Return of the Mountain Man

The Last Mountain Man #2

by William W. Johnstone

Years after his wife and son are murdered by hired gunslingers, Smoke Jensen travels to the untamed Idaho Territory on a quest for revenge and confronts bloodthirsty outlaws Stratton, Potter, and Richards. Reissue.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Action, Audiobook, Ebooks, Adult

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

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

[Shirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the past four months I have been reading the Mountain Man series by William W. Johnstone. They are a throwback to the old west and come complete with rugged turrain, outlaws, Indians, and heroes. I enjoyed these books for the simple reason that I feel transported back to a simpler time when right was right, wrong was wrong, and there wasn't nearly so much gray. The reader gets to learn alot about what it was like for the men and women who broke open the territory but especially we get to cheer on an old fashioned hero or two. You will enjoy this trip back to the mid 1800's and you'll willingly cheer for the good guys who are interesting and funny characters, and hate the villains. Enjoy!

[Bill Riggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smoke’s quest for vengeance comes to a head. A story of setting things straight, fueled by honor, friendship and integrity. One of the best Mountain Man stories. The old guard pas the torch to Smoke, the last mountain man.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delicious fast-paced fun! I'm gonna be enjoying this 49 books series for a long time! 😁

[Laur · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s 1874 and Smoke with the last of the Mountain Men bunch, join together to take on a ruthless gang running the town of Bury. Three of this gang were responsible for murdering his father, his wife, and his small child - also he believes they murdered the mountain man who raised him, “Preacher”.

While in town posing as Buck West”, (a bounty hunter looking to collect the $30,000 reward on Smoke Jensen, Buck (Smoke) meets Sally, a school teacher with whom he has an immediate attraction and bond. But other surprises are in store - and some of his past is coming headlong to meetup to the present.

There is no shortage of action in this story. Well written, multiple colorful characters that are sometimes humorous. I really enjoyed the audio (by Rodney J Turner, AND the audio dramatization with multiple character voices in this book. They really made it come alive! The Mountain Man (and Mountain Men) are my favorites of Johnstone.

[Carlton Phelps · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Johnstone can write a great yarn. And this installment of Kirby Jensen's life.
At an early age, Kirby was left by his father to hunt down some men who stole gold from the Confederate Army and while stealing the gold they shot Kirby's older brother.
Mr. Jensen left to find the men and ended up getting killed.
So, Kirby was raised by a mountain man named, Preacher.
The preacher taught Kirbey the ways of the life of a mountain man and how to service life in general.
As life goes on a horrible fate comes to Kirby's wife and child, sending on a mission to kill the men responsible.
Along the way, his name is changed to, Smoke, because he draws a gun so fast smoke comes out of his holster.
We follow Smoke and soon the mountain men on a journey of retribution.
If you like westerns, Mr Johnson has a book or two you may wish to buy.

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an action-packed western set in the territory that would one day become the state of Idaho, set during the 1870s. The theme of this book is vengeance and what it takes to settle a score when someone has destroyed your entire family. This series is much more bloody and has more profanity than most of the authors I have read in this genre. So while the writing is quite solid, and the characters are interesting, I’m not sure this is a series I will explore in depth. For me, the jury is still out.

[Joyce Abell · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of the Mountain Man books are entertaining

[DJMikeG · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gory, violent, entertaining pulp western tale by the one and only William W Johnstone. Very fast and near mindless fun. I mostly liked it, but if there is one fault, it is that so many characters are introduced so quickly that, especially during the climax of the book, you have no idea who is who. Beyond that though, I liked the motley band of old mountain men and thought this was a fun, fast little western pulp potboiler. Johnstone is not the world's most skilled wordsmith, but he sure knew how to crank out enjoyable pulpy novels in a variety of genres.

[Sana Zameer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fantastic! Kirby 'Smoke' Jensen is on the path of revenge for his dead wife and son and Richard, Potter and Stratton's day of reckoning has come. The best part was the mountain men and we get little snippets of some of their background story. Their ribbing each other was a welcome humor or otherwise it would have been a dreary quest of revenge.

[aMandalin · Rating 3 out of 5]

this wasn’t near as good as the first book of the series, which I suppose is common . I wish these books didn’t have so much bad language. I didn’t find this one as educational in foraging, mountain skills, and interesting landmarks and history. However, it was pretty neat that they mentioned quite a few places in Idaho that I knew exactly where it was!

[Darin Beiler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this one a lot. Revenge, love, tragedy, and violence. And the witty banter is just great as well

[Barbara Lee Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

PREACHER' FAMILY & MOUNTAIN FRIENDS

Preacher and the other Mountain Men his friends for over twenty years. All these men are in their seventies or more. A couple of them have cancer and this will be their last meeting...SAD...Preacher raised a young boy whose birth name was Art..but Preacher called him Smoke..Preacher taught him everything he knew, how to love and respect nature, how to fight, shoot and hunt. Well..here come the bushwackers..just plain ugliness riding horses; these men smothered his baby, Art and raped his wife Nancy, scalped her, the man even peeled the skin from her breast which once dried, he used it to hold his tobacco...horrific horrific crimes were perpetrated in the west on persons ordered by rich landowners; the law either looked the other way or they were the ones doing these inhumane crimes....Well Smoke with the help of PREACHER and THE MOUNTAIN MEN, turned the tables and he got his REVENGE...This author loves westerns and the men who portrayed them in the 1930's and later, Audie Murphy, Randolph Scott, John Wayne..Cisco Kid..Lone Ranger, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and don't forget the women of the west who fought besides their men through it ALL.
......WESTERNS...GREATS...ENJOY....

