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The Last Mountain Man #24
Guns of the Mountain Man
A cattle thief has crossed Smoke Jensen—and he's about to get stampeded—in this fast-paced Western in the New York Times bestselling series.Do unto others—before they do unto you . . .With a brace of Colt .44s, a deadly aim, and a bullet-shredded Bible, Lazarus Cain has already made a name for himself in Texas. Bent on pilfering a herd of cattle and a team of horses, Cain makes a big mistake when he crosses Smoke Jensen, because Smoke's going to blow Cain back to his maker. But not before he gives him a flaming taste of hell—Mountain Man style . . .
273 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 1999
209 people are currently reading
234 people want to read
About the author
William W. Johnstone
1,055 books1,396 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 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 8, 2018
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley to read and review.
GUNS OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN by William W. Johnstone (previous portions by the original author , J.A. Johnstone is the nephew of the late William W. continuing the series) is the 24th book in “The Last Mountain Man”series, and the opening scene involves Cal, a young ranch hand for “Smoke” Jensen who comes upon a group of twenty men apparently stealing cattle, and braces impossible odds in trying to stop them, thus ending up with life threatening injuries after standing up to the intruders, and he doesn’t go out without a fight after shooting two of the outlaws.
Lazarus Cain is the leader of the gang, and has a twisted take on the Bible that he interprets as it suits him (much like Jeff Daniels as Frank Griffin in “Godless”), and is considered crazy by both those with him and against him, and has plans to kill Smoke to be able to take gold off of his land.
Smoke is joined by several friends from the past, and chapters of previous books are used throughout this one as past scenes are reminisced that form a framework to describe the men involved in coming to the aid of the legendary gunfighter, and pretty much make up an all-star cast of gunfighters.
Will Cal survive his wounds and recover, and will Smoke and his friends successfully defend his ranch against the intruders?
Admittedly, this was probably the wrong book for me to read first in this series since it is largely made up of sections of previous books, and although I understand introducing each character by doing so, it comes off a bit like mailing it in, also making it difficult to follow and breaking up any flow to the story.
One thing I noticed that bugged me, and I’ve noticed of late in both novels and movies; is the unrealistic effect of gunshots, understandably not everyone is knowledgeable on this subject, but it makes the action less than realistic for those who do, things like shotgun blasts knocking someone through building walls (or taking a roof off of a building), black powder cast bullet rifle and pistol loads taking someone’s head clean off or knocking them back ten feet, or whatever. I used to laugh about it in favorite spaghetti westerns, but became tired of it around the time the movie “Open Range” came about (how many shots did Kevin Costner’s single action revolver hold anyways?) with some of this present.
OK, I’ll get off my soap box and try to rate this book, and I think it makes rates, barely…
3 stars.
GUNS OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN by William W. Johnstone (previous portions by the original author , J.A. Johnstone is the nephew of the late William W. continuing the series) is the 24th book in “The Last Mountain Man”series, and the opening scene involves Cal, a young ranch hand for “Smoke” Jensen who comes upon a group of twenty men apparently stealing cattle, and braces impossible odds in trying to stop them, thus ending up with life threatening injuries after standing up to the intruders, and he doesn’t go out without a fight after shooting two of the outlaws.
Lazarus Cain is the leader of the gang, and has a twisted take on the Bible that he interprets as it suits him (much like Jeff Daniels as Frank Griffin in “Godless”), and is considered crazy by both those with him and against him, and has plans to kill Smoke to be able to take gold off of his land.
Smoke is joined by several friends from the past, and chapters of previous books are used throughout this one as past scenes are reminisced that form a framework to describe the men involved in coming to the aid of the legendary gunfighter, and pretty much make up an all-star cast of gunfighters.
Will Cal survive his wounds and recover, and will Smoke and his friends successfully defend his ranch against the intruders?
Admittedly, this was probably the wrong book for me to read first in this series since it is largely made up of sections of previous books, and although I understand introducing each character by doing so, it comes off a bit like mailing it in, also making it difficult to follow and breaking up any flow to the story.
One thing I noticed that bugged me, and I’ve noticed of late in both novels and movies; is the unrealistic effect of gunshots, understandably not everyone is knowledgeable on this subject, but it makes the action less than realistic for those who do, things like shotgun blasts knocking someone through building walls (or taking a roof off of a building), black powder cast bullet rifle and pistol loads taking someone’s head clean off or knocking them back ten feet, or whatever. I used to laugh about it in favorite spaghetti westerns, but became tired of it around the time the movie “Open Range” came about (how many shots did Kevin Costner’s single action revolver hold anyways?) with some of this present.
OK, I’ll get off my soap box and try to rate this book, and I think it makes rates, barely…
3 stars.
February 7, 2019
Title: Guns Of the Mountain Man
Series : last Of the Mountain Man #24
Author : William W. Johnstone
Netgalley
book synopsis
With a brace of Colt .44s, a deadly aim, and a bullet-shredded Bible, despicable desperado Lazarus Cain has already made a name for himself in Texas. But he makes his first mistake when he crosses a Colorado ranch in the highland meadows known as Sugarloaf. His second mistake? Crossing the rancher, Smoke Jensen. With a pair of burning six-guns and a deadly gift for using them, Smoke is about to blow Cain back to his maker. But not before he gives him a flaming taste of Hell -- Mountain Man style
my thoughts
Would I recommend this series : yes
Will I be reading more by this author: yes
I can see why some people didn't like this book because it does have flashbacks" to his other books in the series ,but for me i actually liked it because they just made me want to read more of this series, love how Smoke's friends came to his add even when he didn't want to ask them or even know they was coming, how close the characters where and are like a family. Also the flashbacks help to make the characters more real at least to me , and the bad guy was even a bit creepy which was a other thing I liked about the book .With that said I want to thank Netgalley and Kensington Books for letting me once again read and review one of William W. Johnstone's books exchange for my honest opinion
Series : last Of the Mountain Man #24
Author : William W. Johnstone
Netgalley
book synopsis
With a brace of Colt .44s, a deadly aim, and a bullet-shredded Bible, despicable desperado Lazarus Cain has already made a name for himself in Texas. But he makes his first mistake when he crosses a Colorado ranch in the highland meadows known as Sugarloaf. His second mistake? Crossing the rancher, Smoke Jensen. With a pair of burning six-guns and a deadly gift for using them, Smoke is about to blow Cain back to his maker. But not before he gives him a flaming taste of Hell -- Mountain Man style
my thoughts
Would I recommend this series : yes
Will I be reading more by this author: yes
I can see why some people didn't like this book because it does have flashbacks" to his other books in the series ,but for me i actually liked it because they just made me want to read more of this series, love how Smoke's friends came to his add even when he didn't want to ask them or even know they was coming, how close the characters where and are like a family. Also the flashbacks help to make the characters more real at least to me , and the bad guy was even a bit creepy which was a other thing I liked about the book .With that said I want to thank Netgalley and Kensington Books for letting me once again read and review one of William W. Johnstone's books exchange for my honest opinion
May 14, 2018
I don't know what was happening within the Johnstone Clan stables in the late '90s, when this book was published. Perhaps they were grappling with the few series of books they were chugging out at the time or this is when William Johnstone began getting ill, ultimately leading to his death in 2003. Whatever was occurring, this book should never have seen the light of day. As with Mountain Man books just previous to this one, the book stinks.
The worse of this book is re-re-re-re-revisiting the story of Smoke stopping the "tree"ing of a town. As the Johnstone Clan has proven later in the 2000s, as the Johnstone seemingly-nearly-endless series began, there are a ton of other stories to create beyond the treeing of a town. Again, i believe something was going wrong at the time with the Johnstones and these books were pumped out to fulfill contracts.
Next worse, is the horrible & lazy act of filling about 3/7ths of the book with content of other books. As a writer myself, I know it would be easier to write in fluffy filler, than researching sections of older books and cut and paste into the newer. I believe this gets back to problems in the Johnstone stable where multiple people were assembling these books and adding earlier sections of books to fluff out a short story written by someone else, all the while fighting deadlines for their contracts. I'd hate to think the filler was intentional. Filler cheats the reader and is wrong.
