Forty Guns West

The First Mountain Man #4

by William W. Johnstone

Preacher is a wanted man in this straight-shooting Western adventure from the New York Times and USA Todaybestselling author of Absaroka Ambush.  A Friendly Place . . . During a trip back east for a family reunion, Preacher learns that even the civilized Midwest can attract a motherlode of trouble . . . especially when a gang of local bully boys decides to pick a fight. Now, wealthy landowner Elam Parks lies dead—and there’s a $5,000 reward on the head of the man the first mountain man.. . . To Die The fortune in blood money has dispatched a small army of bounty hunters after Preacher. Now, back in his once-peaceful homestead in the High Lonesome, as he sights down the barrel of his ’33 Hall North breechloader, Preacher is ready for target practice. And he can’t think of a more scenic place to pick off the bloodthirsty manhunters, one by one . . .  Praise for the novels of William W. Johnstone   “[A] rousing, two-fisted saga of the growing American frontier.”—Publishers Weekly on Eyes of Eagles   “There’s plenty of gunplay and fast-paced action as this old-time hero proves again that a steady eye and quick reflexes are the keys to survival on the Western frontier.”—Curled Up with a Good Book on Dead Before Sundown

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Audiobook, Novels

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 1997

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

[Bill Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pursued by an army of bounty hunters Preacher heads to the mountains he calls hime. Content to lose the man hunters in the High Lonesome Preacher plays games and pranks until they kill a small boy he has vowed to protect, a group of innocent Indians and a band of mountain men he called friends, now nothing in the world can protect them from Preacher’s vengeance. A game of cat and mouse plays out over the mountain range which is slowly being painted red with the scoundrels’ blood.

[Chad James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bookish Books Reading Challenge & #LibraryLoveChallenge

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. Good read.

Best "western" I've ever read.
Guy's name is Preacher, but he's like Reacher in Lee Child's books. yum!

*** Well, oops: big boo-boo:
Someone doesn't know this word:
Page 86: " . . . listening to them babble. They praddled on and on about the most . . . "

Uh, that's PRATTLED.

[Jeff Benham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! Maybe as close to Louis L'Amour as I have read. Preacher is a mountain man who goes back to visit his folks in Ohio. While there, he is forced to kill an "important" person who was abusing a sickly 7 year old boy. Fair or not, a warrant is out for his arrest and he takes the boy and heads back to the Rockies. A couple of large groups, spurred by a huge reward, are determined to kill him. But they do not know the mountains like he does. If you like seeing the bad guys get their comeuppance, you get that in spades in this book! It is like watching the Keystone Cops as they stumble around. This is my first read by this author and it is #4 in the series, so I will definitely be reading more.

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the third book in the Preacher series I've read and was mighty disappointed. Unlike the last Preacher book I read, the characters are extremely well defined. Not just defined in one place, but defined all throughout the book. That is what also makes this book odd. It's Preacher who seems to be having an identity crisis.

In this book Preacher seems inwardly conflicted as to what actions to take and how he should take them. The book starts with him leaving his family after a visit. Something happens that has him chased by a large group of men. Along the way he discards what caused the chase to begin with. Then things start getting very strange. Preacher keeps saying he's had it with those chasing him and will kill them off. Then he doesn't. Then he says he'll kill them again and then doesn't again. This goes on and on.

The men chasing are written as buffoons. That is, until they divert their attention to something other than Preacher and are suddenly brilliant strategists and are successful in their missions. Twice. Then they go back to being buffoons.

What I think is really going on here is that the writers(s) were asked to expand the book in length and padded the hell out of it. Which is really too bad. Otherwise, the book has such greater characterizations and narrative descriptions. The obvious needless addition of so many pages takes away from it all as I just wanted to get to the end.

This book should have been one hundred pages shorter. Though I write this of practically every other contemporary book I read, I believe this is the first Johnstone Clan book I've thought should be so edited.

Bottom line: I don't recommend this book.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

a bit exaggerated, but very entertaining

[Nicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rtc

[David VanHoogstrate · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read

A great read by my favorite author William W Johnstone, The greatest western fiction writer I have ever read, Awesome!

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series just keeps on getting better and better. Preacher is a kind soul but get him riled up and your in for some trouble. Read is book to see the amusing ways Preacher finds to get rid of headhunters who are after him for a murder that was not a murder but a fair fight. "Vengeance is mine" says the Lord and also Preacher.

[Melani · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried, I really did. But the terrible writing, the flat characters, the rather dated feel - just no. I can't even really rate it because I didn't get very far into the novel. Let this be a lesson, don't by cheap books just because they're cheap.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart warming, action packed.....a must read.

[Garth Mailman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The First Mountain Man #4
Forty Guns West
William W. Johnstone, J. Rodney Turner (Narrator)

Another audiobook, not the dramatized version I borrowed for volume 3. The narrator has either grown on me or his style has improved with experience.

After a high noon style shootout on the streets of his home town when Arthur rescues a 10-year-old abused orphan Preacher blows town, the lad in tow on a pink pony, with an unofficial bounty on his head. The forty guns of the title are the bounty hunters on his trail.

The best part of this long tale of gunfire and death is the companionship shared by Eddie and Preacher. The tragedy here is the fact the boy suffers from terminal TB. [When I first joined the Post Office a mobile X-ray unit still showed up in our parking lot to test for the disease the bacillus still showing up in the mail.]

