler Tom Morgan. Like Wyatt Earp and his dissolute gambler buddy Doc Holliday in the real history of the old west (captured in a somewhat fictional retelling in the film Tombstone [DVD] [1993] and many other histories, novels and films), Blaisdell, Earp's proxy in this tale, soon sets about restoring order with some back up from pal Morgan. But Morgan is a strange and somewhat dark character, taking as much pleasure in being disreputable as Blaisdell seems to take in enforcing the law (even when he has no legally recognized authority to do so).

At roughly the same time as Blaisdell assumes his role of town marshal, a public spirited townsman accepts the Deputy Sheriff position in Warlock after having been shamed to see the last Deputy run out of town without a fight by a rowdy bunch of local cowboys from nearby San Pablo. The cowboys, led by Abe McQuown and his rancher father, the crippled and bitter Ike "Dad" McQuown, include a number of tough customers who, when not out rustling cattle or killing Mexicans across the border, aren't above backshooting or just blasting away at anything that moves in order to have their way with the townsfolk of Warlock. As the Clantons and McClaurys fought for control of Tombstone against the Earp brothers and their town allies, so does this loose group of McQuown cowpokes insist on their right to dominate the cowed town of Warlock.

But Blaisdell soon backs them down, aided by Morgan who covers his back and a recently arrived former member of the McQuown gang, Johnny "Bud" Gannon. The cowboys are taken aback by their comeuppance and decide to get even, leading to a gunfight at the Acme Corral (yes, it's based on the OK Corral story) and the deaths of several of their number. But killings lead to more killings and further bad blood as the remaining McQuown group plot their revenge. Johnny Gannon, whose kid brother was among those killed at the gunfight, has signed on as a second Deputy by now but believes Blaisdell had sincerely tried to avoid killing those who opposed him in the gunfight and so refuses to take up a blood feud against the marshal, leaving the McQuown crowd to think him "yellow" while the townsfolk suspect he is just a trojan horse for his former comrades from San Pablo.

Caught in the middle, Johnny Gannon wrestles with his own demons of fear, guilt and self-doubt as, it turns out, Blaisdell is wrestling with his. Tom Morgan's demons go much deeper than theirs though for he, in fact, identifies with his personal devils and so brings suspicion on the upright city marshal he calls his friend by taking several unsavory actions. Into this mix comes Kate Dollar, an ex-prostitute Morgan once pimped (like Doc Holliday's own Big Nose Kate, she is described as being beautiful with a prominent nose). Kate is hell bent on bringing Blaisdell down for a harm he once did her as a result of Morgan's machinations. There is also a sub-plot of aggrieved miners and greedy capitalists running in the background and another concerning the town's ongoing efforts to get itself legitimized, stymied at every turn by an uninterested County Sheriff and the senility of the military governor.

Against it all Blaisdell plays out his hand, alternately becoming hero and villain in the eyes of different groups in town and among the cowboys themselves. The characters in this tale are legion though mostly well-limned as they ponder the reasons anyone does anything and switch, like some alternating current of emotion, between hating, fearing and admiring the billiant and self-contained gunman they have brought in to control the unruly bunch out of San Pablo.

But even the cowboys are not entirely bad men. Some are worse than others but all are susceptible to the wounds Blaisdell's dominance in Warlock has inflicted on their pride and too quick, for that, to believe the worst of the marshal and of the two Deputies (especially of Gannon, their former comrade) who have taken on the role of augmenting the marshal's efforts to keep the peace. But it is Morgan's own demons which fuel the main plot as they drive him to add further difficulties to Blaisdell's situation while thinking he's aiding his old friend. Blaisdell, an honorable man himself, cannot see the bad in the gambler nor can Morgan understand the marshal whose sole aim seems to be upholding a law when he is not institutionally sanctioned to do so. The ever present Greek Chorus of an old and crippled "judge-on-acceptance", an often drunken town scold and, perhaps, former jurist, makes the lives of all and sundry unpleasant as they deal with the escalating violence, reminding them all that neither Blaisdell nor the committee have legal standing to undertake what they have done.

