THE GREATEST WESTERN WRITERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY William W. Johnstone, the beloved, bestselling frontier chronicler, brings to life the story based on the historical lawman born and bred in Cherokee Nation: Sixkiller. In the wild, wild west there is no man more dangerous—on either side of the law.
THREE MEN DEAD. AND SIXKILLER MIGHT BE NEXT
The territorial governor has sent three lawmen to clean up the mess that is Chico, New Mexico—and not one of those lawmen has made it out alive. A crooked sheriff has the terrified denizens of Chico under his boot heel, so the governor turns to John Henry Sixkiller, sending him undercover as a gunman for hire. So far, Sixkiller has bloodied his opponents in every battle he’s fought in the Southwest. But this one could affect the entire country: A group of merciless land pirates have been hiding behind Chico’s brutal sheriff. Their goal: to take the entire territory hostage and sell it lock, stock and barrel to Mexico—gleefully slaughtering anyone who gets in the way...
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.
My faith has been restored. After a couple of overstuffed dogs in the Johnstone line, I finally read one that's a superior western.
John Henry Sixkiller is sent into New Mexico Territory to meet with the territorial governor, Lew Wallace. He wants John Henry to go into the town of Chico and look into the corrupt sheriff there who's treed and milking dry the small village. Three marshals had already been sent in undercover and none of them had been heard from again.
John Henry gets his in when he stops a killing in a small town on the way and the dead man is killer named John Cobb. A loner, he is basically the same size as John Henry and he gets the man's death kept quiet, assuming the identity.
It doesn't take long to work his way in and figure out that Sheriff Samuel Dav is a deranged lunatic with delusions of grandeur. He has to endure some sickening happenings until the time is right to make his move. He's outnumbered twenty to one.
Not surprisingly, he stumbles onto a group of citizens planning a revolt and reveals his identity, enlisting their help in a plan that had already been forming in his mind.
As I said earlier, s superior entry in this new series.
Sheriff Sixkiller is going home and receives a telegram from his boss that he is needed in New Mexico. The town of Chico is controlled by a villainous sheriff that is bleeding the town dry. Honest citizens are being murdered and 20 deputies have been hired who are nothing more than thugs. Sixkiller comes in posing as a known criminal and is hired. The action heats up as the town’s people have had enough and the town is up for grabs. Plenty of action and Sixkiller stays in character.
The author created a platform that could not have credibly existed to write an unbelievable tale of blood and guts. The first two in this series were marginally more credible but this flies over the top.
It is amazing how the Johnstone Clan of writers can draw a reader into a tale. They did it again here with this offering from the Johnstone Herd of books.
The tale is a fun ride of a town in trouble and Sixkiller rides in to try and save the day. After reading so many Johnstone books in the past two years, the tales do start to sound familiar when a weaker writer gets hold of it. That is the case here. As much fun as the story is and the pages turn faster and faster as excitement builds, this Johnstone tale is lacking.
As the book proceeds the story resolves itself a bit too easily. There's little in the way of twists and turns to help the story have more meat to it's bone. There is a significant twist in the story that comes at a very odd part of the book.
The characters make it all worthwhile. Most are well done. Though, many are given little background and some are never given names.
The two biggest clunkers of the product is a goofy cover and an unrelated book title.
Still the book is worth reading for the fun of it all.
Bottom line: i recommend the book. 5 of 10 points.
John Henry Sixkiller, U.S. Deputy Marshal, a lawdog through and through. Don't trust or take anything anyone for granted. Or you'll be wearing a DIRT BLANKET. Young man of mixed raced raised in Cherokee Territory by his parents. Eventually working as an tribal policeman and later as a U.S. Deputy Marshal wasn't easy for men of mixed ethnic backgrounds consisting of Indian or other men of color. A man with strong moral western attitudes which he approached all cases he was assigned to. You'll enjoy this western which includes tyranny and unbekown treachery in of all places, the Governor of the territory..some really slick political poltergeist who plan on selling the territory back to Mexico for a price. Sound familiar
It's reader beware when it comes to the William W. Johnstone books. As they are either very good or very bad and the John Henry Sixkiller: U.S. Marshall series is one of the real good ones. Obviously William probably wrote the majority of this one, along with the first two in the series and left very little for J.A. or the ghost writer too add to finish the book.
Ok Good story, pleasant read but that is what I want to do, not write. Can't get off this screen without putting something in here. Do I need to write another book to get out of here?