Having been treated as a slave back home riding with Preacher was an adventure that fulfilled every young boy’s dreams and being adopted by an Indian Chief a fairy tale come true.

The outcome is not for the squeamish.

[Sharon Lofton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Over or Underkill

Too many chapters, too many chances, too much rethinking by Preacher. Is he getting soft? I was a little disappointed by how many times this could have been ended, (and how badly I wanted it ended). Preacher has a bounty on his head and is being hunted by spoiled royals and bounty hunters. Neither group cares who gets hurt in the meantime because it’s all a good time to rape and murder others while they search for their quarry. Meanwhile Preacher shoots buttocks and legs while he decides if they need to die. He has adopted a small boy named Edde, who was being abused, and leaves him with an Indian family for a little while. Even after they murder this child and rape and murder the whole tribe for fun, he still has to ponder their demise. I didn’t like this book.

[Gerald Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Preacher, the character William Johnstone has created for his First Mountain Man series. Preacher is all the things one would suspect of a frontiersman who could survive in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains in the nineteenth century -- honest, intelligent, cunning and violet when threatened. In “Forty Guns West,” Preacher rescues a young boy held in bondage and takes him west with him to the mountains. He arrives in his frontier home only to learn a bounty has been placed on his head and scores of man-hunters are trailing him. The action is hot and heavy as Preacher, outwits and outfights all who cross his path. This is western writing at is best.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Forty Guns West” is a good western. The main character, Preacher, who definitely is not a preacher, is a great character. I read one review of this book and they compared him to Jack Reacher, only Preacher is a mountain man. In this book Preacher has to take a powerful man’s life in Ohio and a hefty bounty was put on his head so Preacher headed west to the mountains. Several men followed Preacher west with the idea of collecting the bounty. All these manhunters soon were wondering if they were hunting Preacher or if he was hunting them.

[Stan Shelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read the first four - but no more. All the stories are pretty much the same. The only difficulties the mountain men face is bad guys. Usually white, but sometimes Indian. Where are the problems with grizzly bears, rattle snakes, wolves, mountain lions, wide rivers, thin ice, etc. The author seems very knowledgeable about Native Americans, the Western mountains, and history. But he is a poor writer. Tons of cliches. And some expressions appear over and over and over. How about some literary variety?

[David Burnworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Preacher ends his visit with his parents after killing a man in self-defense who was mistreating a young boy who was very ill. Preacher takes the lad with him back to the mountains. From there the twist and turns are wild, with [teacher being hunted by a bunch of skunks calling themselves bounty hunters. In truth, they are leading a group of rich foreigners on a hunt for Preacher. The group learns the hard way not to corner the mountain man and they find out what the price is for killing some peaceful Indians,

[Ann Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Preacher recuses a little ten year old boy named Eddie from the town tyrant

After twenty two years has gone home to visit his father and mother one last time. He has to leave because every bully around wants to fight him or kill him. Going for one last drink before leaving he recuses Eddie an abused ten year old boy. This book brings tears of laughter and also tears of sadness. Excellent story

[E. Franmklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much Adventure

A good read. Preacher is a self-made man as he rides the high lonesome. Friend to many Indian tribes, enemy to some, respected by all. He lives by his own code and takes no guff from anyone; man or woman. Ride the mountains and plains with a man to ride the river with.Enjoy your read.

[Holly Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third installment in the "Preacher" series and the more I read the more I like them. Mr. Johnstone is a superb storyteller and these books make you wonder if "Preacher" is based on a real man or several real men. book 5 is called Cheyenne Challenge and I can't wait to begin reading it :)

[Carol Buchanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good book

I have always admired the stories about the Rocky Mountains, and the mountain men that survived the wilderness, these books send me back into the mountains to watch and listen, and these stories are always exciting and very entertaining.
I admire the author that is able to tell these tales of the mountain men.
Thank you Mr. Johnstone for another very good book.

[Kevin Key · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Johnstone masterpiece ! Preacher takes on about 80 bad guys and over time, takes out 60. He meets up with missionaries. And the Indians help him. A whole lot of violence. Good always wins out.

[G. Mikhail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good against evil

A captivating story that exposes the nature of evil men, being bad man hunters or those from the so called rich nobility. It illustrates how a one righteous man can overcome and defeat evil men

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite of the Preacher series. Just a bit too repetitive for me. I love Preacher’s wit, humor, and character, but the plot suffered in this one. Hide, shoot some bad guys, hide, shoot some more bad guys, hide, etc.

[Dawn L Yohannan · Rating 5 out of 5]

You’ll love these books!

You’ll love these books!
I can’t get enough of them! Preacher is better than anyone you could ever dream up of to be in the mountains. Read them! You won’t regret it.

[Ron]

A good series about the American West from the viewpoint of a mountain man who lives by his own code of justice and respect for others who are good people. With not much respect for those who are not.

[Jacob Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

Reading these books almost puts you there as witness of great events of amazing characters I was wrapped in to the events and descriptions

[David Sylvester · Rating 4 out of 5]

This whole series is fantastic!

[Mark Vitale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Preacher got madder when they killed his horse than when they killed and scalped his ten year old friend.

[Terry Mcmullen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed.