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Flintlock #5
Hell's Gate
THE GREATEST WESTERN WRITERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
Raised in the wild. Armed to the teeth. Sam Flintlock is no ordinary bounty hunter. But sometimes even a man who sets traps for a living can step right into one. Sometimes the hunter becomes the hunted—in the ultimate kill-or-be-killed showdown from bestselling authors William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone . . .
ONE WEEK IN HELL
After crossing the dry Arizona desert—and missing six meals in a row—Sam Flintlock is flat-out desperate. For food. For work. For lodgings. Luckily he finds all three in the high timber country east of the Mogollon River. A very young and pretty heiress, Lucy Cullen, has an unusual proposition for the bounty hunter. She will pay him cold, hard cash to spend one full week in the gothic mansion of her murdered uncle. What’s the catch? The place is haunted . . .
Flintlock ain’t afraid of the dead. It’s the living he’s more worried about—namely Hogan Forde, the murderous Texas gunslinger who just happens to be skulking around town. Toss in a few unfriendly locals and a missing treasure map, and you’ve got all the makings of a pretty terrifying campfire story. The difference is, these restless spirits are very much among the living, and they’ve got Flintlock slated for his own afterlife . . .
Raised in the wild. Armed to the teeth. Sam Flintlock is no ordinary bounty hunter. But sometimes even a man who sets traps for a living can step right into one. Sometimes the hunter becomes the hunted—in the ultimate kill-or-be-killed showdown from bestselling authors William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone . . .
ONE WEEK IN HELL
After crossing the dry Arizona desert—and missing six meals in a row—Sam Flintlock is flat-out desperate. For food. For work. For lodgings. Luckily he finds all three in the high timber country east of the Mogollon River. A very young and pretty heiress, Lucy Cullen, has an unusual proposition for the bounty hunter. She will pay him cold, hard cash to spend one full week in the gothic mansion of her murdered uncle. What’s the catch? The place is haunted . . .
Flintlock ain’t afraid of the dead. It’s the living he’s more worried about—namely Hogan Forde, the murderous Texas gunslinger who just happens to be skulking around town. Toss in a few unfriendly locals and a missing treasure map, and you’ve got all the makings of a pretty terrifying campfire story. The difference is, these restless spirits are very much among the living, and they’ve got Flintlock slated for his own afterlife . . .
- GenresWesterns
299 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 29, 2017
102 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
William W. Johnstone
1,034 books1,392 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 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 16, 2020
Written in 2017, upon the death of W. Johnstone, by his estate.
Sam Flintlock, the bounty hunter, and O'Hara, the half-breed, (half Irish & half Apache) are looking for Flintlock's 'Ma'. They chance upon a town called Mansion Creek, somewhere in the Arizona desert. In the first eight pages, an old man gets murdered. Flintlock is only a little rueful, having killed sixty men himself, allegedly. Then the fun begins.
O'Hara and Lucy Cullen have premonitions, and Barnabas, Flintlock's grandfather, a ghost, shows up smelling of fire & brimstone & gives outrageous advice to Flintlock. There are cannibals, and a treasure map. Maybe. Every few pages or so, someone gets murdered. There is a large cast of characters, but I didn't have much trouble keeping them all straight. Japtha Spunner, an albino, shows up in the nick of time, (without his flying machine) but he gets killed. Lucy's boyfriend (a poet with one eye and a patch over the other) gets killed. It's OK, nearly everyone gets killed, except for Walt Whitman (in his wheelchair) & Rory O'Neill, his bodyguard. You heard me right. Mr. Whitman stays with Lucy in the Mansion for a week or so. There are another six or seven (or ten) shootings, some in the saloon, some in the stables, some outdoors, a couple people are tossed over the craggy peaks by the Mansion. (Were any people left in the town?) Finally, Slim Hart becomes the lawman, of however many people were left; he didn't get killed -- yet . . . The banker is one of the last to die, his long-suffering wife, Estelle, Tobias, the gunman, most of the cannibal people . . . Like I said, when Flintlock & O'Hara left, to my count, the town had a population of probably five -- ha ha! I did find it a little strange, that suddenly, with no foreshadowing, in one chapter or so, Lucy, the Mansion, and the treasure map were truly gone . . .
There are nice descriptions that counteract the unnecessary murders.
"[The Indian] had combed out his hair so that it hung loosely over his shoulders and, a thing he seldom did, he wore the red headband off his mother's tribe. As a concession to the rain, he wore a slicker, but it was unbuttoned so as not to impede his draw. O'Hara's expression was grim and Flintlock realized he he took the present danger seriously, and he did not for one moment doubt him. Apache warriors had the senses of a bronco wolf, the reason a frontiersman hiding from a war party never looked directly at them, not if he wanted to live. An Apache could sense eyes on him like a white man feels the heat of the summer sun on his neck."
"Under a sky that had lost its brightness they crossed the mesa to the crag. The house was silhouetted in the afternoon light, and ominous, towering black shape that looked more hunchback vulture than eagle. As [they] walked closer the white windows revealed no lamp glow but stared at them blankly, like old eyes with cataracts."
. . . " a night that hissed and roared like an angry dragon."
Worth a couple of days' reading. To my mind could have been named Murders at Mansion Creek, AZ.
Sam Flintlock, the bounty hunter, and O'Hara, the half-breed, (half Irish & half Apache) are looking for Flintlock's 'Ma'. They chance upon a town called Mansion Creek, somewhere in the Arizona desert. In the first eight pages, an old man gets murdered. Flintlock is only a little rueful, having killed sixty men himself, allegedly. Then the fun begins.
O'Hara and Lucy Cullen have premonitions, and Barnabas, Flintlock's grandfather, a ghost, shows up smelling of fire & brimstone & gives outrageous advice to Flintlock. There are cannibals, and a treasure map. Maybe. Every few pages or so, someone gets murdered. There is a large cast of characters, but I didn't have much trouble keeping them all straight. Japtha Spunner, an albino, shows up in the nick of time, (without his flying machine) but he gets killed. Lucy's boyfriend (a poet with one eye and a patch over the other) gets killed. It's OK, nearly everyone gets killed, except for Walt Whitman (in his wheelchair) & Rory O'Neill, his bodyguard. You heard me right. Mr. Whitman stays with Lucy in the Mansion for a week or so. There are another six or seven (or ten) shootings, some in the saloon, some in the stables, some outdoors, a couple people are tossed over the craggy peaks by the Mansion. (Were any people left in the town?) Finally, Slim Hart becomes the lawman, of however many people were left; he didn't get killed -- yet . . . The banker is one of the last to die, his long-suffering wife, Estelle, Tobias, the gunman, most of the cannibal people . . . Like I said, when Flintlock & O'Hara left, to my count, the town had a population of probably five -- ha ha! I did find it a little strange, that suddenly, with no foreshadowing, in one chapter or so, Lucy, the Mansion, and the treasure map were truly gone . . .
There are nice descriptions that counteract the unnecessary murders.
"[The Indian] had combed out his hair so that it hung loosely over his shoulders and, a thing he seldom did, he wore the red headband off his mother's tribe. As a concession to the rain, he wore a slicker, but it was unbuttoned so as not to impede his draw. O'Hara's expression was grim and Flintlock realized he he took the present danger seriously, and he did not for one moment doubt him. Apache warriors had the senses of a bronco wolf, the reason a frontiersman hiding from a war party never looked directly at them, not if he wanted to live. An Apache could sense eyes on him like a white man feels the heat of the summer sun on his neck."
"Under a sky that had lost its brightness they crossed the mesa to the crag. The house was silhouetted in the afternoon light, and ominous, towering black shape that looked more hunchback vulture than eagle. As [they] walked closer the white windows revealed no lamp glow but stared at them blankly, like old eyes with cataracts."
. . . " a night that hissed and roared like an angry dragon."
Worth a couple of days' reading. To my mind could have been named Murders at Mansion Creek, AZ.
June 24, 2022
Sam Flintlock and his partner 'O' Hara take on a weird job of showing the beautiful Luch Cullen the mansion that she and her husband-to-be are to move into is not haunted. Lucy decides she is going to stay in the house with them and her corrupt banker will supply the supplies the trio needs for the week.
The story plays out that the house is not full of ghosts or demons there are a few bad guys and a cult-like group whose biggest food source is other humans. Same and 'O' Hara is helped by a shootist who is trying to lead a different life.
Without giving much away I will say this. There is a major change in Lucy and there is a lot of death with some of them being very unexpected.
Overall I think you will like this one a lot.
The story plays out that the house is not full of ghosts or demons there are a few bad guys and a cult-like group whose biggest food source is other humans. Same and 'O' Hara is helped by a shootist who is trying to lead a different life.
Without giving much away I will say this. There is a major change in Lucy and there is a lot of death with some of them being very unexpected.
Overall I think you will like this one a lot.
November 20, 2020
Flintolock just gets better, and this was the best of all. Lots of believable, exciting action. Still with a bit of steam, but with an examp!e of its problems if it is misused. How refreshing to have a hero figure that does not have to be seven feet tall, the fastest encountered in the world or irresistable to all women. It gives us here mortals hope. Above all, the whole thing is so well written. Great literature that doesn't make you ashamed of reading Westerns.
September 7, 2022
This series is super weird. I didn't like that GA had to switch Barnabus's voice. Always disappointment when that happens. I do like that this one had a different story and that it was very buddy buddy with O'Hara and Flintlock. Great duo!
November 27, 2020
Not overly impressed with this book. Glad I got it from the library over buying it.
August 8, 2024
Straightforward fun little read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews