An Arizona Christmas

By William W. Johnstone with J.A. Johnstone

Pinnacle, November 2017

Like most families, the Jensens gather together to celebrate the holidays. This year, since half the clan is scattered across the American West, they've decided to split the difference and meet up in Tucson. Matt and Luke will be there, for sure, and maybe Ace and Chance, too. That leaves Sally, Preacher, and Smoke Jensen, who've reserved three seats on a westbound stage to make sure they don't miss out on the festivities. What could possibly go wrong? 

Mother Nature is the first to strike, dusting up the trail with a sandstorm as blinding and deadly as any northern blizzard. Then comes an Apache ambush, forcing the passengers and drivers to seek shelter in a cave. Even if Smoke and Preacher manage to shoot their way out of this, they have another big surprise waiting--a ruthless gang of outlaws after the cargo of cash on the stage, happy to slaughter anyone who tries to stop them. If the Jensens hope to save Christmas this year, they'll need to save their own lives first . . .

The seventh Johnstone book set at Christmas and the first one I’ve read. Great to see the author bringing together some of the Johnstone’s greatest characters but as expected the trail to their Christmas rendezvous doesn’t run smoothly.

Most of the story concentrates on the dangers facing Smoke, Sally and Preacher as they journey together first by train and then stagecoach, and it’s whilst travelling on the latter that most of this tale revolves. The stage is also filled with a number of interesting characters too and the author often switches between them as well as those attempting to stop one of them reaching Tucson.

With outlaws, Apaches, and Mother Nature out to destroy the stagecoach and its passengers the book offers plenty of action and there is an impressive body count. Once the travellers are pinned down in a cave the tension mounts as you’ll be wondering just how they can possibly escape.

One thing I particularly enjoyed was the names of some of the characters, Ballard and Tuttle for instance which many long-time readers of westerns will recognize as past authors of the genre. A nod to those old time pulps which is strengthened by the comments in the last part of the story about newspaper reporters and writing for those pulps.

If you’re looking for a fast read that is packed with gunplay then this is certainly worth adding to your ‘want to read’ list. 

  

Matt Jensen: The Last Mountain Man #6

DAKOTA AMBUSH

By William W. Johnstone, with J.A. Johnstone

Pinnacle, February 2011

Twelve years ago, newspaperman John Bryce saved an innocent man from the hangman’s noose. That man was Matt Jensen. In gratitude, Matt gave Bryce four gold nuggets and told him, “If there’s ever anything I can do, just let me know.” Now, that day has come. As editor of the Fullerton Defender, Bryce has become the target of a powerful – and ruthless – English lord. A feared master duelist, his aim is fixed on the Dakota Territories. His weapons are intimidation and violence. And his hired guns are the most sadistic and deadliest prairie rats Matt Jensen has ever known….

Having read the first book in this series I had fully intended to read each new one as it came out, something I failed to do due to having so many books and not enough time…. Reading this, the sixth in the series, I wondered if it’d contain any spoilers for those I have yet to read, and as far as I can tell it doesn’t.

The book is written well, making for a very enjoyable read. There’s plenty going on to keep the reader interested from beginning to end. The author uses the technique of switching from one set of characters to another effectively, giving the reader a number of different threads to follow, that, of course, all come together eventually. Throughout the book the action and tough talk is neatly balanced by many humorous moments, be they through words or incident.

The story is filled with memorable characters, such as Lord Denbigh, hired assassin Meacham, and the small killer Butrum, all these, and others, proving to be challenging adversaries for Matt Jensen.

Matt Jensen doesn’t appear that much in the story’s first two hundred pages or so, instead the author uses these pages to develop his plot and characters, making the reader anticipate the arrival of Jensen and the justice he will surely bring with him, and when he does arrive the action moves up a gear. The final shootout is both tense and surprising, bringing everything to a very satisfying conclusion.

Reading this makes me really wish I had managed to find the time to read the other four books.

Matt Jensen: The Last Mountain Man

as by William W. Johnstone

with J.A. Johnstone

Pinnacle, September 2007

Matt Cavanaugh was nine years old when a band of outlaws slaughtered his family…Now Matt is 18, honed by hardship, steeped in survival and carrying the last name of the man who raised him: Smoke Jensen. With Smoke’s wisdom and his own courage, Matt Jensen begins a relentless hunt for the outlaws who murdered his family in cold blood. Soon Matt discovers there’s a lot more to vengeance than hunting down a man – and that in the clash of guns and guile, true justice is waiting just beyond a town called Perdition…

This is an extremely readable, and entertaining, book that moves at a brisk pace, full of exciting action, great characters – both good and bad – and a number of humorous moments, such as the incident involving a ham.

The author begins with the killing of Matt’s family and then covers Matt’s life as he struggles to survive on his own in an orphanage and then the wilderness. It’s in the latter part that he is taken under the wing of Smoke Jensen and a good portion of the book covers this time of Matt’s life. Another of Johnstone’s series characters makes an appearance here too, that of the first mountain man: Preacher.

The final part of the book see Matt Jensen out on his own putting everything he’s learnt into practice as he tracks his family’s killers.

I don’t know who wrote the back blurb but there’s an almighty clanger there, the leader of the gang of outlaws is named as Winston Pugh, yet in the book he’s called Clyde Payson.

Does Matt succeed in his quest for vengeance? I guess that’s something you’ll have to find out for yourself.