Review - Preacher's Inferno - 5 stars

 One on the characters in the Johnstone syndicate’s (William & J.A.) group of characters that I like best is Preacher. The recent novel called “Preacher’s Inferno” was great and is in keeping with Preacher who is not a man of the cloth but a mountain man; to be released in late 2021.

In this story set in the Yellowstone area, we find Preacher looking forward to a peaceful rendezvous with fellow trappers and mountain men in a peaceful Crow Indian village. As is likely to happen with Preacher, on his way to the rendezvous he has to rescue another trapper from some less than friendly Blackfeet Indians who are in a war party.  This leads to all the Indians being killed as they are not interested in giving up their captive who might be looking forward to a slow and tortured death at the hands of the Indians.

Preacher and his rescued new friend move on to the rendezvous along the riverbank. Since many of the men in the gathering are rough and tough there are fights and some turn pretty violent.  Some are asked to leave, although told to leave would be more descriptive!

There are a couple of side stories that take place all of which have Preacher front and center. These include stolen Army rifles, attack on the Crow camp by Blackfeet, taking of captives, and the Blackfeet taking the captives into Coulter’s Hell; what the Yellowstone area is called due to the thermal features and the smell of sulfur.

Since the Crow are Preacher’s friends, he and other mountain men and some Crow warriors set out after the attackers.  There is a US Army patrol, which has been seeking the stolen rifles, that has been close by and agrees to accompany the group into Coulter’s Hell.

All is not as it seems and there is a major battle with the Blackfeet in a very strong position for killing all the rescue party. Lots of action and blood – so if one is squeamish about reading about that maybe try another book.  But if this type action is exciting, then this book is a great read for you.

Review- The Last Stage to El Paso - 4 stars

In one of the Johnstone syndicate’s latest books concerning the two characters Muldoon and Ryan—a stage driver and a shotgun man respectively, the story becomes very interesting, like most of the Johnstone writings are. A haunted stage along with drugs, a beautiful woman and other stage performers all wrap into this story.

In the Last Stage to El Paso, there is a doomed stage (maybe haunted or cursed or just unlucky) and a long trip with interesting characters including Miss Erica a fan dancer heading eastward to perform her dance. The stage has a nickname of the Gray Ghost, and it is different. The stage crew is sure that evil follows it. Mainly because all of the previous three crews of driver and shotgun are dead in violence but no one can tell why!

Getting all the passengers to their destinations turns out to be more of an experience that either Buttons or Red bargained for but true to their owner and his company ideals, they push on. How many of the five passengers will survive and will the fou
rth driver and shotgun survive?  At times that is questionable that any will do so. Between outlaws, mafia, and Apache it seems like they may all die violently.

An enjoyable read. If you haven’t read a Red Ryan story before this one might be an adventuresome one to start with.

 

Review - Red Burning Sky - 5 stars

 

Picking up the book Red Burning Sky by Tom Young and looking at the cover, it seems pretty obvious that it is a book about large aircraft of the WW II vintage.  A parachute coming down helps to convey that feeling.

What is interesting about the book is that it was based on actual happenings and the courage and fortitude of not only American fliers but of allied friends in Yugoslavia.  The almost civil war among those who supported the Communist Tito and those who did not like the communist ideals is a sidebar to the story of hundreds of American fliers shot down and rescued by one band of the Yugoslavs called Chetniks (not the Communist Partisans). 

The story follows one bombardier, Lieutenant Bill Bogdonavich, whose father was from Yugoslavia and he makes a connection with the locals who are all too thrilled to have someone who can speak their language, at least somewhat. The other primary American is another Lieutenant Drew Carlton who is a natural as a pilot but has had a series of mishaps that let some in the USAAF to think he might be a coward.

Carlton and Bogdonavich have stories that parallel and intertwine those of the local people.  It is about courage, redemption, and fear.  I would guess unless one has had the experience of being put to the test of life and death that this might be as close to what it must feel like.  Young does a masterful job of storytelling in this book.

There are up and downs but the ultimate goal of flying into a Nazi controlled area to rescue over 500 American aviators (enlisted and officers) in an unarmed transport plane is the goal.  Unlike planes today that have a much better track record for success the cargo planes of WW II are not always dependable.  

There are real figures from the time as well as those made up in conglomerate and these are explained in the afterword.  But all in all, the story of overcoming fear, comradeship, and courage ring through the story.  If you want to vicariously experience some of these emotions and maybe many others, then this book is for you.

Review - A Valient Deceit - 4 stars

 

 

A Valiant Deceit by Stephanie Graves paints an interesting picture of the how women were able to get into the war effort during World War II.  The main character, Olive Bright, is a member of the F.A.N.Y. (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) who is also a budding sleuth in the fashion of an Agatha Christie novel.  She is also a keeper of homing pigeons in her area of England. During this time, it is very hard for women to be taken seriously in “real” work outside of being a secretary or nurse.  Olive is determined to help change this.

 Olive, because of her skills with the birds including their breeding and training, is a fringe player in the British/Allies using them to be dropped into Europe so intelligence can be “flown” back to England on the Nazi efforts on the Continent.  She has a cover story that she is romantically involved with one of the British Army officers, Jameson (Jamie) Aldridge.  She actually does have feelings for him that seem to always be unrequited on his part.

 The story, based on history, has a lot of twists and turns and involves some explosives being stolen, a murder of a young lieutenant all of which seem to point to a spy having infiltrated the area.  Of course, Olive wants to be in the thick of things and ferret out the culprit or culprits.  You get to follow her logic of who it must be and why.

 Not until the very end does it become totally clear who it might be and this only after a Nazi bombing raid, an attempted murder, and a few other intervening activities. Olive is required to put all her survival and detective skills to work to make sure that the spy does not keep sending information back to handlers in Germany.

 The story starts rather slowly and seems to be in what I term English slowness but as the reader progresses through the story it becomes better and better.  So, if one is a bit put off at first, please keep at it –it will be better!!

 The historic nature of this story is also inspiring to read, and the author does a great job in the “Author’s Note” at the end describing what is fully true and where she took some liberties for the sake of the story.  A most enjoyable book.