As the killings multiply, Blaisdell's stock with the townsfolk rises and falls while Morgan's continues to plummet (to his own contrarian delight) -- though even he has his moments. After aiding the marshal at the Acme Corral shootout he is briefly hailed as a second hero and basks in the same adulation so often accorded Blaisdell. But Morgan poisons the well, as if for spite, and rapidly regains his position as the marshal's feet of clay.

Overall this is a lengthy and complex tale, highly nuanced for this genre and quick to turn the tables on the usual stereotypes. Where Blaisdell fits the bill of the strong silent hero and even seems to want to play the part, we're told he's arrogant and proud as well, despite his affinity for the niceties of justice and the law, and like so many others in this novel, he, too, is wracked with self-doubt. As the story ends it's Blaisdell who rides off into the sunset as the conventions of the genre provide, but not in the way we are accustomed to seeing our heroes depart. This is no Shane (Shane [DVD] [1953]) after cleaning up the town for the poor sodbusters by shooting the dread gunfighter, Wilson.

There's plenty, though, to this tale, even if it does get off to a rather slow start and seems to throw too much into the pot at times, what with miners' unrest, capitalist maneuvers to cut their pay (due to collapsing silver prices), a town doctor who can't decide whether to be a union leader or love the woman Blaisdell covets, and the final, unexpected arrival of the cavalry -- though this time the cavalry manages to play a somewhat disreputable role in the whole business. The story is full of twists and turns but its strength lies in its portrayal of a deeply flawed humanity, everyone doubting him or herself and the intent of others, while fame and admiration are but fleetingly on offer, as quickly withdrawn as given. In the end it falls to the "black rattlesnake of Warlock", Morgan himself, to free Clay Blaisdell from the trap of his own code of honor and the public opinion on which it depends but, being Morgan, the gambler must finally play out what can only be a losing hand.

Years ago there was a movie made from this book (Warlock) with Henry Fonda playing Blaisdell, Anthony Quinn playing Morgan and Richard Widmark playing Johnny Gannon but, as it is with Hollywood, the film necessarily simplified a very complex story. In some ways that simpler version was better*, I think, for this book suffers from a case of the "too muches": too much plot; too many characters; too much self-doubt; too many big moments; too much probing of the deep questions; and, certainly, too much angst. The details of the novel suggest that the author had read deeply of the public record concerning the events in Tombstone in Wyatt Earp's day where competing newspapers of the time left us a record of deeply conflicted viewpoints concerning the bloody conflict between townsfolk and cowboys which the Earps found themselves involved in. This fictional version is a fit reimagining of those events but, in the end, the real story resonates more strongly in some ways than this tale of Clay Blaisdell, Tom Morgan and the other players on Warlock's stage.

Stuart W. Mirsky
author of The King of Vinland's Saga
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* Interestingly, on the evening after I wrote this review, I caught a showing of the film Warlock [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] on cable (the first time I'd seen it in some thirty years) and I have to say that it's not nearly as good as I remembered. Read more ›

Although you won't hear much talk about this book today, it was well thought of in its day, and they even made a movie of it with Henry Fonda. The movie is good, but this book is better. This is pretty much an existential western, our hero a man confronted with living up to a code which even he knows is phony and impossible to sustain, and those who love him trying to make it possible for someone, anyone, to live their life truly. Unfortunately, when the hero knows this is happening, conflict ensues. Well, it's a great book, a better western than The Ox-Bow Incident, with more action and a more provocative theme.

I have waited 50 years to relocate this book and thank most sincerely the New York Review Books for the re-issue. Atmosphere is one of the features of this Western novel. The likes of Wyatt Earp, Ike Clanton, the O.K. Corral, gun fights, lawlessness, Tombstone, Arizona, all come together in Warlock. You can feel it as you read on and on and on. Super stuff. I am so glad to have found the book again.