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Bloodland
Returning home to Lewiston, Nebraska, after serving as a mercenary for many years, Key Lessard must save his town and the world when a diabolical neo-Nazi group forms a violent army bent on destroying anyone who has not joined their twisted regiment. Reprint.
- GenresFiction
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
104 people want to read
About the author
William W. Johnstone
1,055 books1,396 followersWilliam 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.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 27, 2025
While Johnstone’s books are formulaic and predictable they sure are a hell of a lot of fun to read. Think blockbuster 80’s movies like Commando or Rambo and you got the gist of what to expect - overwhelming odds defeated by a hero whose moral compass is unwavering.
A Nazi inspired hate group has taken over a small town and n Nebraska. Key Lessard, local boy, ex-Green Beret, ex-mercenary of global conflicts has returned home to seek a quiet life of farming after the death of his mother - setting the stage for a bloody battle for the heart of Lewiston, Nebraska.
A Nazi inspired hate group has taken over a small town and n Nebraska. Key Lessard, local boy, ex-Green Beret, ex-mercenary of global conflicts has returned home to seek a quiet life of farming after the death of his mother - setting the stage for a bloody battle for the heart of Lewiston, Nebraska.
September 8, 2023
Key Lessard has returned to his Nebraska hometown in search of peace and quiet. That's not what he finds. Instead, the farmers have joined a radical, far-right, racist hate-group, with connections that run deep and intimidation tactics that silence those who oppose them. Being an ex-mercenary, Key is immediately targeted, pushed, and prodded. But unlike his friends and family... Key knows how to fight back!
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Violent, brash, and angry... BLOODLAND is the epitome of a William W. Johnstone book. It's constantly railing on politics, it's exceedingly offensive, and it's action packed. Let's be clear, this is a VERY trashy book... but it ain't a boring one! Every page drips with machismo and boomer rage. It's like if your grandpa decided to try his hand at writing after Grandma told him to get off of Facebook.
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I don't know why I, a queer leftist, find these books so damn fascinating. But also, I can and often do separate my political beliefs from what I'm reading. If I didn't, I wouldn't be watching 80's movies and reading the paperbacks that came out to compete with those flicks.
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I don't love talking politics, especially since I like focusing on the books by their own merits and not how they reflect or don't reflect my worldview... but you simply CANNOT divorce a Johnstone book from Johnstone's beliefs. And just when you think he's done, he's got another rant about American values and left-leaning journalism to shove into your face. Although, this book does alter the mold. Rather than being right vs. left, BLOODLAND is right vs. far right. And I can appreciate that!
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I'll always read Johnstone. Whether I agree with it or not --and I don't for much of Johnstone's cases-- I read it with a mouthful of popcorn, a hard drink, and good humor. Because politics aside, this is a near-exact replica of the films Canon was producing at the time. The lead is a beefcake who punches his way through every problem, and the end is an all out war between a militia and an army of vigilantes. By the time you get through the ridiculous plot, you're rewarded with a stream of smirking justice. Bad guys get blown up, shot, and strangled... and it's very satisfying.
.
.
Violent, brash, and angry... BLOODLAND is the epitome of a William W. Johnstone book. It's constantly railing on politics, it's exceedingly offensive, and it's action packed. Let's be clear, this is a VERY trashy book... but it ain't a boring one! Every page drips with machismo and boomer rage. It's like if your grandpa decided to try his hand at writing after Grandma told him to get off of Facebook.
.
.
I don't know why I, a queer leftist, find these books so damn fascinating. But also, I can and often do separate my political beliefs from what I'm reading. If I didn't, I wouldn't be watching 80's movies and reading the paperbacks that came out to compete with those flicks.
.
.
I don't love talking politics, especially since I like focusing on the books by their own merits and not how they reflect or don't reflect my worldview... but you simply CANNOT divorce a Johnstone book from Johnstone's beliefs. And just when you think he's done, he's got another rant about American values and left-leaning journalism to shove into your face. Although, this book does alter the mold. Rather than being right vs. left, BLOODLAND is right vs. far right. And I can appreciate that!
