Wednesday 23 February 2022

HARD LUCK MONEY

THE LONER
Number 14 of 15
By J.A. Johnstone
Pinnacle, July 2012

A beautiful young woman has an incredible story about her outlaw father who got busted out of jail and then met a bloody end. Katherine Lupo believes her dad, a career train robber, was sprung by someone who wanted to set him up for another crime – and then killed him when the job was done. A Texas Ranger believes her and turns to The Loner, to go undercover and find out who was behind Lupo’s escape and murder. Posing as train robber, The Loner finds what he is after: a cold blooded and deadly master criminal. But from the get-go, The Loner is fighting for his life, for the lives of men and women on the right side of the law – and one desperate shot to plant an evil man six feet under.

The first part of this book tells of what happened to Lupo, telling the tale of his jailbreak and reveals who was behind it and what they want from the bank robber. The story then follows his involvement with the gang and his death at the hands of a cold-blooded killer. 

Kid Morgan, The Loner, doesn’t want to get involved, but eventually agrees. Given a new identity the Kid is thrown into prison hoping the gang will free him for his fake talents as a successful train robber. There are some tense scenes inside the prison as the Kid finds he can’t trust anyone, fellow prisoners or guards.

Soon the Kid is sprung in an explosive jailbreak and he finds himself riding with the gang on a train robbery, will he be forced to break the law? He is also surprised to find a beautiful young woman is part of the gang and he is puzzled as to her involvement. Can she be trusted as she wants him to help her escape the gang?

Like the previous books this one moves forward at a tremendous pace. The plot is straight-forward enough but the author keeps it interesting by adding twists and turns that soon had me wondering how the Kid could possibly bring the gang to justice. Filled with great characters and lots of action I found this book to be just as enjoyable as those before it and on reaching the end I was left eager to read the next in the series, something I’ll be doing very soon.

2 comments:

James Seger said...

Do you know who the author or authors of The Loner series are?

Steve M said...

The identity of the authors writing behind the Johnstone name is a closely guarded secret so I've never bothered trying to work it out.