Showing posts with label William W. Johnstone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label William W. Johnstone. Show all posts

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Book Review- William W. Johnstone- Honor of the Mountain Man

William W. Johnstone- Honor of the Mountain Man (Pinnacle Books 1998) 2.75 Stars

After a strike on his home, Joey Wells now wants revenge against the Mexican vaqueros who shot his family. Jacob Murdock has hired the vaqueros and has control over the town. Joey Wells will have to deal with Murdock if he is going to deal with the vaqueros and the only gunfighter he is going to have on his side is Smoke Jensen. Now they’ll have to free the town, and rid it of Murdock and his hired guns.

Normally I enjoy this series, but this one was an exception. I did not find that it had the same quality of writing. He was focusing on action and not on building the plot, or developing the storyline. He had a tonne of flashbacks that included extra action. I am not sure what he was trying to do with these flashbacks, whether he was trying to develop characters better or just give extra action, but I found that it distracted from what was going on, and made it hard to focus. I do love his action scenes, but they were far from real. He made it so that every time bullets flew Cal got hit by a bullet, but seemed to recover extremely fast, this dropped realism a fair bit. Johnstone should have gone back to the drawing board with this one.

For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com

Tony Peters

Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping

http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/

Friday, September 10, 2010

Book Review- William W. Johnstone- Matt Jensen: The Last Mountain Man



William W. Johnstone/J.A. Johnstone- Matt Jensen: The Last Mountain Man (Pinnacle Books 2007) 3.25 Stars



Matt Cavanaugh’s family was moving west to get a new start when their wagon is ambushed by a band of outlaws. Taking off, he manages to survive the attack and now he is a nine-year-old boy left alone in the world. By the time Smoke Jensen picks him up he is dying of exposure. When he turns eighteen he decides to hunt down the outlaws who murdered his family, and bring them to justice, western justice.



The first thing I noticed was that the back of the book said that Winston Pugh had murdered Matt’s family, when in reality it was Payson and Garvey. Winston Pugh is not mentioned once in the book. Oops? Normally I love any of the books with Smoke Jensen in them, and this one was okay, not great though. I have noticed that any of the books written with J.A. Johnstone are far cruder, which I do not like. I did like the action scenes in this book and they were many, not all realistic, but what western is? The plot was not a bad one either, not deep, but again what western is? The character development was good for two of the characters. I was looking for a bit more with this novel however and so I would not recommend it unless you really like this author.



For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com



Tony Peters


Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping


www.eloquentbooks.com/kidsonacase.html

Monday, July 19, 2010

Book Review- William W. Johnstone- Six Ways from Sunday



William W. Johnstone with J.A. Johnstone- Six Ways from Sunday (Pinnacle 2009) 2.75 Stars



Cotton Pickens hates his name, but he hates to see injustice even more. He has ridden into a mining camp that is slowly being taken over by Carter Scruples, a man with a ruthless sense of business tactics. Cotton must try to defend the miners before Scruples takes over all of Swamp Creek. He is up against superior numbers, but that won’t sway him form his sense of duty.



Normally I love this author, but in this case I really did not enjoy this book. It had an interesting introduction, not gripping, just interesting. I did not really like the characters in this novel. The author was trying to make Cotton seems stupid, and he succeeded; he succeeded a little too well, annoyingly so. The plot was alright, but lacked real depth. The writing style used in this novel was not to my liking either, as it was just plain crude and unnecessarily gross. I did not really understand why the situation was not resolved easily through the miners ganging up on Scruples and his men, rather than trying to fight him off one at a time and losing. It was more of a frustrating read and I do not recommend this book.



For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com



Tony Peters


Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping


http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Book Review- William W. Johnstone- Return of the Mountain Man



William W. Johnstone- Return of the Mountain Man (Pinnacle Books 2000) 4 Stars



After Smoke Jensen’s wife, father, son, and mentor are all brutally murdered, Smoke Jensen is looking for revenge. The killers have taken refuge in the town of Bury, a mining town that they own, bought with stolen money. Stratton, Potter, and Richards, the men responsible for the killings, have hired a bunch of gunslingers to hunt down Smoke Jensen and protect them from him. If Smoke has his way the three will die, and the town will burn down to the ground. Years after the murder he still has an itch for revenge.



I love this series. This is a great western series filled with action, but still manages to have a decent plot, not great, but good for a western. I love the characters in this novel. Smoke is an interesting man with good characteristics and morals. I also enjoy the mountain men as they are fun and a great creation. The action in the book was not the most realistic, but what western is? The historical time period is always a plus in my books, but I won’t go on about that considering I say it all the time. I definitely recommend this book/series as it is written by a talented author, who knows how to keep things interesting.



For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com



Tony Peters


Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping


www.eloquentbooks.com/kidsonacase.html


Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Book Review- William W. Johnstone- Trek of the Mountain Man



William W. Johnstone- Trek of the Mountain Man (Pinnacle Books 2002) 3.5 Stars



When Bill Pike discovered the wanted poster for Smoke Jensen, offering ten thousand dollars, he thought that he had struck it rich. Getting together a gang of ruthless men he came for Smoke Jensen, only he wasn’t home. Instead they stole his wife and killed two of his hands. When word of this reaches Jensen he goes after this gang. This takes him back into the mountains that he knows well, and he aims to not let even one of them survive his wrath.



The introductory pages in this western did not grab me like Johnstone’s have in the past, but it did make me wonder what was going to happen as a result, so I kept reading. It did improve true to Johnstone’s style. I was not disappointed in reading this as I got the action I love from westerns. The great thing about Johnstone is that his books have great characters that you get to know and love throughout this series. The reader cannot possibly help but laugh at some of things they say to each other. The plot is not overly deep, but not too bad for something so short.



I recommend Trek of the Mountain Man to western readers and Johnstone fans.



For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com



Tony Peters


Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping


www.eloquentbooks.com/kidsonacase.html



Saturday, February 27, 2010

Book Review- William W. Johnstone- Warpath of the Mountain Man




William W. Johnstone- Warpath of the Mountain Man (Pinnacle Books 2002) 3.75 Stars



Bank Robbers murder a man, injuring another and Smoke Jensen captures them for the law, but the outlaws are well-connected and bust out of prison. In revenge they kill the family of the man who was in charge of the jury, who just happens to be an old friend of Smoke’s, except that they made it look like it was a native uprising. Now Smoke must get to bottom of it and find the killer’s bringing them to justice, before and all out war begins. Smoke wants justice and the best justice he knows comes from the end of a gun…followed by a trail of smoke.



I thought that this was the first of Johnstone’s books I was reading, but the character of Smoke Jensen brought back memories of when I was much younger, I read one of this series at that time. I remember enjoying Jensen’s character then and was not surprised to find that the same was the case now. He is a tough as nails, no nonsense kind of man and it makes for the perfect western character. The villains were the kind of people you despise and do not mind getting shot to bits for their treachery. His characters seem to fit in perfectly with the time period and the plot was plausible (although unlikely). I loved the flow of the story and the places it took the reader. Johnstone does an excellent job of bringing the reader back to the western frontier. One thing that did bother me was the naivety of Covington, and the stupidity of some of the men following him. Although I guess he was blinded by political greed and a desire for power, which may have clouded his judgement.



I recommend Warpath of the Mountain Man to western readers.



For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com



Tony Peters


Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping


http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/