Next is the story. No surprises. Nothing new. In fact, an old location is used and a shorter version of the original story with the location is presented. More cheating the reader.
Characters are very good, as, I believe, is the hallmark of the Johnstone Clan series. A huge boo-boo is made involving one main character who's dialogue is written one way in the actually story, but written differently in section cut in from another book.
Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 2 out of 10 points.
The worse of this book is re-re-re-re-revisiting the story of Smoke stopping the "tree"ing of a town. As the Johnstone Clan has proven later in the 2000s, as the Johnstone seemingly-nearly-endless series began, there are a ton of other stories to create beyond the treeing of a town. Again, i believe something was going wrong at the time with the Johnstones and these books were pumped out to fulfill contracts.
Next worse, is the horrible & lazy act of filling about 3/7ths of the book with content of other books. As a writer myself, I know it would be easier to write in fluffy filler, than researching sections of older books and cut and paste into the newer. I believe this gets back to problems in the Johnstone stable where multiple people were assembling these books and adding earlier sections of books to fluff out a short story written by someone else, all the while fighting deadlines for their contracts. I'd hate to think the filler was intentional. Filler cheats the reader and is wrong.
Next is the story. No surprises. Nothing new. In fact, an old location is used and a shorter version of the original story with the location is presented. More cheating the reader.
Characters are very good, as, I believe, is the hallmark of the Johnstone Clan series. A huge boo-boo is made involving one main character who's dialogue is written one way in the actually story, but written differently in section cut in from another book.
Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 2 out of 10 points.
August 11, 2025
This is a pretty good read for western fans. The plot is incredibly action packed and full of a lot of fun conversation and the typical western grit. This book does a good job of not requiring you to read all of the other books in the series to understand the plot or character dynamics. I actually didn't even know this was in a series until I logged it here on Goodreads. You will not find the typical detail of landscapes or equipment like you will with a L'Amour or Petit novel, but you will have a full picture painted the entire time.
I did not give this 5 stars for two main reasons. I felt that the story jumped around way to much. It got hard to tell at times if something was happening currently, or if they were having a flashback. The other complaint that I have is the incredibly detailed gore. I understand that details help drive a story, but I find it jarring to have such graphic imagery represented with the violence in this book. At one point I was physically grimacing from it.
Beyond these complaints, I look forward to continuing to read more from Mr. Johnstone. Keep writing sir!
I did not give this 5 stars for two main reasons. I felt that the story jumped around way to much. It got hard to tell at times if something was happening currently, or if they were having a flashback. The other complaint that I have is the incredibly detailed gore. I understand that details help drive a story, but I find it jarring to have such graphic imagery represented with the violence in this book. At one point I was physically grimacing from it.
Beyond these complaints, I look forward to continuing to read more from Mr. Johnstone. Keep writing sir!
September 24, 2025
Not sure what is happening, but the latest Smoke Jensen (Mountain Man series) has so many "excerpts" from previous books with little writing. What happened to summarizing how the past happened and move along with writing the storyline? It seemed at least half of this book and one prior suffer from the same issue. Bummer
February 1, 2022
This one was like some of the others at the beginning of the GREAT series. Smoke goes all Smoke-like on a fellow named Lazarus Cain and his gang of 50 after Cain shoots one of Smoke's friends and ranch workers. There is so much more to this one but I do not want to give anything away
July 16, 2018
Guns of the Mountain Man is the twenty fourth book from William W Johnstone's Mountain Man series. I liked it and give it four stars.
September 13, 2018
Repeated story
A large part of book are repeated stories from earlier books. The tales are lifted verbatim and boring to rehash. Very disappointed in the writer.
A large part of book are repeated stories from earlier books. The tales are lifted verbatim and boring to rehash. Very disappointed in the writer.
December 31, 2018
Protection
Another great story with Smoke Jensen and his good friends. Such great action and stopping the bad guys from hurting innocent people.
Another great story with Smoke Jensen and his good friends. Such great action and stopping the bad guys from hurting innocent people.
February 22, 2019
If you have read previous books in the series there is too much rehashing of prior events.
