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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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