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.