A Haven for the Damned

by Harry Whittington

A group of eight people all converge on a small ghost town on the outskirts of the Mexican border, each with their own demons and dilemmas. They all want something they’ve freedom, a lost wife, their youth. Not all of them will leave alive.

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

He also wrote under the names Ashley Carter, Harriet Kathryn Myers, and Blaine Stevens, Curt Colman, John Dexter, Tabor Evans, Whit Harrison, Kel Holland, Suzanne Stephens, Clay Stuart, Hondo Wells, Harry White, Hallam Whitney, Henri Whittier, J.X. Williams.

Harry Whittington (February 4, 1915–June 11, 1989) was an American mystery novelist and one of the original founders of the paperback novel. Born in Ocala, Florida, he worked in government jobs before becoming a writer.

His reputation as a prolific writer of pulp fiction novels is supported by his writing of 85 novels in a span of twelve years (as many as seven in a single month) mostly in the crime, suspense, and noir fiction genres. In total, he published over 200 novels. Seven of his writings were produced for the screen, including the television series Lawman. His reputation for being known as 'The King of the Pulps' is shared with author H. Bedford-Jones. Only a handful of Whittington's novels are in print today.
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Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An atmospheric, tense and character driven psychological thriller that is a masterpiece of crime fiction. Everything is remarkably vivid - the bleak, desolate setting in a New Mexico ghost town, the random group of unsuspecting strangers holed up there for the night, each for a different reason and each tormented and desperate. There's the jittery bank robbers on the lamb from a prison break, the mismatched couple running away to start a new life, the jilted lover hungry for revenge, and the laconic, unflinching prospector who's just a little too happy to have some company at last. This last is a mystery, hospitable yet quite likely hiding some secrets of his own and with an uncanny talent for seeing the hidden truths each is concealing. The writing reminds me of Richard Stark, lean and evocative, with a story like a gritty, western themed, locked room mystery where the question isn't who dunnit, but rather who will get away unscathed and what unpleasant truths they will have to face. Highly recommended!

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Often called the king of the paperbacks, Harry Whittington wrote literally hundreds of books in the fifties and sixties under a variety of pseudonyms. His books are always great to read, pulpy, filled with great characters. A Haven For the Damned follows the tried and true idea of placing a bunch of mismatched characters in an isolated location and see what happens. It's sort of like a mystery weekend in the Poconos without the mysterious murder and without the inspector lining up all the suspects in the drawing room to hear him reveal who-done-it. In this story, Whittington combines a cranky old uranium prospector, the meanest dog north of the Rio Grande, a pair of bank robbers with bags of loot, a local couple with one of them suffering from a nasty bullet wound, a man red-eyed from driving nonstop across state lines, and a speed racing millionaire and his skanky young bride. With thousands of dollars in loot, a town called lust, and half the state's troopers searching, what you get from Whittington is one helluva story.

[Carla Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

02/2022

From 1962
I didn't think this was the best (this rating is low on the wide spectrum of four stars). This is a novel with many characters. There were definitely good scenes, but I guess it seemed disjointed. I didn't like when Cardell's dog George was shot. I never have a single problem with people being murdered in cold blood. But anyone four legged upsets me.

[Still · Rating 4 out of 5]

On an almost inaccessible escarpment, 3500 feet above sea level, on Burro Mountain in the Variadero ranges, somewhere between Lordsburg and Socorro, sprawls an abandoned settlement known as Lust, New Mexico. Its half-dozen buildings, aslant with dry-rot, slowly decay in the desert sun. Three-quarters of a century ago, it was a thriving town alive with the cries of silver miners and prospectors, but for a long time now it has been dead, dying of malnutrition, poverty and creeping paralysis: fifteen years ago, frantic men with Geiger counters once more abandoned it to lizards and horned toads and the lonely cry of owls.

One day last fall, seven people arrived separately in Lust, New Mexico, and found one man already there.

They came, oddly, on several different roads that all somehow led to this lost place, almost by design, like various colored threads wound together on the same skein.

These people reached a dreadful moment of crisis in Lust, New Mexico; time had run out for each of them, and only time could give them a second chance at life.

Opens with a bank robbery, two guys grabbing a bank employee hostage. Bank guard shoots at the two robbers hitting the hostage. Hostage survives the shot ...just barely.
The robbers are Fletcher and Poole - recent prison escapees.

Trying to make it to Mexico through the New Mexico desert they wind up lost -stranded in a ghost town in the mountains.
Assorted others eventually find themselves stranded in the same place. A couple on the run from the woman's cuckolded husband who's tracking them. The hostage's girlfriend who's received a mysterious note and a map directing her indirectly to the same ghost town.

The town's only inhabitant is a strange middle-aged desert rat with a great gift of gab and deadly as a rattlesnake.

Another nice little Harry Whittington number.

Kind of reminded me of a favorite film noir directed by the actor Dick Powell, SPLIT SECOND -starring Stephen McNally, Jan Sterling, Arthur Hunnicutt, Alexis Smith, and Keith Andes from a screenplay by Irving Wallace.

Recommended.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stark House has re-released this long out of print Whittington classic. It has one of my favorite crime/noir/mystery setups: a group of people all stuck in a place - in this case an abandoned hotel - where the interactions between the characters is as much fun as the plot. A Haven for the Damned begins with a bank robbery, and the robbers are among the eight people who converge on Lust, a New Mexico ghost town. In the first part of the novel the point of view shifts around to introduce us to all of the characters and show the plot point that is driving them towards Lust. For the rest of the novel it is character warfare with the bank robbers trying to find a way out before the police arrive and all the other characters trying to survive the ordeal. I'd give this five stars for the first three-quarters of the novel, but thought it fell off before the end, descending (literally into a tunnel) with some melodramatic romance.

[Corey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nifty noir. The Petrified Forest, as if written by Jim Thompson.

[William M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 AND 1/2 STARS

Since 90% of this book takes place in one location with all the characters together, the tension builds like a pressure cooker and, in the hands of the very talented Harry Whittington, resulted in a highly enjoyable, fast-paced crime story. I kept thinking how this would make a wonderful stage play. Mystery, betrayal, danger, secrets, and with limited time remaining for the characters, author Whittington masterfully molded the elements together in truly satisfying story.

While some of the phrases and elements feel dated to the 1950's, the human element remains the same and had me hooked. With each character having something to hide from each other and/or themselves, the story unfolded like peeling away the layers of an onion, until finally, the full story was revealed. The author of nearly 200 novels under different names, Harry Whittington is someone I will seek out again. He has a real energy to his writing you don't see very often. I'm glad I picked up A Haven For The Damned, and highly recommend it.

[Alex Budris · Rating 3 out of 5]

All roads lead to Lust, New Mexico. A disparate assortment of travelers are held by two armed criminals in the abandoned lobby of a desert ghost-town hotel.

[Malum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow but tense crime noir. The plot took a few contrived turns and there was an unnecessary love story thrown in at the end, but overall this was really enjoyable.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, straight-ahead Whittington. He's a good story teller, if not a great stylist. A Haven for the Damned isn't his best effort for Gold Medal, but well worth reading. Especially if you're a Harry Whittington fan.

[Stephen J. Golds · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, gritty little pulp story with a tad disappointing conclusion. I guess it didn’t end in the Mexican stand-off I wanted but more light-heartedly.
Whittington sure could write fantastic pulp though.
4/5 Recommended

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 3 out of 5]

3½

[Kurt Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard Boiled