Slaughter of the Mountain Man

The Last Mountain Man #49

by William W. Johnstone, J.A. Johnstone

In this action-packed western from national bestselling authors William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone, mountain man Smoke Jensen sets his sharpshooting sights on an unhinged outlaw who’s carved out his own kingdom in the West—and declared war on the United States...

Johnstone Country. Come visit.

He calls himself The King. Once a respected professor, he was ruined by scandal. Now, he rules his own “country”—an area of western territory where an army of outlaws enforce his laws. Any town he claims as  his own must pay “taxes,” collected from bank, stagecoach, and train robberies. When he learns that President Rutherford B. Hayes and General William Tecumseh Sherman are venturing into the far west on a tour of the nation, The King devises a plan to kidnap America’s leaders and expand his empire.
 
But The King didn’t reckon that Smoke Jensen had already staked his claim on the frontier. Traveling with the president’s entourage, the mountain man is not about to let this bloodthirsty, evil tyrant endanger his commander-in-chief and threaten American liberty...
 

Genres: Westerns

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 30, 2021

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

[Abibliofob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slaughter of the Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone is another good western about Smoke Jensen. This time he gets involved with a man who wants to be king over a part of the United States? We have the usual stuff about train robbers, bank robbers and on the other side Smoke who gets in the midst of all things crazy. It is as usual a good western and gives a couple of hours entertaining reading. I must thank @kensingtonbooks @netgalley #Pinnacle for giving me this advance copy and @williamw.j.a.johnstone for writing it. #NetGalley #Kensington #SlaughterOfTheMountainMan #WilliamWJohnstone #JAJohnstone #Western

[Caitlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

No heart in it at all. The story telling changes style erratically; the plot is weak and unoriginal; the characters are dull and lifeless. It felt like a 5 hour long episode of Gunsmoke. Not even William "Bill" Tecumseh Sherman could save it.
Bill? Bill? Who ever called him Bill? The ghost writer for the ghost writer of the long deceased author.

[Rosie Rizk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slaughter of the Mountain Man was a bit of a wild and far-fetched story. The plot unfolds with Clemente Pecorino, a disgraced college professor, getting fired for plagiarizing someone else's work. He then moves on to becoming a revolutionary, working to carve out for himself a kingdom within the boundaries of the United States, with himself as dictator and ruler. Using a band of criminals as his soldiers, Pecorino robs banks to obtain funds to fuel his revolution. His next step then becomes plotting to kidnap the President and his party, who are at that time taking a tour of the western states. Pecorino hopes to coerce the government into acknowledge his revolution... It's up to Smoke Jensen and his friends Perley and Cal, who are out on a business trip, to put an end to Pecorino's madness.

This was an ok read, an interesting, if far-fetched tale. But I most enjoy when Smoke is out hunting someone and bringing them to justice using his skills honed from years of experience in the outdoors, or setting up traps for the unwary criminal, and this book didn't really deliver that.

[Jacqui · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Johnstone's Jensen Family universe is one of the best fictional families in western lore. The extensive collection is broken down into several series, each dealing with a member of the Family. This one is Smoke Jensen, reformed outlaw (kinda), family man, adopted (kind of) son of the mountain man Preacher (the patriarch of the Jensen Family). Smoke is moral, hardworking, a family man who can morph into superhero when necessary. I have never read a book in this series I didn’t devour.

Having said that, though, this one, Slaughter of the Mountain Man (Kensington Books 2022), was was a bit predictable at times. There weren't as many surprises or clever twists as I usually find which may be because I've read about fifty books in this extended series.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m still reading the next book.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Smoke Jensen western packed with new adventures and villains. What I like most about Johnstone westerns is that although somewhat predictable, I enjoy their writing style, characters and stories of the wild west.

Thank you to NetGalley, and Kensington Books, Pinnacle for the advanced copy of Slaughter of the Mountain Man. #NetGalley #SlaughterotheMountainMan

[Denice Langley · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no such thing as a bad Johnstone western. Each series is built around main characters whose belief in the law and family is absolute, even if they've had to be reformed to get there. From Preacher, the original mountain man to the Jensen family to Perly Gates, to.....well, you get the point. Many times, characters from one series will show up in another as supporting hands. The communities are true to the era, clothing, guns, food and troubles are all what you'd find if you looked them up in the history books. No two stories are the same, each character or set of characters is unique and so are their stories. The writing is skillful, readers are pulled into the story and you will laugh and cry right along with the characters. I made the mistake of picking up a Johnstone western my uncle was reading. Ive been hooked ever since. Now I share them with my reading family and will continue as long as new Johnstones are released.

[Sue Plant · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

smoke jenson the most famous gunfigher in the west who also happens to own a ranch, he never looks for trouble but it certainly finds him

in this book we find that smoke is selling off some of his prized bulls, but before it can get to its rightful owner someone tries to steal it off him....

smoke also come to the attention of a man who wants to be ruler of his own kingdom and he tries several times to have smoke killed, but its when smoke finds out that the president of the united states could be kidnapped that smoke comes up with a daring plan to unmask the scoundrel

a slightly different book to what we are normally use to but it always good to catch up with smoke and his family

[Nolan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story starts out with a train robbery that Smoke is on. Done before in other Smoke Jensen books.

Smoke doesn’t think that Hayes should have been president. That Tilden should have been voted in. But that the Congressmen said Hayes had won. Smoke thinks Hayes is dishonest and doesn't agree on the vote. Sound familiar?

Got tired of the insane man who thought he was King hiring men to kill Smoke, over and over again.

At about 70% through the eBook, I was ready for this story to be over.

[David Burnworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smoke and Pearlie protect President Hayes in this story. The heroes have to stop a madman, who wants to be called King Clemente. The King wants to start his nation by taking over Wyoming, California, Utah, Colorado, and Nevada. He is off to a decent start but learns that Smoke is not about to let this happen. Smoke and Pearlie will have to not only stop the kidnapping of the president but save a general's daughter. They also learn that one of the president's own party members is a traitor.

[Carol A. Ecker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Total waste of time

The plot is ridiculous and totally unbelievable. Not the Smoke Jensen you're used to. You wait a year for a new book and then get this nonsense. Don't waste your money.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Smoke Jensen western packed with new adventures and villains. What I like most about Johnstone westerns is that although somewhat predictable, I enjoy their writing style, characters and stories of the wild west.

[Nita Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slaughter of the Mountain Man

What a story. Dr. Pecorino had a vision of being a king of four states. Smoke and Pearlie volunteered to be body guards of President Hayes while he journey the West. lots of actions.

[Martha Peebles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smoke Jensen

As always a awesome read. Smoke is one of my favorite characters. I love the books on him. Where ever Smoke is there will be trouble and excitement. Thank you William and Jo Johnstone for another awesome read.

[Dirk Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a good read

I enjoyed the book. Lots of excitement and lots of action. I think other readers will enjoy the book. I would recommend this book to everyone

[chepon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor ending

Terrible short ending to a long and tedious plot. Single parachute with 2 parachutests dropped unnoticed from a balloon. Come on. BOO.

[Richard Marman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although a stand-alone novel, I think I may have been well served reading some of the earlier Smoke Jensen works. He's such a good guy, but boy can he handle a six-shooter. An arch villainous professor wants to take over a chunk of American and form an independent country. I guess we all know he doesn't have much of a chance, but as the body-count mounts it's up to Smoke and a couple of sidekicks to stop him before dead folk pile higher than buffalo carcasses on the prairie.
There's a bit of down-home, fried chicken, good-ole-boy dialogue, but this is a sound western based on an interesting concept. Well worth a read for western fans.