THESE MEN CHOSE HELL

FORT MISERY

THESE MEN CHOSE HELL

By William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone

Pinnacle, July 2025

Welcome to Fort Misery – where the lowliest dregs of the U.S. Army defend the driest patch of lawless desert against the most sadistic killers in the Wild, Wild West. Sometimes it takes a bad man with a gun to stop another bad man with a gun . . . 

They’re not what you’d call “the good guys.” They’re a mangy pack of despicable deserters, thieves, mutineers, and worse. But as condemned soldiers in an overstretched army, they were given a choice: death by hanging or serving out their time in a hell on earth.

These men chose hell.

Located at the farthest edge of the Yuma Desert, Fort Grierson is a magnet for trouble. Vicious attacks by marauding Apaches and gunslinging outlaws are practically a daily occurrence – and the men holding down the fort are hardly any better. Hence the nickname Fort Misery. When a group of professors show up at the fort in search of lost treasure, a series of gruesome murders begins. The men of Fort Misery will have to find the culprit before they all meet a terrible end . . .

This second book in the Fort Misery series has been a long time coming. Book one came out in February 2023 and I enjoyed reading it.

Captain Kellerman has a number of problems to deal with this time around, not least keeping his soldiers in line, one of whom believes he is Jesus, and dealing with the daily issues of running a fort. His new challenges include the threat of Apache attack. A group of archologists who are digging up his parade ground with President Grant’s permission. Have they unleashed evil spirits? Certainly, the weather has taken a turn for the worse and people are dying since their arrival. Then there’s the gunslingers camped out in the desert. What are they after? Can Kellerman trust them when he enlists their help to fight off the Apache? There’s also the beautiful girl who’s arrived with the professors who seems to be as attracted to him as much as he is to her. And then the murders begin. All the story threads ensure there is never a dull moment in this book.

The author switches regularly between various characters, although he mainly sticks with the officers within the army. The violence is vicious at times, especially the descriptions of the murders. The author also surprised me with one of the characters he killed off and at how soon he did so. Tensions are described well, particularly whilst waiting for the Apache to launch their assaults on the fort. There is also a fair amount of humour thrown in, mostly in conversation, that lightens the tone of the tale now-and-again. 

For a good portion of the book, the author keeps the identity of the mysterious killer a secret but even when known I found myself waiting with bated breath for the next murder – how would it be done and who would be the victim? 

Everything builds to a dramatic finale that brought a close to all the storylines satisfactory, and in some case not as I thought they would. Like in the first book, the final paragraphs of this story seem to be setting up more problems for the soldiers of Fort Misery to deal with, and I for one am looking forward to reading about them whenever the third book appears. 

American readers can get a copy here 

British readers can get a copy here