While the Town Slept

Tim Colter #3

by William W. Johnstone, J.A. Johnstone

The latest blazing, breakneck adventure in the Tim Colter Western series by the bestselling legends of historical Westerns in which the assassination of President Grant is on the line.

Wyoming Territory, 1873. Tim Colter and his trusted guide, mountain man Jed Reno, are on the trail of a vicious gang of train robbers when they happen upon a bloody and shocking scene. Lying on the ground, barely breathing, a Secret Service agent has been left for dead in the wake of a brutal ambush. His final “President Grant . . . assassination . . . Dugan . . . trust nobody.”

It’s a message that chills Colter and Reno to the bone. President Ulysses S. Grant is scheduled to arrive soon in Cheyenne. Dugan is a former Confederate guerilla who leads a notorious gang of cutthroats. And the agent’s last words—“trust nobody”—suggest this conspiracy could reach to the highest levels of American power. Colter and Reno are determined to stop the assassins by any means possible—even if they have to enter hell itself, better known as Dugan’s Den. But to get there, they’ll have to bust a lady outlaw out of prison then convince her to take them to Dugan’s hideout—with a lunatic killer on their tail and the president on a collision course with death . . .

Genres: Westerns

355 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 24, 2024

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

[Clay Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pacing of the story was not good and the title needs to be better.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

While The Town Slept is the third book in the Tim Coulter western series by William W Johnstone in J a Johnstone, while tracking robbers Tim and Jeb find a Secret Service man on the virge of death. Before taking his last breath he tells Tim Coulter and Jim Reno to trust no one and give them the first clue when he says Dugan. Tim knows this is about President Grant visiting Cheyenne in with Jake Dugan involved it’s going to be an assassination of yet another great president. Leaving Jeb in Cheyenne to learn all he can about the conspiracy Tim does the last thing he thought he would ever do in this life that is breakout Patsy Palmer one of the worst most vicious people he’s ever fought and she’s a woman but break her out he does. Before the stories over Tim will have multiple injuries mostly due to Patsy but will also be there for her redemption while Jeb is in Cheyenne falling in love with a woman who has many names, almost as many as her disguises and skills. Jeb finds just as many Confederates in Cheyenne as Tim does at the Dugan gang hold up but will be a be able to stop the catastrophe they’re planning? There is way more to the story is always with a Johnstone western there’s mini plots in subplot and I could spin my every day all day reading them and seem never to run out of great stories. I love these westerns their detail to history the great characters awesome writing and entertaining stories. Needless to say I definitely recommend this book and there’s always yet again I cannot wait for the next one. #NetGalley, #KensingtonAndPinnacleBooks, #WilliamAJohnstone, #JAJohnstone, #WhileTheTownSlept, #TimColter,

[Jacqui · Rating 3 out of 5]

In William Johnstone et al's latest classic western, While the Town Slept (Pinnacle 2024), Deputy US Marshal Tim Colter and his mountain man partner, Jed Reno, stumble onto a plot to kill US President Grant. They drop their current task--chasing train robbers--to track down nameless potential killers on an unknown date and location with almost no clues and no one they can trust to help. Despite that, Colter hatches a plan to find answers, but an unusual one he can't share with anyone other than Jed. Because he doesn't believe the nascent USA can handle yet another assassination (with Lincoln still so recent), he bets everything including his life on his skill to stop the assassination.

The atmosphere of the story is pure old west with every page imbued with the sights and smells of that world. It is fast moving though fractured at times, enough I found myself lost a bit trying to connect the dots. I love the descriptive bits, but there were cases where there were so many, it got in the way of following the story. Overall, a good read. 

[Denice Langley · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no such thing as a bad Johnstone western. Each series is built around main characters whose belief in the law and family is absolute, even if they've had to be reformed to get there. From Preacher, the original mountain man to the Jensen family to Perly Gates, to.....well, you get the point. Many times, characters from one series will show up in another as supporting hands. The communities are true to the era, clothing, guns, food and troubles are all what you'd find if you looked them up in the history books. No two stories are the same, each character or set of characters is unique and so are their stories. The writing is skillful, readers are pulled into the story and you will laugh and cry right along with the characters. I made the mistake of picking up a Johnstone western my uncle was reading. Ive been hooked ever since. Now I share them with my reading family and will continue as long as new Johnstones are released.

[Gerald Matzke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story of the Old west was full of action and surprises. Deputy Marshal Tim Colter finds a dying Secret Service Agent who warns him that President Grant is in danger of being assassinated and warns him to trust no one. Along with his friend and scout Jed Reno, he tries to figure out what the message could mean. Who in Wyoming would want to kill the President and why and when. They split up and look for clues and find some unlikely assistance always keeping in mind not to trust anyone. While the story is told with the typical Johnstone Western dialogue, the plot involved a lot of characters who were hard for me to keep straight. At one point there were three storylines that didn’t all come together until the end of the book. It was frustrating when the story would switch to another line at an exciting moment. Aside from that, the author kept you on the edge of your seat as the characters escaped from one peril after another and you wanted to see how they would be able to save the President.

[Bob Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was pretty good, first time reading the Tm Colter Western by William Johnstone.

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the better Johnstone Clan books I've read recently. It's a simple plot with enough turns in the plot make it well wroth reading.
Though written as a Tim Colter novel, it's really a buddy book as the Colter character is joined with Jed Reno and the two are linked throughout.

The tale of trying to save president Grant has a wonderfully added piece often used by writers. In this book, there nearly dead man slipping a clue to the duo leads them to various twists and turns and a generous supply of the Johnstone trademark of solid characters.

i liked how the plot was paced and, though there are the now-typical overwritten parts, this one is better written to get through those. Lots of nifty details, like the noting of firearms, specifically Lemats.

Bottom line i recommend this book. 9 out of ten points.
This book was made avaible to review via NetGalley.com.