The Bullet Stops Here

Luke Jensen: Bounty Hunter #10

by William W. Johnstone, J.A. Johnstone

A kill-crazy butcher is loose in the Arizona territory and only one man is bold enough to end the mayhem . . .

Johnstone Country. The Killing Starts Now.

Luke Jensen joins a posse of misfits and greenhorns on a murderous manhunt that’s doomed from the start—and there’s no turning back . . .

THE BULLET STOPS HERE
 
Someone is terrorizing the Arizona border. Burning down ranches. Butchering travelers. Blazing a trail of bloodthirsty raids and robbing the railroads blind. His name is Melichus. A ruthless half-breed outlaw with a mile-long record of cruelties and crimes, he’s the most wanted man in the territory. And the massive price on his head has attracted the attention of every trigger-happy, would-be bounty hunter this side of the Rio Grande. But Luke Jensen knows something they don’
 
The bigger the bounty, the deadlier the prey.
 
Against his better judgment, Luke accepts an offer from the Great Southern Railroad to lead a posse of hired guns to stop Melichus in his tracks. Problem is, the gunmen are untrained, undisciplined, and unruly. To make matters worse, a meddlesome pair of Pinkertons are along for the ride, too. But the real trouble starts when their team gets caught in a three-sided gunfight with an Apache war party and the Mexican Army. It’s fast becoming the bloodiest manhunt Luke’s ever seen—and the final showdown could be his last . . .
 
Live Free. Read Hard.
 

Genres: Westerns

321 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 25, 2023

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]

Luke Jensen is not my favorite Jensen series by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone but The Bullet Stops Here was a great western, lots of bad guys and gunplay. How much trouble can a bounty hunter get himself into? Well, in this book there is alot and then some. We have riverboats, attacked villages, mexican rurales, indians and tracking bad guys. He even has problems with the Pinkerton detectives. It was a fast read with a quick pace and lots of action, not your typical Luke Jensen story. Thanks to Pinnacle, Kensington Books and Netgalley for giving me this advance copy.

[Jacqui · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luke Jensen is one of my favorite characters in the Jensen ecosystem, along with Smoke Jensen and Preacher the Mountain Man. Luke is a bounty hunter who loves the freedom of traveling wherever he wishes with few obligations and less worries. And he’s good at his job. In William Johnstone's The Bullet Stops Here (Pinnacle 2023), #10 of the Luke Jensen Bounty Hunter series, Luke has set up the long game to capture not just a high priced owl hoot but his entire gang. It promises to make him a boatload of money so he is moving carefully, picks a floating gambling parlor as the place to do the takedown. It goes well until it doesn't and then it all falls apart. The owl hoot knows Luke is there to kill him and has his own plan to rob the casino and stop Luke. What complicates everyone's plans is that another bounty hunting team--backed by one of the prominent detective agencies of the time, Pinkerton--is also there for the same reason. Luke (of course) succeeds, but not without a lot of trouble and a personal promise to avoid this particular team in the future. That--no surprise--doesn't work and soon, we're well into another crazy Luke Jensen bounty hunting adventure.


This is a good read with a lot of the usual elements of a Luke Jensen adventure, but in this case, a tad heavy on action and a little light on clever. Still, anyone who loves this series or any of the Jensen stories will find reading this story is time well spent. 

[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.

Luke Jensen is considered one of the fastest gunmen in the west, but even he can have an off day. Especially when he's babysitting a group of men who should be able to hold their own. The one thing you can count on, there will be guns, bullets and blood.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Has Luke Jensen met his match? A half Ute half European American is leading a band of killers across Arizona killing innocent travelers homesteaders and anyone who crosses their path. First Luke has to catch some bond jumpers and get out of a shoot out on the riverboat and other small battles he even saves a woman from captivity who’s chained to a fence but before it’s over these two will meet can Luke stop him before he becomes a national problem? I love Luke Jensen books there’s always mini show downs and he’s always getting the upper hand on the bad guy but there is something I truly love about Luke and his staunch principles and the things he stands up for like most good heroes he is haunted by his past that doesn’t stop him from handing out justice and taking up for the little man if you are a fan of westerns then you need to do yourself a favor and read the Luke Jensen books by William and Jay Johnstone this is truly americana at its best. I love the residents of Johnstone country in Luke and his cousin smoke or my favorite I want to thank NetGalley and Kensington books for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

[Darlene Christensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luke Jensen is a bounty hunter who is after a kill crazy robber named Melichus. Along the way Luke meets some interesting people he come to think kindly of and in his way grieves their deaths. During this book a picture of trials people endured a picture which is part of what I like about this author's books.

[Gins54 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Death and destruction

This book was filled with "unbelievable" death and destruction. Nothing more, nothing less.
As I started to read it, I remembered why I had stopped reading William Johnstone's books before. Maybe this time I'll remember when I see another one advertised. Wanton ugliness that I don't want in my life!!!

[Richard Guerrero · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just finished this series and I’m glad. Love my western Reeves but this one start again in a little too silly as the series went on. Most of this authors books are like that but he does have some good ones mixed in here and there.

[William Crisp · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful story told well.

A marathon of killing and violence. Over confidence and arrogance proved fatal in this story. A tale of good (sorta) against a maniacal killer. Recommend this book if you are a fan of the series.

[David Burnworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sadly was the last book in this series. Luke gets caught off-guard on a river boat while is pursuit of his most dangerous bounty hunt, from there, there is more action that follows, with payback and the continuation of the bounty he was after.

[Nancy Brady · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it but not one of the better Johnstone books and I love the Jensen family

[Dirk Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a good read

I enjoyed reading this book. As always lots and lots of action. Could hardly put the book down. I would recommend this book to everyone.

[Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of murder and mayhem.

[Derrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was different than the last one, but I just am not the largest fan anymore. Had a different storyline, but just didn't keep me interested.

[Lynn Slezak · Rating 5 out of 5]

good nox

A little more graphically violent than most of his books, but Luke Jensen was dealing with violent people. I still recommend this novel.

[PottWab Regional Library]

E

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite a Johnstone misstep. Johnstone editors needed to reign in this writer and have some re-reading of original W.W. Johnstone books. This was more bad pulp novel than typical Johnstone quality fare. 'Melichus'?

Hard to write there is a plot involved. This is basically a long, MatthewReilly-esque chase book. Except with nearly non-stop fighting, explosions, bloody body parts and plenty of death. Of the 275 Johnstone books I've read, this may be the bloodiest I've read. There's really no need to have the repetitive pieces of skull references.

A major complaint I have of this volume is the prevalence of Valley-girl-isms so prominent in today's vernacular. Not to be heard back then. A lot of this written in the dialogue of Luke Jensen. Luke sounded more a decedent of Reese Witherspoon than Smoke Jensen.
There are a few times when the Luke dialogue swings from Valley-girl to a diatribe more likely heard from a Harvard graduate.

Something odd I noted throughout the book is the excessive use of actions using the letter 's'. 'Stumbled', 'scrambled', 'swarmed', 'scurried', more 'stumbled', 'stutter-stepped', etc.

One thing this book does do is move. There is very little of the excesses I find in more recent Johnstone books. Thing, is the character development doesn't exist, as it does in most all Johnstone books, and I found I really didn't care whatever happened to whoever.

Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 2 out of ten points.
Of all the Johnstone books I've read, this is one of, maybe, 5 I've given such a low rating.