July 8, 2019
Good Western.
July 28, 2019
Enjoy the 24th book of the spa jets and series.
November 10, 2019
Another good read , there was a lot of reminiscing on past gun fights, maybe to get first timer readers to start reading the beginnings of the series...
June 4, 2020
Outstanding
Another great Western by the Master. It is well written and edited and exciting, interesting and enjoyable all the way through!
Another great Western by the Master. It is well written and edited and exciting, interesting and enjoyable all the way through!
June 29, 2019
I'm getting weary of modern day Western writers...guys like this Johnstone don't come CLOSE to classic Westerns writers like L'Amour...etc...If action to the reader is TMI about the way a cowboy is shot or a way a female is abused I suppose that is what ppl want with this writer....you can have him..I'm not in a hurry for more. The good guys all get shot and survive....the bad guys get annihilated. And style of describing events from past Mountain Man books are over done. I don't need to read several of them cause I already know what happens. Finally Johnstone copied "The Outlaw Josey Wales" with a character named Joey Wells. Bring on the old style Westerns!
June 1, 2016
This book kept me entertained. However, I got a feeling of deja vu while reading.
The book contains a bunch of "flashbacks" which appear to be excerpts from prior books. It's like a clip show, in book format. There was no warning about this in the description. They should have put a disclaimer it something.
One moment Smoke is doing his thing, then the action cuts back to a guy telling another guy about some OTHER guy Smoke killed years ago, which the teller wasn't even present for, and can't have possibly known all the details he's giving.
The book contains a bunch of "flashbacks" which appear to be excerpts from prior books. It's like a clip show, in book format. There was no warning about this in the description. They should have put a disclaimer it something.
One moment Smoke is doing his thing, then the action cuts back to a guy telling another guy about some OTHER guy Smoke killed years ago, which the teller wasn't even present for, and can't have possibly known all the details he's giving.
February 11, 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
Read
September 8, 2018PREACHER'S PROTEGE..KIRBY/SMOKE JENSEN
Lazarus Cain crazy man who felt he was an extension of God's word to extract all sinful men and women from this earth by any means necessary. An evil man who surrounded himself with the dreadges of mankind, to carry out all his evil deeds, which now included taking over the Sugarloaf Ranch which is owned by Smoke Jensen and his wife Sally. Evidently gold was found on Smoke's land and Cain wants to mine the gold and take over the town of Big Rock. It's
really a pipe dream that Lazarus Cain knows that he's capable of achieving this becoming a very very wealthy man...never going to happen.
No matter how well people make plans there's always a chance that these plans will fail. You should never underestimate your target, always plan for failure or an escape...if necessary...
Smoke and his friends are ruthless, they don't fear death. In fact "The Grim Reaper"rides with them all the time..men who don't fear death because of the lifestyles they lead, I call them
"Warriors." Smoke has an analytical mind and so do those who join him or are his friends know this and will actually die for him as he would do for them. After you finish reading, you'll understand the "THE JENSEN SERIES." Men to ride the river with..and Sally Jensen is also a force to deal with.
Lazarus Cain crazy man who felt he was an extension of God's word to extract all sinful men and women from this earth by any means necessary. An evil man who surrounded himself with the dreadges of mankind, to carry out all his evil deeds, which now included taking over the Sugarloaf Ranch which is owned by Smoke Jensen and his wife Sally. Evidently gold was found on Smoke's land and Cain wants to mine the gold and take over the town of Big Rock. It's
really a pipe dream that Lazarus Cain knows that he's capable of achieving this becoming a very very wealthy man...never going to happen.
No matter how well people make plans there's always a chance that these plans will fail. You should never underestimate your target, always plan for failure or an escape...if necessary...
Smoke and his friends are ruthless, they don't fear death. In fact "The Grim Reaper"rides with them all the time..men who don't fear death because of the lifestyles they lead, I call them
"Warriors." Smoke has an analytical mind and so do those who join him or are his friends know this and will actually die for him as he would do for them. After you finish reading, you'll understand the "THE JENSEN SERIES." Men to ride the river with..and Sally Jensen is also a force to deal with.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews