Cottonmouth

The Guns of Samuel Pritchard #2

by Sean Lynch

A legendary gunfighter can never outrun the ghosts of his past. But he can outshoot them. Acclaimed author Sean Lynch’s epic saga of Samuel Pritchard continues—with a venegance . . .
 
CALLING ALL KILLERS
 
1874. After losing his innocence in the Civil War and risking his life as a Texas Ranger, Samuel Pritchard has finally settled into a peaceful life in his hometown of Atherton, Missouri. As marshall, he hopes to put his bloody past behind him. To see his sister marry his lifelong friend. To find a wife and raise a family. For the first time in his life, Pritchard isn’t gunning for anyone—and no one is gunning for him. Or so he thinks. Strangers have arrived in Atherton. Hard-eyed men with guns. Someone has placed a bounty on Pritchard’s head: $10,000 in gold, deposited anonymously in a Wells Fargo bank, payable to anyone who puts the legendary pistolero in a pine box. . . .
 
This is the story of Samuel Pritchard. A small-town sheriff with a larger-than-life reputation, lightning-fast guns, and a long list of enemies who’d love to see him dead. . . .
 
“A riveting thriller that bristles with hard-boiled authenticity.”
—Bestselling author Mark Greaney on Thy Partner’s Wife
 
“Sean Lynch spins a tale that is fast, fun and realistic.”
—Bestselling author James O. Born on Like Hell

Genres: Westerns

384 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 28, 2020

About the author

Sean Lynch served as an enlisted infantryman and spent three decades as a municipal police officer in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Learn more at www.seanlynchbooks.com

Reviews

[Jacqui · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Sean Lynch's Cottonmouth, next in the Guns of Samuel Pritchard series (Pinnacle 2020), Samuel Pritchard, aka Joe Atherton, aka Smokin' Joe, has settled back into his hometown of Atherton Missouri as Marshal and Acting Sheriff, trying to get past the murder of his parents. He is preparing for re-election when a gunslinger shows up challenging 'Joe Atherton' to a gunfight, wanting to claim the huge bounty and the title as the man who beat Smokin' Joe. Pritchard no longer goes by that name but he must kill the man or lose his own life. When more show up with the same goal, Pritchard finds out that someone has placed a bounty of $10,000 on his head, no questions asked, dead or alive. When a young girl gets caught in the crossfire, Pritchard resigns as Sheriff and sets to find whoever has brought all of these gun-toting lawless people to his town and stop them. 

This is the sequel to Book 1 in the series but a stand-alone with enough background on the prequel to make this story easy to follow. One part I particularly like is the detail this Western has about the weapons used in the Old West by Lawmen, bounty hunters, and regular folk and how they evolved over time:

"Pritchard preferred his venerable Remingtons, which had a feature allowing the hammer to rest on a notch milled between the cylinder holes. This permitted safe carry while fully loaded with six cartridges."

Scott is an excellent storyteller with a good balance of atmosphere and pacing that make this an excellent read. I highly recommend it for those who love the old west.

[Jim A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't find this one nearly as good as the first of the series. Lots of gunplay, though.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley to read and review.

COTTONMOUTH by Sean Lynch is the 2nd book in “The Guns of Samuel Pritchard” series, and this one features Samuel who has gone by the name of Joe Atherton in the past, but has shed his gunslinger reputation until he is exposed as the gunfighter from the past which leads to his need to protect himself and others by finding out who has placed the bounty on his head and why, which leads to an entertaining story that remains interesting as it moves along towards the conclusion.

Good solid western novel that should appeal to fans of western fiction.

4 stars.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong sequel to "Death Rattle" in the continuing story of Samuel Pritchard whose moral compass is as straight as his pistol draw is fast. I liked the characters, dialogue, plot and pace of this exceptional Western sequel. I couldn't help picturing Marshal Samuel Pritchard as a younger Clint Eastwood and his childhood friend Ditch, a younger Chris Cooper as they try to stay alive while pursuing frontier justice on well financed bad guys!

[Jeff Benham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Book#2 in the series. I bought it on sale and then decided to read Book 1 (Death Rattle) first. Good decision. Not only does it give the background, but it was an excellent read. Samuel Pritchard is back home after 10 years being forced to leave, while only a teenager and letting murdering thug, Burnell Shipley run roughshod over Atherton. He changed his name to Joe Atherton, because Samuel was supposed to be dead. Now, his sister, Idelle, . is acting mayor, he is the town Marshall and County Sheriff and his best friend, Ditch, is his deputy. Joe Atherton gained quite a reputation as a gunfighter on the side of the law, during that time. Now, someone has put a $10,000 bounty on his head and bounty hunters are coming out of the woodwork. On top of that a fancy Dan lawyer shows up with a woman who claims to be Burnell Shipley's daughter and therefore, rightful heir to his ill gotten goods. Samuel is forced to leave Atherton once again, this time, to lead all the bounty hunters away from his town. His goals are to find out who put the bounty on his head in the first place, and prove the Bonnie Shipley is not Burnell's daughter. Lots of action in this one and sometimes evil wears a petticoat.

[Barbara Borror · Rating 2 out of 5]

Research

Nothing in a book is worse than wrong information. Even in a fiction book. In several places the writer refers to the main charaer 's horse as a Morgan. That's fine. But in chapter 23 he says the horse is 18 hands tall. Wrong. Morgan's are short. Usually 14 to 15 hands high. 18 hands is tall for any saddle horse. This height is getting into the draft horse breeds. Then in chapter 28 the writer calls a horse a quarter horse. Yes, quarter horses are very popular now. I have one. But in the the late 1800's the term quarter horse was not used. This type of horse was usually referred to as a Steel Dust.
Writer do your research.
Way to much killing in this book. To much sex. Give me a Louis L'Mour any time.

[Dick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty exciting

The characters and story were good, the writing style was good. Overall a well written fun book to pass time with. The author painted some pretty good word pictures, in my mind I could see what was going on, almost like I was there.

There are several different components to this story, overlapping thru the whole story. Sherrif Pritchard is almost unreal, he is just too good. But that adds to the story, lot more action to keep interest.

The bad guys, except one, are pretty typical of that time frame, used in many other story's. But adding in the unexpected one, along with Sherrif Pritchard thinking with his 'other head', adds extra excitement to the story.

Thank you for a good time reading story. You done pretty good sir!

[Denice Langley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never understood why more people dont read westerns. They contain every element of mystery and thrillers along with the plus of unique history and settings. Sean Lynch knows how to build an excellent story using authentic descriptions of people and places.
As our hero tries to settle down, even becoming a lawman, his life is disrupted by a posted reward for his death. So he does what anyone would do....goes hunting. Experience the Old West through the eyes of one of the better western authors around.

[Darel Krieger · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like western stories, then this one is worth your time to read. The title of the book is Cottonmouth but really could have used the title " Terminator of the West"! The main character while presented as an everyday sheriff of a small-town mows down more bad guys than a John Deere rider cutting grass. Lots of quirky characters and twists and turns. Good read. I didn't do it, but it would probably be beneficial to the reader to read book one first.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never read a book by Sean Lynch before but I’m very glad that I read this one.
The story was engaging and the action moved along well. There were very few parts where the book started to drag. This is actually book number two of this series, so now I get to go back and read the first one. As well as wait for the new one...

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like western stories, you probably like this yarn. Marshall Samuel Prichard is a almost 6ft 6 big man who not only can scrap with the best of them, but he’s good with his guns, darn good. He’s mostly a stand up guy, except for his weakness with a tempting woman. For the most part it’s a good read with plenty of action and he takes no prisoners once he goes into action.

[Lucyle Wooden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story

The characters were great, diversity throughout the book intrigued me as you don't necessarily have much diversity in these western stories except 'cowboys and Indians" which gets old and many times it's a bad wrap against the Indians mostly. I also liked that it had a lot of action. Try incorporating some Black folks once in a while.

[Ray Ratliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another of the series of Marshal Samuel Pritchard and his sister Idelle and her soon to be husband Ditch. It was a great reading discovery. It makes you feel as though you are walking step by step with them.

[Rory Costello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to know that this is one of those sequels that isn't a letdown.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of action all the way, good plot. A fun book to read. The only fault I found was the cover art, the sheriff always wore two guns cover showed him with one how stupid.

[Ted Cartier · Rating 4 out of 5]

A excellent follow up to the first book in the series. Bogs down at times and then picks up the pace.

[Braddock Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This western novel was fantastic and fun to read Full of action and adventure to the very end. I truly enjoyed reading this book. In fact, I immediately bought two more books by this author

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great one in this series.

[Dale Barlow]

12.19.2025: I liked the first one in this series; it's v. easy reading...let's continue...;

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cottonmouth is a fastpaced western with lots of action. I enjoyed the plot and I loved several of the characters, Samuel included. I hope there will be more books in this series.

[Michael D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun to read. I enjoy the characters and look forward to a book 3?

[Sue Plant · Rating 5 out of 5]

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book

my second book by sean lynch about the infamous gunslinger joe atherton...aka samuel pritchard who has cleaned up atherton and taken over as sheriff...

in this book we find out there is a $10.000 bounty on joes head and with the advent of bounty hunters wanting a piece of that action plus anyone else that fancies their chances joe resigns and gets out of dodge...

but joe is on a mission to find out who what and where put up the money and so his journey begins,with no one to trust only his guns he fights his way out of many a gunfight....

have to say i thoroughly enjoyed this story and love all the characters in this book...i cant wait to follow the adventures of this little town and smoking joe atherton and what else could be in store for them all

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Sean Lynch's second installment to his series, The Guns of Samuel Pritchard. Cottonmouth was a great read and am giving it four stars.