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The Last Mountain Man #19
Vengeance of The Mountain Man
Some People Don't Know When To Leave Bad Enough Alone
Just when it seemed that Smoke Jensen's life had settled down to something resembling normal... He'd all but forgotten the vicious young gunfighter who called himself Sundance. Smoke had hoped to teach that twisted kid a lesson by shooting off his ear.
But the lesson didn't take...
Now, after years on the run, Sundance's ravenous hunger for revenge has pushed him over the edge. He's gathered a gang of the worst robbing, pillaging, raping scum from the Texas-Mexico border and is heading for the Sugarloaf with the fool idea of nailing Smoke Jensen's hide to the wall.
Doesn't he realize that Smoke Jensen doesn't believe in second chances?
Just when it seemed that Smoke Jensen's life had settled down to something resembling normal... He'd all but forgotten the vicious young gunfighter who called himself Sundance. Smoke had hoped to teach that twisted kid a lesson by shooting off his ear.
But the lesson didn't take...
Now, after years on the run, Sundance's ravenous hunger for revenge has pushed him over the edge. He's gathered a gang of the worst robbing, pillaging, raping scum from the Texas-Mexico border and is heading for the Sugarloaf with the fool idea of nailing Smoke Jensen's hide to the wall.
Doesn't he realize that Smoke Jensen doesn't believe in second chances?
336 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1997
155 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
About the author
William W. Johnstone
1,055 books1,423 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 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 31, 2023
Smoke returns to his Mountain Man roots as he takes on an army of outlaws out for his head. Violent and bloody action as Smoke draws his enemies deeper into his element, the High Lonesome, and delivers brutal justice mountain man style.
March 23, 2026
Why did I choose to read this? I knew I wouldn’t like it, but my curiosity got the better of me. I first heard of William W Johnstone from one of my favourite YouTubers, Jenny Nicholson. She has a very thorough read through of one of Johnstone’s recent literary endeavours called Trigger Warning (would highly recommend the video in question). But I needed to know for myself, what is the man’s writing style really like. He authored over 200 novels in his time, so at least one of them must be good right? Well unfortunately for me, this was not one of them.
Vengeance of the Mountain man is a conservative power fantasy in all of the worst ways. This is what I imagine people who don’t enjoy Cormac McCarthy think McCarthy is like. Hyper violent, weirdly sexual and set in the American old west. But where McCarthy’s novels are saturated with deep theming and poetic nuance, Johnstone is dripping in vulgarity for its own sake.
I can count on one hand the amount of chapters in this book that don’t contain some form of graphic violence (whether that be mortal, or sexual in nature). This is Death Wish by way of John Ford, but without either the camp, or gravitas to really exemplify either extreme. Johnstone is familiar with the tropes of a western, the set up is very 1950s era b&w assembly line western media fare, but with a thick unappetizing layer of almost grindhouse-esque exploitation film gore. But within that framing, the novel is further hemmed in by an oddly specific kind of boomer conservative pearl clutching. The kind of media that doesn’t allow our ‘hero,’ to insult his enemies with anything worse than calling them ‘skunk-breath,’ right before decapitating them. It makes for a jarring juxtaposition, as our protagonist and his friends gleefully torture and mutilate their opponents, but god forbid they say anything that might offend the intended target audience.
There really is very little here to even analyze, Johnstone’s prose leaves almost nothing to the imagination, every character is exactly who you expect them to be from the jump. Across 300 pages, our lead, and the people who choose to orbit him, do not meaningfully learn or change. If this is meant to be part of a series, I fail to see why. There is no point to anything that happens. This is pulp fluff, meant to be read once, and never spoken of again.
2/10 - Truly worthless.
Vengeance of the Mountain man is a conservative power fantasy in all of the worst ways. This is what I imagine people who don’t enjoy Cormac McCarthy think McCarthy is like. Hyper violent, weirdly sexual and set in the American old west. But where McCarthy’s novels are saturated with deep theming and poetic nuance, Johnstone is dripping in vulgarity for its own sake.
I can count on one hand the amount of chapters in this book that don’t contain some form of graphic violence (whether that be mortal, or sexual in nature). This is Death Wish by way of John Ford, but without either the camp, or gravitas to really exemplify either extreme. Johnstone is familiar with the tropes of a western, the set up is very 1950s era b&w assembly line western media fare, but with a thick unappetizing layer of almost grindhouse-esque exploitation film gore. But within that framing, the novel is further hemmed in by an oddly specific kind of boomer conservative pearl clutching. The kind of media that doesn’t allow our ‘hero,’ to insult his enemies with anything worse than calling them ‘skunk-breath,’ right before decapitating them. It makes for a jarring juxtaposition, as our protagonist and his friends gleefully torture and mutilate their opponents, but god forbid they say anything that might offend the intended target audience.
There really is very little here to even analyze, Johnstone’s prose leaves almost nothing to the imagination, every character is exactly who you expect them to be from the jump. Across 300 pages, our lead, and the people who choose to orbit him, do not meaningfully learn or change. If this is meant to be part of a series, I fail to see why. There is no point to anything that happens. This is pulp fluff, meant to be read once, and never spoken of again.
2/10 - Truly worthless.
August 24, 2018
Despite reading the nineteenth book in the Mountain Man series, I was able to follow the narrative well. This is mainly because this is either the jump off for a new story arc or it reintroduces certain characters. The story unfortunately was quite drawn out with quite a bit of backstory about the lore of Smoke Jensen.
