Courage of the Mountain Man

The Last Mountain Man #10

by William W. Johnstone

Clint Black runs the biggest operation in Montana. He has his own personal army of cutthroats--and he doesn't like competition. The trouble begins when Smoke Jensen brings 3,500 head up from Colorado to sell to Black's neighbor. More bloodthirsty than businesslike, Clint sets up a roadblock, backed by the biggest guns in the territory. Then he sends word out to Smoke Jensen: back down or die.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

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

[Richard Guerrero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the 10th book of this Smoke Jensen series.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable story, couldn't put the book down, one of my favorites !!

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book.

[Joshua Derden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book could not put it down

[rick incremona · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a good one. The Seige of Clint Black's homestead was nice. The end felt a bit rushed, but it was good nonetheless. Enjoyable read to say the least.

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

As usual the writing is good and the characterizations are very good. It's just that it's much same plot as so many of the Smoke Jensen series. Town taken over, Smoke comes to save the day. The bad guy is getting really repeated as another who kills puppies and eats children, or something along those lines.

What's really disappointing is not even a twist in the story. There are a few alteration of characters, but that is all to lead to a conclusion we 'Mountain Man' readers know too well. Seems to me one alteration was Smoke in general. Smoke, seems to me, acting very different in this book from how he handles the bad guys and the interaction with other characters. This could be a sign of a different ghost writer.

Another trouble is the length of this one. I think about a third could've been cut out and focus more on the sheriff and Smoke and make this a tighter volume. There's way too much nearly identical narrative and dialog from other books.

The volume before this, 'Pursuit of the Mountain Man', was a terrific diversion from this town takeover template and I hope the other volumes I've hunted down take more the 'Pursuit' trail.

Bottom line: Well, I see I need to have two.
1) If you've been reading the 'Mountain Man' series - No, don't read it. This is more of the same.
2) If you haven't read any or little of the series, Yes, read it.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

mon.
It was a good book.Smoke got in a war with a rancher and his lot of men. So smoke brought in some old mountain men to get the war over with. Smoke would of won without the mountain men but he wanted to finish it.

Wed.
The reason they got in a war was because smoke and some young hands were moving cattle to a ranch. They got ambushed by some guys who killed all the young hands. So smoke killed them all for it.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

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