[Rick C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun - shoot em up, good guy wins.

[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

[Kendall jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like westerns this book and the Mountain man series are some of the best westerns out there

[David Phipps · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is book 2 of a very long Western series that seems to mainly focus on the character Smoke Jensen, touted as the last of the Mountain Men. This book continues Smoke's path of revenge as he goes incognito to get back at three people who stole from the Confederacy and killed some of his family members. Once again this book was very short and only took 2 to 3 hours to read. This book does offer a better climax and stopping point to where at least I don't feel like things are left hanging. The cliches felt more prevalent here. It was OK but I don't feel like continuing with the series in part due to how short each book seems to be despite being sold at full book prices. Maybe I'll pick more up if they are discounted.

[RJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smoke now called himself Buck West and was looking to settle scores. After the shootout at the Silver Camp near Uncompahgrehe, was a wanted man. His wife Nicole, baby son Arthur, and supposedly his mentor Preacher had been killed in a Range War between Potter, Stratton, and Richards. Smoke, or Buck, rode towards Bury, Idaho. He had put up his Appaloosa Silver in a small canyon and rode a black stallion named Drifter. The word had traveled and many old mountain men had heard that Smoke was on the revenge trail. A dozen or so famous mountain men headed to Bury to help Smoke if he needed it. Bury was going to burn, and Potter, Stratton, and Richards were going to hell.

[papasteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of action here, and the end of the first part of Smoke Jensen’s story. There being a great number of books in this series, this is a good place to leave off, at least for a while. One of the things I didn’t like about these two books, compared to the Luke Jensen bounty hunter series, was the way the author kept putting in little hints of what was to come. I wanted to say, “Just let it come—don’t tell me a shade of what lay in the future, and then write toward it! Just let it happen in due course!”. Anyways, on to another book—just not in this series.

[Marc Jentzsch · Rating 3 out of 5]

More than anything this book feels like the second half of the first. I can see why it was written as two, but I still think anybody reading these should commit to reading both, back-to-back. Given that they're just okay, that might be a bit much to ask.

I picked these up because I got hold of some later books in adjacent, follow-on series that looked kinda fun. Then I saw 50 books. I thought, well, they must be readable. And they are. They're readable. They're fun. They're just...there's something missing and I'm not sure what it is.

[?? · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️
Unfortunately, this one kinda fell flat. The beginning was quite exciting, but after a while the plot seemed like a random jumble of events that I didn’t much care about. Not a bad book per se, just one that seemed pretty boring compared to the first entry in the series. I will be checking out the third one and the prequel series with Preacher sometime, but if they don’t grab my attention then I’m calling it quits on Johnstone’s Westerns.

[Mike Eberhard]

An easy read. Good vs Evil. Little moral complexity. But a fun read since we like seeing the bad guys stomped into the earth by the good guys. If you need an action break from heavy analysis, this is your ticket. The handsome young hero rides off into the high mountain country with his beautiful, virtuos and strong woman.

[Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

$30,000 bounty on Smoke Jensen. Got a laugh out of that. Lots of repeat from the first book of this series. But still was a good read. Preacher is back and since it said it was 1875 that would make preacher 74 years old.

Question. How do you tie a bandana around a wound in the side of your body? This is what Smoke Jensen did.

[Jay Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first of the series and the main character Smoke Jensen. You get the Preacher and a slew of new characters. The plot is one of revenge. The body count high. The action never stops and yes there is a love interest. It was over before I was ready. Johnstone is one of the better modern authors.

[Ronald Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vengeance without murder.

Loved the interaction between Smoke and Sally. Simple comments between folks carried a message of caring, honesty and trust. Although brute force won on many occasions, it was was the will of honesty hardworking people who banned together to defeat hate and degradation.

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sally is a snob. She corrected people's grammar. She was wealthy and educated. Well good for her. Correcting men old enough to be your grandfather who probably never went to school and probably cannot read is condescending. Correcting the man you love in front of people is showboating. But if that makes you feel superior go for it I guess. So almost 5 stars.

[Trebor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The follow up to the"Last Mountain Man". A classic western story. Often used in bits and pieces in movies, familiar but always entertaining. White hatted underdogs beat black hatted gunslingers with the help of mountain men in coon skin caps and save the townsfolk. What could be better than a simple tale where good prevails over evil.

[Lmcglynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was hoping I wouldn’t like this series as there are about 100 Mountain Man entries! Too late, western with great twisting story, characters to love as well as hate and a lovable band of aging high plain drifters!! Strong leader with Smoke and guided by his new found love, Sally, I see many harrowing, but happy, trails ahead!

[Michael Sigler · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 out of 5.
My only complaint is Johnstone seemed to dumb Smoke Jensen down a bit from the first novel, but it could have honestly been because he was surrounded by some more learned characters this time round.
All in all, a great read!

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pocket book that you can read in an afternoon. Very engrossing because of the action from beginning to end. Kirby (Smoke) Jensen is an unbelievably tough and able guy out to get justice for the murder of his family ... and he does. A great story.

[Terry Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book, I really like how the OLD MOUNTAIN MEN and their tough ruggedness were brought into the book. Makes me want to be a Mountain Man. Looking forward to reading the next book in the series.