In this installment, Smoke Jensen is now in his thirties and married to Sally, his second wife when outlaws coming seeking revenge on behalf of Sundance Morgan. These two men met in an earlier novel and Smoke was "merciful" after he shot his friend in a gunfight but shot him from the back. But this will be a forgettable tale. Full of stereotypes of both Native Americans, mountain men and Mexican bandits, I was not impressed. For a book touted to be written by the 21st century greatest western writer, it was sadly lacking. It was too repetitive with no real plot. There is quite a bit of swearing as expected, but graphic violence. And it fails to convince about the tough period of early 1900s. And I’m sure denim jeans is not the standard wear at the time. Even though it would have been available. This seems to be the Hollywood version of the West. Not what I was expecting from such a well touted author.
In this installment, Smoke Jensen is now in his thirties and married to Sally, his second wife when outlaws coming seeking revenge on behalf of Sundance Morgan. These two men met in an earlier novel and Smoke was "merciful" after he shot his friend in a gunfight but shot him from the back. But this will be a forgettable tale. Full of stereotypes of both Native Americans, mountain men and Mexican bandits, I was not impressed. For a book touted to be written by the 21st century greatest western writer, it was sadly lacking. It was too repetitive with no real plot. There is quite a bit of swearing as expected, but graphic violence. And it fails to convince about the tough period of early 1900s. And I’m sure denim jeans is not the standard wear at the time. Even though it would have been available. This seems to be the Hollywood version of the West. Not what I was expecting from such a well touted author.
August 9, 2025
Loved this story around Smoke Jenson and how he is hounded by gun slicks that think they can beat him. This then couple with vengeance and the long memories of these guys. Very fun book. Enjoyed listening to it on a long road trip.
September 24, 2025
The storyline and characters were just as good as the others in the series, lots of action and the full cast narration is great. The book could have stood on it's own without being so coarse involving the women, it's typically there but not in this detail.
December 2, 2017
Just mediocre. Lots of violence and cut and paste from previous books and not a lot of originality. The books aren't as good as the older ones, imho.
January 30, 2018
This would get a very high rating except for the flashbacks of Smoke Jensen's
May 9, 2018
pulled me in and did not let go
July 28, 2019
Enjoy the 19th book of the smoke Jensen series.
November 17, 2019
Death rides a lonely horse.
Smoke Jensen really came through with a ruthless vengeance to wipe out the murderers and outlaws that take lives with no remorse.
Smoke Jensen really came through with a ruthless vengeance to wipe out the murderers and outlaws that take lives with no remorse.
November 23, 2019
This was a great read....It was a hard to put the done.....
October 4, 2020
Awesome read
Favorite Author always a lot of action great characters laugh and it always seems to come alive. It is a must fast read.
Favorite Author always a lot of action great characters laugh and it always seems to come alive. It is a must fast read.
September 25, 2022
It’s a good story. But, it’s padded with a lot of flashbacks from other books.
September 4, 2023
Vengeance of the Mountain Man
Boy, Smoke killed killers in just about every way.possible. Smoke was one vengeance laden SOB. A great but gory story but I'm ready for the next book.
Boy, Smoke killed killers in just about every way.possible. Smoke was one vengeance laden SOB. A great but gory story but I'm ready for the next book.
October 16, 2025
Usual cowboy fun——seems a little more unforgiving in this chapter!
February 3, 2026
What a great Western and page turner for sure. Smoke Jensen is such a badass! Makes we wish I was around to see that kind of frontier justice!
February 20, 2017
I never get tired of the characters in these stories. This one, however, is a bit more graphic and gruesome than others.
If you like westerns, these are pretty good books.
If you like westerns, these are pretty good books.
May 25, 2016
Vengeance Of The Mountain Man
This book by William W. Johnstone is one of his best books that I read by this author. It is a typical book in his western fashion in that it's full of western action.. With a lot of gunfighters. The book has a lot shootouts in the typical fashion. If you are fan of the Mountain Man or of Smoke Jensen then I recommend this book to you. It is a great western to read for any true western fan.
This book by William W. Johnstone is one of his best books that I read by this author. It is a typical book in his western fashion in that it's full of western action.. With a lot of gunfighters. The book has a lot shootouts in the typical fashion. If you are fan of the Mountain Man or of Smoke Jensen then I recommend this book to you. It is a great western to read for any true western fan.
June 7, 2013
More graphic than many of his others.
February 9, 2016
Very good western series. The story of Smoke Jensen, trained by the last of the mountain men as a boy. If you like men's adventure and westerns then you will enjoy the series. Recommended
April 5, 2016
Great as always
The Johnston's did it again a really great book lots of action. Smoke as usual fighting evil. I really love the books on Smoke.
The Johnston's did it again a really great book lots of action. Smoke as usual fighting evil. I really love the books on Smoke.
September 18, 2016
Lost credibility by mentioning jeans and denim jeans too much. Also, as usual for this author/publisher, the Spanish was atrocious.
January 23, 2017
Good!
Another great tale by the Master! I simply love these Westerns. Always, in the end evil will not triumph, never!
Another great tale by the Master! I simply love these Westerns. Always, in the end evil will not triumph, never!
March 24, 2015
Good read. New bits of Smoke's Biography are revealed.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews