Ghost Valley

The Last Gunfighter #3

by William W. Johnstone

THE GREATEST WESTERN WRITERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
 
New York Times bestselling author William W. Johnstone continues his masterful storytelling with The Last Gunfighter—a boldly authentic series about lawmen, outlaws, and the innocents caught in between.
 
The Valley of the Shadow
 
Outlaws have taken Frank Logan’s son, and with all the good gunfighting men either dead or dying, Logan knows he’ll be riding after the kidnappers alone. But just as he gets close to the men he’s hunting, he comes upon a ghost town nestled into a Rocky Mountain valley. For Logan, the mystery of what happened to the town—and of a deadly spirit that haunts it—has to take second fiddle to what’s brought him this far. Determined to free his son, he’ll lure his enemies to this godforsaken place, where amidst the ghosts, the gunfighters, and the gunsmoke, he’ll make sure the killing is real.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2001

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

[Malum · Rating 4 out of 5]

My new guilty pleasure continues with volume 3 and, after three volumes, I think I know why I like this series so much: with simple plots and very high (and graphic) body counts, it is every bit in the pulp tradition that I am a huge fan of.

I actually almost took points off of this one because Johnstone basically just rehashes the last volume: Frank's son is kidnapped and Frank, with the help of a mountain man he happens upon (a different mountain man this time) go to rescue him. He even has a copy of the scene where a guy stumbles, wounded, out of an outhouse and accidentally shoots himself while his friends laugh at him thinking he is drunk.

But, when Indian ghosts come around and start fucking people up, it had won its fourth star back.

[Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basically, this book is 50% flashbacks to previous books in the series. The rest is about how the gunfighter is going to kill anyone who has ever done anything that disagrees with his personal outlook on what is right and wrong and how he is going to make their deaths as painful as possible. If we were to agree with that philosophy then the author should be wearing a bulletproof vest. I have totally deleted this book from my Kindle. It is among the very worst of books that I have ever attempted to read. Absolutely the worst western novel I have ever read. Johnstone must think his readers are a bunch of illiterates or that the main character in the book is an idiot. No more wasting time on William W Johnstone books for me. I seriously think all positive reviews of this book must have been made by Johnstone and his close friends.

[Tom Sampson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Half of this book is a recap of the last book. Might as well of read the last book twice.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Johnstone's The Last Gunfighter series for several years, but initially read several of the books out of order, so a while back I decided to read through the series in order. I started at the beginning with The Drifter, then went to Reprisal, and just this week finished book three, Ghost Valley.

I've always liked Johnstone's writing style—short and sweet and to the point, much like another great writer of Westerns, Louis L'Amour—and I've always had a fondness for the Last Gunfighter himself, Frank Morgan. Johnstone and Morgan are true to form in Ghost Valley, but I do have one gripe with this book. This story is a continuation of one that begins in The Drifter and continues in Reprisal, but unlike any other book in this series (at least, among those I've read), this one involves flashbacks, a LOT of them—in this case to things that happened in the first two books—and I find that to be unnecessary and irritating. This is a short book, and it seems to me that either Johnstone or his editors (or both) could've made these first three books into two, but wanted to stretch it into three, and decided that flashbacks would be a great tool in accomplishing that.

It was a bad idea. The flashbacks interrupt the current portion of the story, bog down the book, and serve no good or necessary purpose. I'm hoping that none of the other books in the series use this ... technique.

Other than that, however, I enjoyed the book, and recommend this one, as well as the series.

[Brian Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy reading these Frank Morgan - Last Gunfighter novels. After finishing Reprisal (book 2 of the series) I rolled right into Ghost Valley (book 3). This one was a little disappointing because it not only followed the same storyline as Reprisal; but actually had about 50 pages of Reprisal’s story...verbatim...as Frank reflexed of the similar circumstances. It made the book rather familiar.

If you read Reprisal before Ghost Valley, you’ll be able to skip about a quarter of the pages in this book - unless you enjoy re-reading books.

[Alan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Have enjoyed this series up until this book and while the story was interesting, the numerous and, in my opinion, unnecessary, flashbacks appear to be copied verbatim from the second book. I was just sort of skipping over them but then when I got to the last gun fight and it appeared to be copied word for word from earlier in the book with only the names being changed, I almost stopped reading. Most disappointing!

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

What on earth was going on when this volume was coming out? I see that three Gunfighter novels were published one after the other inside a year. Was this one tossed to one of the ghost writers with a quick outline to wrap the story arc and the writer found they couldn't make the @250 page range? So many pages from the 2nd entry fluffed out the page count. The worse problem with all of this is republishing the second novel that contradicts the first novel.

One thing certain, each of the three novels were written by different writers. This being the lesser of the three. In this one Frank Morgan is entirely written differently and sounds more a 20 year old cowboy than a 40-something stated in the two other entries. Something else different is son Conrad, who, in this one has shed his hoidy-toidy speech pattern and now sounds like a regular Joe.

The sad part is that the plot to finish the three part series is very intriguing. It's strays into science fiction and, thus, is more a flimsy plot devise as the apparitions are never used beyond lessening the bad guys to a quicker ending. This ghost story technique is used in other Johnstone Clan novels to better effect.

Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 3 out of ten points.

[Smokin_Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've always loved a good western novel but this one left me completely underwhelmed. This is third in the series of Frank Morgan and am debating whether to carry on with the series or not. This was an extremely lazily written book. I had just completed Reprisal the second book in the series and went straight to the next. I should have just skipped this one altogether as almost half of the book was literally cut and pasted from the previous one. I mean seriously word for word copies of entire chapters from Reprisal. Not only that but the situations created were nearly identical. A man gets shot through a cabin window in the in the eye and his brains left on the potbelly stove and exactly same remarks from someone else in the room. If you havent read the previous books i guess it might pass as a standalone, if you can get past the exact same backstory information that is recited verbatim in everyone one of the gunslinger books.

I would not recommend bothering with this book in any way.

[rick incremona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been a minute since i read a whole book in 1 day. At times i think I did it out of spite. I had a lot of mixed feelings in this one. Tin Pan had different last names depending on when he was being written about. The town they occupied in Reprisal was Durango. Then in this book it was Trinidad. Then at the end of the book they were going back to....yep Durango. There were a couple of kills that were carbon copies of what had happened in the last book (the bowie kill and cutting of the throat scene and the stabbing whilst urinating). Also there were several flashback scenes that I truly feel were just filler and not neccessary to helping guide the story. We never hear about what happened to Jeff either. But hey at least in the end Conrad is ready to listen to Frank. I will keep reading this series because i bought several of them in advance based on how good Drifter was. I hope that the editing and proof reading is much better in those!

[Truitti · Rating 3 out of 5]

24-44. Very disappointed in this particular novel. If you read Reprisal, book 2, then you have read about 50% of Ghost Valley. The characters remember incidents that lead up to the present conflict. The book is interspersed with huge amounts of text from the previous book. It sometimes appears as a cut and paste. Very sad. I will read the next in the series with the hope that this particular writing style has not continued. I borrowed this e-book from the Sacramento Public Library through the Libby app.

[E. Franmklin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not his best

There was plenty of action and plenty of ghostly Indians. Same old outlaws kidnapping Morgan's son, again. Too much excerpts from his previous books. Way too much. It broke up the current story. I expected much more from one of my favorite authors. As an author myself, it appears Johnstone took the lazy, easy way out. I Hope he gets back on tract with a new storyline and not another tired plot in a different locale. Sadly disappointing.

[Eric Mayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was too similar to the last one. Everything to the kidnapping of Frank’s son to Frank meeting a mountain man to help him once again. For the most part I felt like I was rereading book two. There were several long flashbacks to book two showing the similarities of the stories. This book ended with ghost Indians killing Ned Pine and Ned Pine killed Vic Vanbergen.

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Johnstone wrote it you know that it is an exciting, action-filled read with colorful, well developed characters. He combines a believable story line with a lot of actionn and color all guaranteeing the reader an enjoyable read! Never have read a boring or poorly written Johnstone book..!!!

[Roger · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel cheated as this book is just a repeat of the previous book. It is really bad, because book 2 was on Kindle Unlimited and I paid to get Book 3, because i enjoyed Book 2 so much. I have really enjoyed the Authors books and was very disappointed this lazy reprint of the previous book.

[Bill Shupe]

This book is poorly written. It is a cut and paste job from the second novel entitled: REPRISAL. If it is an attempt to establish flashbacks, it is disjointed. It really doesn't make sense. The book: REPRISAL is hard to follow.

[jim stambaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jim

This book was a let down to a point...the ending was good but half the book was book 2...I felt i was reading most of book 2 all over again...I don't believe going back to the previous book that much is a good motivator to keep reading

[larry brashear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really Great!

This is another fabulous story from the Master Western writer! The mysterious Indians of the mountain valley is a pleasant touch.

[Jeff Benham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of this book is a rehash of book #2, but still a good read.

[Mark Vitale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy William Johnstone, I thought he cheated us in this book. If you read Gunfighter book two, the flash backs and dreams were redundant and annoying.

[Grant · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read Reprisal and I enjoyed it, but I didn’t want to pay to read it again. If you’ve read Reprisal, do not read this. It is the same book. If you haven’t, you’ll probably enjoy this.

[Linda Gavan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ashamed

I am ashamed of this writer..this whole book was a repeat of his last book interspersed with a short story..a lazy writter

[Jerry L. Doan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Copy and Paste

Book 3 is a 50% repeat of book 2 in this series. A large portion of book 2 was copied a pasted in this book.

[Cody Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a good short book, but just the same as the 3rd book, just a different location and the same characters with different names.

[Donna McCarthy]

Read better,read worse

[Charles Averill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rip off

Half the book is a repeat of his previous book. Seems like he was desperate to meet a deadline . disappointed

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[C K Kanemitsu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Redundant

Too much of the previous book. Story is good in spite of that. Would have made a great short story.

[Barbara Lee Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

KILL THEM ALL

This story starts as "REPAISAL"makes you wonder if you made a mistake and your rereading it again. I guess it's to give us background leading up to why Frank Morgan was looking for the gang leaders Ned Pines and Victor Vanbergen, who not only murdered his wife Vivian and now they've kidnapped his only son Conrad again. These gang leaders are unstoppable, they WANT Frank Morgan DEAD and don't care how or WHERE it happens. Well Ghost Valley is THE END OF THE BEGINNING of Ned Pines and Victor Vanbergen. Frank again is out to rescue his son again from those killers who have kidnapped him again and this time the kidnappers sliced the top of his ear off..These bottom feeders are horrific no concern for mankind, makes you wonder how long will they live on this earth, because they didn't add or bring anything but chaos to the west. Well read it if you want, it's interesting but it would hold your attention if it wasn't a repeat of " REPRISAL" but I still enjoyed the adventure..just skipped the duplication

[Pepper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out for vengeance against his son's kidnappers, Frank Morgan finds his was to Ghost Valley, a secluded valley high above Glennwood Springs. Now the excitement begins as Frank works to rescue his son who has been kidnapped again by the same vile men.

Ghost Valley was home to the Old Ones, ghost Indians who are whispered in town to still be roaming the area. These ghost Indians are one of the reasons I enjoyed reading this novel. Are they real or just hallucinations from the corn whiskey? You have to read on to find out.

Sadly, Frank's ride for vengeance was not as exhilerating or captivating as it had the potential to be. All too often the book flashed back to scenes from the previous book which chopped up the storyline into ragged pieces.

[Tori · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many flashbacks I might have been lost had I not been reading them in order. But I didn't buy this one to retread huge portions of the one that I just read.....I still like the story and hey, the flashbacks made some sense, they were just too long.