The Eyes of Texas

Matt Jensen: The Last Mountain Man #8

by William W. Johnstone, J.A. Johnstone

The son of a legend. Heir to the Western wilderness. Mountain Man Matt Jensen has come to the most dangerous town in Texas. . .

Big War In Shady Rest

Shady Rest, Texas, has the dubious reputation for being the deadliest town in America. Getting yourself killed is as easy as blinking and twice as quick. Sure enough, Matt Jensen hasn't swallowed his whisky before the town's marshal is gunned down before his eyes. Matt defends himself by putting two bullets in the shooter's chest, unaware that he's in line for a $5,000 bounty--as long as he stays in Shady Rest to collect it. And staying gets even more tempting when a red haired beauty decides to be the next town marshal. . .

Annabel O'Callahan is a dressmaker with a secret weapon--no hard case or gunslinger worth his salt will gun down a lady. Almost overnight, Shady Rest becomes a model of law and order. But the man Matt killed has a whole passel of friends and family--the killing kind, man or woman--headed to Shady Rest for revenge. Now the dressmaker and the mountain man must join forces. Two against a small army. And the deadliest shootout Shady Rest has ever seen.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Ebooks, Novels

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2013

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Jensen broke up the stage robbery, killing two of the bandits, one getting away, and became the toast of the little town of Shady Rest, Texas.

When he kills a man in a saloon that had just killed the town Marshal, he recognizes the man as one he'd arrested a year before for murdering a couple, The man had been sentenced to hang, but had broken out of jail, and Matt hadn't seen him since.

Wells Fargo had posted a reward of $5,000 on him for his gang hitting a bank and killing a clerk. While waiting for the reward to be verified and paid, he has dinner with seamstress Annabelle O'Callahan, one of the stage passengers he saved from the robbery, and being feted around town.

And it seems Shady Rest has a bit of a reputation. Four town Marshals had been killed in four months as well as other deaths. The reason is Plantation Row, the red light district. All controlled by one man and his pet deputy sheriff.

Annabelle steps up and asks to be made Marshal. Matt had already turned it down, but volunteers to be her deputy for a while.

The town gets cleaned up fast, which vexed the controlling man on Plantation Row and he sends for people to kill them. Not to mention of the brother of the man he'd killed just after getting to town. He and four men are coming to kill Him and Annabelle.

A fine western with a nod to two great western authors. The stage driver and guard are named Dsty Reasoner and Jim Richards.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I usually like western novels, I don't seek them out. This one was given to me by a friend who doesn't read much, but who really likes Johnstone's books. This one, however, was written based on notes Johnstone left when he died. The story is simple; the characters are one-dimensional; and the theme is typical of the genre. Still, it was exciting enough to keep me entertained.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book through goodreads first reads. This was a good story, westerns is one of my favorite genre . I will have to check out the other books in the Matt Jensen series now. I looked them up and they all got great reviews.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having listened (I am an audio book reader) to enough of these books in this series and thinking I had heard the same vignette previously, this book convinced me that what William Johnstone’s nephew has done with this series is take plots (and the dialogue) of previous books and woven them together in a new book, while writing very little original content. In some parts of this books, i.e. the two outlaws who were hired to take on Matt Jensen, the dialogue was an exact copy of a previous book as was the gathering of the men and the five person ambush. Though this series was written after WWJ died, shame on his nephew for a cut and paste job. While the books provide a feel good warmth, I don’t know that I will read any others as I suspect I have heard/read most of the stories in previous editions/versions of the Mountain Man series.

[Garth Mailman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 8 in the Matt Jensen Series. The lawless town of Shady Rest has lost 3 marshals in as many months. Seems a place made to order for Matt to bring order.

This outing in the series is unique in spending more time in describing settings, back-story, and characters other than the Mountain Men. We get to know the residents and businesses in Shady Rest and additionally do the same in Pecos where ironically one of the desperadoes Matt is chasing ends up sworn in as Marshall’s Deputy. Sheriffs it seems outrank marshals.

[David Burnworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt winds up in one of the most dangerous cities in the country, Shady Rest, Texas where he sees the Marshall shot down before his eyes and then Matt is forced to gun down the pondscum who killed the Marshall. From there the story is action-packed. Matt is offered the Marshall job but turns it down, then he volunteers to help the new Marshall, Annabel O'Callahan a beautiful lady, whom he also becomes well acquainted with, Can the duo clean up the town?
Read the book to find out.

[Richard Guerrero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank goodness the book did not involve another “Lord of the Manor“. In saying that, I am disappointed in the way this series is going on. In all of these books they always talk about the dime novels, these last few books seem to be a dime novel. Like I said before, they take segments from previous books in Adam into the new book as a filler. To me just getting more ridiculous.

[Nolan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dangerous being Matt Jensen’s friend. The beginning of this story another one of his friends and the guy’s wife are murdered.

I saw a couple of printing mistakes of getting some character’s name wrong. Overall, this wasn’t a best story. Not much going on for a plot in this book. I wasn’t overly impressed with it.

[Lmcglynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Matt Jensen book after 5 Smoke Jensen Preacher series prior. Decent western, not as frenetic and character filled as Smoke’s series. Miss all the grizzled old mountain men to the rescue with all the rustic names, as well as famous gunslingers and their crusty monikers!
Must be the extra Johnstone who is writing this new spinoff series and slowing down the pace and plot.

[rick incremona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story. This was nice to have a female love interest survive for a change. Great villains. Stop writing lawyers named Bob Dempster. They are like the George Foreman family. everyone has the same name and there is no reason for there to be that many of them!

[Susan Bell]

Easy read. Predictable. B-level read.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good easy read. Lots of action and interesting characters. Great for when life is getting on your nerves

[Dionne]

DNF

[Ted Torgerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read. Rey good story line of life in Texas country. The days of gunfighters, saloons, brothels and the good guy!

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not normally a fan of westerns, but this book definitely held my interest. Matt Jensen is a hard charging man out to set things right. He is tough, smart and ready to take on whatever is necessary. He breaks up a stage robbery. He kills a man, a jail escapee, who killed the town’s Marshall. Matt agrees to become the deputy for the local seamstress, Annabel, after she asks for and gets the Marshall’s position. Together they clean up the town, irritating the man controlling it, who sends some men after Matt and Annabel. In addition, the friends and relatives of the man Matt killed are coming for him. Can they outsmart this group of thugs? Can they succeed where the last four Marshalls, all killed, have not? The author has developed real characters, including a strong female role, not all that usual for the western genre. As I said, I am not generally a western type person, but this book managed to hold my interest enough to prompt me into rethinking the type of books I read. I received this book from Library Thing to read and review.

[Sharon l childers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt Jensen, The Last Mountain Man

This is a great book all should enjoy it. the young and old can read this book .thank for the good reading.