.
.
I'll always read Johnstone. Whether I agree with it or not --and I don't for much of Johnstone's cases-- I read it with a mouthful of popcorn, a hard drink, and good humor. Because politics aside, this is a near-exact replica of the films Canon was producing at the time. The lead is a beefcake who punches his way through every problem, and the end is an all out war between a militia and an army of vigilantes. By the time you get through the ridiculous plot, you're rewarded with a stream of smirking justice. Bad guys get blown up, shot, and strangled... and it's very satisfying.
January 14, 2013
If you are looking for great literary fiction, you won't find it in William J. Johnstone's Bloodland. Not that this book pretends to be anything of the sort, but with its two-dimensional characters, a backstory that doesn't even interest one in suspending disbelief, and a tone that often slides into preachy right-wing diatribes about how "old-fashioned values" are the answer to all of society's ills, it will never be mistaken as anything other than a cheap piece of pulp fiction.
The main character is Key Lessard, a Vietnam vet who has become a rich and famous mercenary, fighting in hot spots all over the world. He has all of the highly-placed government connections you'd expect in a work of fiction like this one. You know: the sort of connections who, on the basis of a telephone call, can ship him crates of explosives, hand grenades, and automatic weapons so that he can wage a private war on American soil.
Key returns to his family's home in rural Nebraska in the mid-1980s to discover that almost everyone has lost their farms. And the darn kids all over town are rebellious hellions with no respect for their elders. Oh, and a group of neo-NAZIs has taken over the county.
The answer, of course, is to revert back to those "old-fashioned values". And wage an "A-Team-meets-Rambo" style one-man war all over the country.
Which isn't to say that the whole book is horrible. The action scenes are vivid and full of, you know: action. But when it gets preachy, this book really gets preachy. Take this gem, in which Lessard's nieces and nephews explain why they haven't become miscreants like their cousins:
"How'd you resist all the dope that's floating around?" Key asked.
"Most of us didn't," Cassie admitted. "I tried it. But you see, Uncle Key, the difference is that I . . . we . . . .[sic] could come home and talk about it with our parents. We knew we weren't going to get backhanded across the room or screamed at. We could just sit down and talk it out."
Key nodded. "And why do you think that is?"
"Old-fashioned values," fifteen-year-old Walt said quickly. "There is nothing for us to rebel about. Oh," he said and grinned, "maybe music. Sometimes."
The other young people laughed.
Well, golly. It's so . . . simple! Why didn't we see it all before?
In between the sermons about farmers doing themselves in by living too high off the hog and the gubmint being the source of everyone's problems and minorities being to blame for hostility against them because they're too "vocal", there's a decent plot about a group of slick-talking white supremacists in ties creating a shadow organization to slowly gain control of the country, one county at a time. And if Johnstone had stuck to this plot, he could have had a passable "First Blood" type story. But, sadly, the plot seems to be an excuse to drive home the point that not everyone who is a conservative is a white supremacist. This is done with even more preachy dialog and a repetition of the phrase "racists are cowards" to the point where it seems the author doth protest too much.
And on top of it all, the ending is less than satisfying. We learn the white supremacist organization has ties very high in the federal government, but this angle never gets explored. Instead, the ending falls into soap opera clichés.
Bloodland fell into my lap when I bought a box of miscellaneous books at a garage sale. There were twenty or thirty books in the box, and I paid a buck for the whole thing. I can honestly say I got my money's worth, but I would have felt ripped off if this was the only book in the box.
The main character is Key Lessard, a Vietnam vet who has become a rich and famous mercenary, fighting in hot spots all over the world. He has all of the highly-placed government connections you'd expect in a work of fiction like this one. You know: the sort of connections who, on the basis of a telephone call, can ship him crates of explosives, hand grenades, and automatic weapons so that he can wage a private war on American soil.
Key returns to his family's home in rural Nebraska in the mid-1980s to discover that almost everyone has lost their farms. And the darn kids all over town are rebellious hellions with no respect for their elders. Oh, and a group of neo-NAZIs has taken over the county.
The answer, of course, is to revert back to those "old-fashioned values". And wage an "A-Team-meets-Rambo" style one-man war all over the country.
Which isn't to say that the whole book is horrible. The action scenes are vivid and full of, you know: action. But when it gets preachy, this book really gets preachy. Take this gem, in which Lessard's nieces and nephews explain why they haven't become miscreants like their cousins:
"How'd you resist all the dope that's floating around?" Key asked.
"Most of us didn't," Cassie admitted. "I tried it. But you see, Uncle Key, the difference is that I . . . we . . . .[sic] could come home and talk about it with our parents. We knew we weren't going to get backhanded across the room or screamed at. We could just sit down and talk it out."
Key nodded. "And why do you think that is?"
"Old-fashioned values," fifteen-year-old Walt said quickly. "There is nothing for us to rebel about. Oh," he said and grinned, "maybe music. Sometimes."
The other young people laughed.
Well, golly. It's so . . . simple! Why didn't we see it all before?
In between the sermons about farmers doing themselves in by living too high off the hog and the gubmint being the source of everyone's problems and minorities being to blame for hostility against them because they're too "vocal", there's a decent plot about a group of slick-talking white supremacists in ties creating a shadow organization to slowly gain control of the country, one county at a time. And if Johnstone had stuck to this plot, he could have had a passable "First Blood" type story. But, sadly, the plot seems to be an excuse to drive home the point that not everyone who is a conservative is a white supremacist. This is done with even more preachy dialog and a repetition of the phrase "racists are cowards" to the point where it seems the author doth protest too much.
And on top of it all, the ending is less than satisfying. We learn the white supremacist organization has ties very high in the federal government, but this angle never gets explored. Instead, the ending falls into soap opera clichés.
Bloodland fell into my lap when I bought a box of miscellaneous books at a garage sale. There were twenty or thirty books in the box, and I paid a buck for the whole thing. I can honestly say I got my money's worth, but I would have felt ripped off if this was the only book in the box.
September 18, 2022
3.5 stars
Crusty. Angry. Big boomer energy.
Basically the exact same formula as every Johnstone novel that wasn’t a western.
And yet there is something about Johnstone’s unmistakable diatribe against everyone and everything that made Bloodland actually kind of fun.
Ridiculously pro-right wing/veteran pride, anti-government, and unapologetic to the max, this book is every underdog and vigilante’s wet dream.
Obviously Johnstone’s writing was never cream of the crop but there is something intriguing about such an angry and crotchety author penning a book such as this. And you honestly can’t beat that typically over the top Zebra cover.
Crusty. Angry. Big boomer energy.
Basically the exact same formula as every Johnstone novel that wasn’t a western.
And yet there is something about Johnstone’s unmistakable diatribe against everyone and everything that made Bloodland actually kind of fun.
Ridiculously pro-right wing/veteran pride, anti-government, and unapologetic to the max, this book is every underdog and vigilante’s wet dream.
Obviously Johnstone’s writing was never cream of the crop but there is something intriguing about such an angry and crotchety author penning a book such as this. And you honestly can’t beat that typically over the top Zebra cover.
June 30, 2015
Of the few dozen Johnstone Clan novels I've read, few were published during William Johnstone's lifetime. This one was. Considering the few books written at the time by him, I figure this one may have been written by Johnstone himself and not one of the herd of ghost writers to come.
Unfortunately, this is the worst of the books I've read possibly actually written by Johnstone. I can read a formula cast in the structure of the book. At the time he was also producing the Smoke Jensen series and this book too much reflects those. You could swap out the hero for Jensen. Not that it ruins the novel, just that it indicates Johnstone's later actions of employing ghost writers considering how much he was able to produce, apparently, plot-wise.
