Rig Warrior

Rig Warrior #1

by William W. Johnstone

In Vietnam, Barry Rivers learned how to be a hero. In a busted marriage, he learned how to be a survivor. And in Washington, he learned how to make big money, consulting with the U.S. government on weapons. Then he got a message from home. Someone had come after his old man—and turned Barry Rivers into the deadliest enemy of all . . .  Now Rivers is back behind the wheel of a midnight blue Kenworth—a hard-swearing, hard-driving, tightly-packed blonde named Kate and his dog named "Dog" by his side. With a few good trucking friends. Rivers has the firepower to take on an army. He'll need it. Because a contract to haul Sale Secure Transport has plunged him into a world of betrayal, corruption, and violence that is killing everyone around him. And the only way to stop a coming war is to start one first—behind the barrel of a machine gun.   Live Free. Read Hard.

Genres: Fiction, Action

259 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1987

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

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heads up pinkos, stinkos, bleeding heart liberals, punks and all those who deign to tickle the taint of communism : Barry “dog” Rivers is on a mission to make America great again! He’s a one man wrecking crew, judge, jury and executioner driving 18 wheels of justice!

Barry is a Vietnam vet and millionaire defence contractor who hates punks. He will fucking kill them and throw them in a dumpster, then go sleep like a baby. The whole system is set up to protect the scumbag criminals!

Barry finds out that his dad, a millionaire trucking company owner in Louisiana, is hassled by the mafia. They want the old man’s business and have beaten him up.

So Barry loads up an arsenal that would make Rambo cream his fatigues and heads down there to set things right.
On the way he meets a super hot blonde spinner that’s an awesome trucker and they instantly fall in love.
Finally, Barry gets there and starts kicking some mafia teeth in. But is the mafia really behind it or is it a criminal conspiracy that goes to the highest levels of government!

Only Barry and a bunch of truckers can unravel the mystery and shoot tons of people along the way!

I know what you’re thinking: can I get a little taste of truckin’ justice?
Hell yeah brother!

“Barry dropped to the dirty alley and rolled, picking up a broken wine bottle. He jammed the jagged end of the bottle into the exposed crotch of the gang leader. The young man dropped to the alley, screaming and bleeding from the puncture wounds. Rolling, coming to his feet, Barry jammed the broken bottle into a young man's face, driving one long shard of glass into an eye. The street hustler howled as his blood spurted.”

Take that punk!

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johnstone had a formula he employed over and over in his horror and action thrillers, namely a protagonist veteran (Korea, Vietnam, etc.) trained in special forces, usually with a medal of honor, suddenly placed in some situation where he has to kick some serious ass-- the devil, someone evil or amoral, etc. Here, our lead, Barry Rivers, served in Vietnam, a decorated veteran, who now works in a partnership in D.C. which deals in international arms deals. One day he decides to give his old man a call and his dad sounds a little off. Well, maybe time for a visit anyhow, and he has some vacation time due, so off to New Orleans! Before he goes, however, he learns from a contact that his father may be being harassed by the Dixie mob, so he gets himself a federal license to pack some serious heat.

Turns out, something is going down with his dad for sure. His father owns and runs a trucking company and someone is putting the squeeze on it for sure. He finally gets his dad to open up about it, but the culprits are pretty elusive. After a pow wow with the local mob boss, who tells him his father is being set up, but not by him, things start going a little crazy. Who are the bad guys? Well, the company gets a surprise contract to haul secret government loads, but Barry has his suspicions. Something is off. Once they start to haul these loads, things go from bad to worse...

One thing about Johnstone, his villains are always really, really bad guys. If not the devil (a trope of his horror), they are some amoral, child rapists or some such. There is no grey area! I will not go into detail here to avoid spoilers, but yeah, some truly fucked up bastards for sure. So, Barry, with the help of some fellow truckers (all of whom seem to have a military background 😎 and know their way around serious fire power), he decides to sort this shit out. Toss in a potty mouthed female trucker love interest, and Barry has some adventures!

Johnstone's novels will never change the world, but if you are in the mood for some pulp action, with almost comically evil bad guys (and true, red blooded Americans as good guys), you could do a lot worse. Quick read with some surprises, expect lots of action, some misdirection and a wonky end. 3 pulpy stars!!

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The byline on this book says it all.

Seriously all this novel is is a cranky Vietnam vet driving a big rig and getting caught in the middle of a far
right wing conspiracy. The plot is weak and the characters are stereotypical as hell. Vets are the good guys, the government is bad. Lots of guns and anti-immigration
diatribes. You know, typical Johnstone stuff (when he isn't
writing horror or one of his millions of westerns).

As a fan of thrillers and dad lit, I didn't hate this book,
but I had higher hopes after that insane cover (though I shouldn't be surprised as this is a Zebra publication afterall.

If you wanna read something to shut your brain off for a few hours of dumb, mindless entertainment, this is totally fine, but this ain't no award winner.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good men's adventure series. If you like big rigs, guns and violence you will enjoy the series. Recommended

[Trevor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess it’s more competent than 18 Wheel Avenger (the third book in this series, which I accidentally read before this one), and not nearly as ludicrous as Trigger Warning (the stealth sequel to this series that came years later). But while that makes it technically a better book than those, it also means I didn’t enjoy it as much, honestly. This one is just sort of standard Mens Adventure fare, with less of Johnstone’s hilariously earnest and ridiculously overdone right-wing reactionary writing, which made the other books much more ironically entertaining.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining and dated book.

Imagine Smoke or Preacher as a ex military truck driver. That's the premise.

It's entertaining and a fairly quick read.

The language is lots of trucker/CB slang with some "Swearing". I believe this was classified as a men's Adventure, it did not reach the level that was the norm.

I tried reading some of the author's earlier "modern" books, I couldn't get past the first few chapters due to the heavy profanity.

His western series are still his best material.

[Steven Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok book much in line with books such as Mack Bolan, and other male centric fantasies. Not something I will read again, not so much that it was horrible, but because I have other things I would rather read.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been a long time since I read this series. Good premise and reads a little like the old tv show Renegade.

[Douglas Peterson]

I can’t really rate this book with stars. Read it at the beach— it’s five star beach reading because it’s light and meaningless. Kinda like a romance novel except with uzis and big rigs.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read.

[Al Datum · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who has been reading William W Johnstone since he put out The Devil’s Kiss (his very first book), I never thought I’d say this…

Rig Warrior is boring and I couldn’t finish it.

[Egghead · Rating 3 out of 5]

arms dealing trucker
fights black ops experiments
president gives thumbs up

[Mabrams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book where you can totally judge it by its cover! I don't men that in a bad way either! This book was written like a cheesy 80's action movie, and anyone who was a fan of that style of movie should definitely give this book a chance. If you liked either the Remo Williams books or the movie, this is for you. I would describe this as ridiculous in the best way. It's a quick read full of silly, over the top action and the dialog to match. The cover art on the book I found was a semi with missiles and machine guns mounted to it. While that wasn't exactly how it was it set a tone. Don't take this too seriously and you will really enjoy this book I feel!

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Formula writing but entertaining brainless read.