USA Today bestselling In a Montana mining town, someone may soon be six feet under . . .Cotton Pickens, the unforgettable hero of William Johnstone's classic Blood Valley, returns in a tale of a lawless Montana mining district, a sixteen-year-old widow, and a man who always finds new ways of laying down the law . . .Six ways to sunday—and seven days to dieCotton Pickens' parents had a cussed sense of humor, but there's nothing funny about the way the man can draw a gun. Now he's in the middle of a mining camp district slowly being crushed under the iron fist of another misnamed, hardheaded fellow, Carter Scruples. With Cotton facing off against Scruples, a beautiful young woman caught in between, and a band of outlaws living high and mighty in a dry-docked Pullman Palace Car, the town of Swamp Creek is surely going to get blown sky high. And when time comes to put the pieces back together again—Cotton will do his picking one bullet at a time . . .
William W. Johnstone is the #1 bestselling Western writer in America and the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of hundreds of books, with over 50 million copies sold. Born in southern Missouri, he was raised with strong moral and family values by his minister father, and tutored by his schoolteacher mother. He left school at fifteen to work in a carnival and then as a deputy sheriff before serving in the army. He went on to become known as "the Greatest Western writer of the 21st Century." Visit him online at WilliamJohnstone.net.
The more of these i listen to, the more I enjoy his character. He's goofy for sure and it's not like normal westerns as the humor is stupid. This one fit right along with his other in the series. Eventually i'll listen to all these. Thanks GA!
This is an odd book coming from the Johnstone Clan camp. The hero, is hardly that. He's a bumbling ne'er-do-well that has little success in anything he does. This book is almost more of the main character as an observer of all that occurs. He sure doesn't solve much of anything. Making this book one hard to grab a reader.
The story is OK with a better than average explanation as to the mechanics of how an area can be taken over. So happens the efforts described here happen even today. But as a typical western, this one has little gun play and, though lots happens, there is a meandering feel to the tale in that it's rather clear the main character isn't up to fixing the problem.
All of the other Johnstone Clan adventures the reader roots for the hero. With no hero and a cast of characters that is hard to like, this book misses the engaging storytelling that makes Johnstone Clan stories so compelling.
The setting is also not as well depicted. Never could get a handle of the town and it's layout.
Bottom line: I don't recommend this book: 4 out of 10 points.
An odd western. Told in the first person, Cotton Pickens(he's not wild about it either) is a cowboy down on his luck. He takes a job with Carter Scruples(such names) ferreting out miners from mines no longer owned by them. He learns things are not as they seem and ends up siding with the agrieved miners against Scruples and his band of murderers.
People at work sometimes leave books around to share - so I needed something to read and I picked this one up. It is a classic "B" Western - a morality play taking place in a mining town.