The entire premise is hard to believe, which means the writer failed to connect his plot with the reader. Basically involves bad guys taking over a town with a vision of taking over the world in their way. The idea of the seduction of the townspeople seems more real today than possible in 1985. Still more than far fetched.
One of the most important things to take from this book is Johnstone's writing of the farming industry and what was and would be happening. Younger people will have a great deal of trouble understanding what he is writing in that what he wrote has not only happened but is so buried in the commercial maelstrom, that the idea of the independent family farms that produce for the U.S. to such a high level will be hard to perceive.
The writing in the book is less than standard. The setting is described at points, but I never got the feel of the place as I have in so many other Johnstone Clan novels. That character construction is also far less than the usual stellar efforts of a Johnstone novel. The most interesting characters, to me, is the father and one named 'Lila', but little is done with them.
I figure this book is a sign of the stress of producing too many books at the same time by Johnstone.
Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 6 out of 10 points.
Unfortunately, this is the worst of the books I've read possibly actually written by Johnstone. I can read a formula cast in the structure of the book. At the time he was also producing the Smoke Jensen series and this book too much reflects those. You could swap out the hero for Jensen. Not that it ruins the novel, just that it indicates Johnstone's later actions of employing ghost writers considering how much he was able to produce, apparently, plot-wise.
The entire premise is hard to believe, which means the writer failed to connect his plot with the reader. Basically involves bad guys taking over a town with a vision of taking over the world in their way. The idea of the seduction of the townspeople seems more real today than possible in 1985. Still more than far fetched.
One of the most important things to take from this book is Johnstone's writing of the farming industry and what was and would be happening. Younger people will have a great deal of trouble understanding what he is writing in that what he wrote has not only happened but is so buried in the commercial maelstrom, that the idea of the independent family farms that produce for the U.S. to such a high level will be hard to perceive.
The writing in the book is less than standard. The setting is described at points, but I never got the feel of the place as I have in so many other Johnstone Clan novels. That character construction is also far less than the usual stellar efforts of a Johnstone novel. The most interesting characters, to me, is the father and one named 'Lila', but little is done with them.
I figure this book is a sign of the stress of producing too many books at the same time by Johnstone.
Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 6 out of 10 points.
March 26, 2008
This is possibly the worst-written book I've ever come across. Male fantasy garbage of the most ridiculous type.
November 12, 2024
I read this book over the summer. My friend and I had been backpacking, but we went down to the infirmary for two days. They shipped us back up to where our crew was going to arrive later that day, and I finished my book, the Handmaid's Tale, while waiting there. And Oh Boy do I wish I'd brought another book with me, because when I went through the staff cabin's "library"(bin of books people had dropped off on previous treks) most of it was history of the land and racist-looking cowboy books.
OK, I said. Blood Land looked racist as hell, but on the back it claimed to be anti-nazi! I figured I was in for something at least white-savior-y, but nothing as horrendous as what I read.
For basic media criticism, the characters are flat and unbelievable. They're introduced so quickly it's hard to tell who is who, their father calls him "boy" in just about every sentence, and the main character... by god. It feels like something cliche a middle school boy would write, fantasizing about a tough war hero. Someone who read Lord of the Rings and liked the idea of Aragon but didn't understand him at all. He's tough and emotionless and vague about his past, a killer who is for some reason welcomed back home after being gone so long his mom died. He SINGLE HANDEDLY takes on the government- or the shadow government or whatever. There's lots of gore and violence just for shock value, and it's not even written in a climactic way. One woman's child is threatened pedophilicly so the mother obeys them, later a black woman is gang-raped and her jewish boyfriend is brutally murdered by this shadow government, and a few pages later she's behaving as if they did nothing and he says "black people aren't really oppressed anymore, i mean do you really have it as bad as people used to?" and he calls her the n word at some point. He also thinks that the murdering, raping neonazis are just as bad as... civil rights activists. Naturally. It's not that I can't disagree with main characters or enjoy shitty mcs, it's just that this book is written as a manifesto and I can't say I like what I read.
That brings me on to my next note. The slurs.
There was no reason to say so many goddamn slurs. Like, at all. I kept stopping reading, my eyes bugging out of my head, and said "brooooo" and passed it over to them and we freaking lost it. When I showed it to the staff, they also lost it, passed that page around(where he wrote quotes from the neonazis and it was just. Just the most biggoted rhetoric you've ever heard thrown in as if you couldn't believe they were bad guys) and they said the library was off limits until they did a review of what people have dropped off in there because. WOW that's INSANELY bad.
You should've seen our reaction when I found this on goodreads, finally curious to see what people had to say, because our jaws DROPPED when we saw ANYTHING good about this book. All I can say is that it was entertaining and it passed the time, but that's not because of any of it's good qualities. In fact, I'm struggling to find a good one to list.
Absoltue ass book, 0/10, only recommend if you hate either yourself or black people, but you're in denial about that.
OK, I said. Blood Land looked racist as hell, but on the back it claimed to be anti-nazi! I figured I was in for something at least white-savior-y, but nothing as horrendous as what I read.
For basic media criticism, the characters are flat and unbelievable. They're introduced so quickly it's hard to tell who is who, their father calls him "boy" in just about every sentence, and the main character... by god. It feels like something cliche a middle school boy would write, fantasizing about a tough war hero. Someone who read Lord of the Rings and liked the idea of Aragon but didn't understand him at all. He's tough and emotionless and vague about his past, a killer who is for some reason welcomed back home after being gone so long his mom died. He SINGLE HANDEDLY takes on the government- or the shadow government or whatever. There's lots of gore and violence just for shock value, and it's not even written in a climactic way. One woman's child is threatened pedophilicly so the mother obeys them, later a black woman is gang-raped and her jewish boyfriend is brutally murdered by this shadow government, and a few pages later she's behaving as if they did nothing and he says "black people aren't really oppressed anymore, i mean do you really have it as bad as people used to?" and he calls her the n word at some point. He also thinks that the murdering, raping neonazis are just as bad as... civil rights activists. Naturally. It's not that I can't disagree with main characters or enjoy shitty mcs, it's just that this book is written as a manifesto and I can't say I like what I read.
That brings me on to my next note. The slurs.
There was no reason to say so many goddamn slurs. Like, at all. I kept stopping reading, my eyes bugging out of my head, and said "brooooo" and passed it over to them and we freaking lost it. When I showed it to the staff, they also lost it, passed that page around(where he wrote quotes from the neonazis and it was just. Just the most biggoted rhetoric you've ever heard thrown in as if you couldn't believe they were bad guys) and they said the library was off limits until they did a review of what people have dropped off in there because. WOW that's INSANELY bad.
You should've seen our reaction when I found this on goodreads, finally curious to see what people had to say, because our jaws DROPPED when we saw ANYTHING good about this book. All I can say is that it was entertaining and it passed the time, but that's not because of any of it's good qualities. In fact, I'm struggling to find a good one to list.
Absoltue ass book, 0/10, only recommend if you hate either yourself or black people, but you're in denial about that.
August 15, 2023
🍍🍍🍍🍍/5
We were warned in Judith Sonnet’s book club that this one was going to be some crazy toxic-masculinity-soaked, big-boomer-energied, right-wing vs. SUPER right-wing shit. Welp, she did not exaggerate whatsoever. It was hard to not roll my eyes at everything Key, our MC did. The patron saint of machismo. I was kinda shocked that he didn’t bite a chunk out of a grizzly bear for breakfast & then chew gunpowder instead of brushing his teeth afterwards. Yet somehow about halfway through, I started to like him. The whole killing nazis/super-mega-ultra-fascists helped, of course. I “watched” this whole book with a Grindhouse lense, which made it more fun. I also was reading everyone’s lines in a Nebraskan accent, which is funny because I don’t know what a Nebraskan accent sounds like? Learning about “hamburger whores” & how casually you could ship guns/ammo/grenades back then added to the charm of the book. I was just waiting for the satisfying bloody final battle, which I got thankfully. Love him or hate him, I like a good pineapple surprise & Key was lobbing grenades left & right towards the end. You don’t go to a hamburger whore for a hug & you don’t go to a Johnstone for clean, wholesome fun. Enjoy the ride. 🤠
We were warned in Judith Sonnet’s book club that this one was going to be some crazy toxic-masculinity-soaked, big-boomer-energied, right-wing vs. SUPER right-wing shit. Welp, she did not exaggerate whatsoever. It was hard to not roll my eyes at everything Key, our MC did. The patron saint of machismo. I was kinda shocked that he didn’t bite a chunk out of a grizzly bear for breakfast & then chew gunpowder instead of brushing his teeth afterwards. Yet somehow about halfway through, I started to like him. The whole killing nazis/super-mega-ultra-fascists helped, of course. I “watched” this whole book with a Grindhouse lense, which made it more fun. I also was reading everyone’s lines in a Nebraskan accent, which is funny because I don’t know what a Nebraskan accent sounds like? Learning about “hamburger whores” & how casually you could ship guns/ammo/grenades back then added to the charm of the book. I was just waiting for the satisfying bloody final battle, which I got thankfully. Love him or hate him, I like a good pineapple surprise & Key was lobbing grenades left & right towards the end. You don’t go to a hamburger whore for a hug & you don’t go to a Johnstone for clean, wholesome fun. Enjoy the ride. 🤠
January 17, 2019
Oh, man! This book is so awesome. I tried to read Johnstone's horror novels a couple of times before and they were startlingly terrible. At least the ones I tried. This book was just pure, nose breaking, balls kicking, jaw cracking action from start to finish. I was hooked. Johnstone may not be a master of prose but reading this book was exactly like watching some bad ass 80s action movie on TV late at night, aka heaven. Beyond the visceral thrills, this book also had some poignant things to say about what happens to good people when they are pushed too far, and how they turn to hatred. But that ain't what we came for, what we came for is badass mercenary Key Lessard waging war on a secret Neo Nazi army in his hometown in rural Nebraska, and that is what we get. This book was a joy to read. Is it fine literature? No. Is it a rollicking good time that is surprisingly much better than it had to be? Yes.
August 16, 2021
The main character reminds me of a Rambo type person. If you want a lot of action, blood, revenge, and things like that, you have the right book. The enemy is easily recognizable and the main character is out to defeat him.
November 11, 2024
Key Lessard, Vietnam vet turned mercenary, returns to his hometown in Nebraska to live a quiet, peaceful life as a farmer. However, he finds his town is now run by a neo-nazi militia group, and he must fight to save his farm.
Bloodland is the first book I've read by Johnstone. I was hoping for a Rambo type book, but instead got a more violent episode of the A-team. There is absolutely no tension in the book as it's very clear early on that Lessard can easily beat anyone he comes up against. Having said that, I found Bloodland to be strangely enjoyable. It's good trashy 80s action movie fun. Also, Johnstone comes across as a particularly angry author. The book is full of rants / sermons on topics such as how to raise good respectful children, how to budget for when times are tough, and how daylight saving time is completely unnecessary.
Bloodland is the first book I've read by Johnstone. I was hoping for a Rambo type book, but instead got a more violent episode of the A-team. There is absolutely no tension in the book as it's very clear early on that Lessard can easily beat anyone he comes up against. Having said that, I found Bloodland to be strangely enjoyable. It's good trashy 80s action movie fun. Also, Johnstone comes across as a particularly angry author. The book is full of rants / sermons on topics such as how to raise good respectful children, how to budget for when times are tough, and how daylight saving time is completely unnecessary.
January 8, 2016
Awesome book
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews