The Whip Hand -- 3 stars

Reading "The Whip Hand," the idea of a bullwhip came to mind.  Well not so -- in this book, it refers to a fast draw!  It is Hunter Buchanan, a former Confederate soldier in the recent Civil Way, who is the Whip Hand.  Along with his father, Angus, and an orphaned boy Nate, Hunter and his hard won wife Anna are trying to make a go of it on a Box-Bar-B Ranch.  Hard work has been needed to get to this point but this effort is paying off in the sale of 10 of their most beautiful horses for $200 each..

Thrown in with the $2,000, a number of outlaws and various other criminals who want either money, horses, a woman, or all of the above and you have a story to read about.  At first, the novel starts pretty slowly and is sort of boring and very cliched with character development.  The storyline is so predictable adding to the boredom.  However, as a Hunter's wife is kidnapped, his beating, and other shootings happen, the story seems to get better; perhaps the reader just gets used to the cliched action.  Most Westerns have the good guys win in the end and this is not really different but the intervening action seems stilted at times. Don't forget the marauding grizzly, money from a train robbery, Pinkerton agents on the case, and a one-armed man along with an orphan, leading a second story plot up mountain terrain.

It is not an awful book but does not live up to the kind of action I am used to seeing from the Johnstone authors.  Perhaps different ghost writers?  Not sure about that.  I did not hate the story at the end but in the beginning almost said no to continuing. Not the best of the Johnstone family output, in my opinion.

 Some Die Young --5 stars *****

The Johnstone family has another hit character in John Bannack (aka John Cochran).  He is also known as the Man from Waco.  In the basic story line, John has been convicted of a crime, which he didn't commit, and sentenced to 20 years of hard labor.  He soon becomes an enforcer for a sympathetic judge and essentially has free run of the area bringing in other real criminals.

 Unfortunately, that judge who, before he died granted John a pardon after 5 years, but another judge (Grant) who for whatever reason hated John was determined to re-imprison him for the remainder of his 20-year sentence.  John suspected this might happen and he took off from the area and just decided to head west.

He stopped by to see and older brother and to say goodbye.  Then he just took off toward the setting sun with no particular place in mind.  He stopped by several places and wherever his stature and looks caused people to think him a criminal. In realty, he was a gentle giant always looking after the little people and those in need.  This caused him to get involved with a man half his size when two robbers were trying to kill him and take his wagon.  John ran them off and helped the man, who was a barber, and his wagon was carrying an honest-to-goodness real barber chair from back east.

The barber prevailed on John to come to his town where once again he had to become the salvation as a drunken man had kidnapped three women in a restaurant.  Just so happens that this Dawson boy, was the son of a notorious family of criminals who were determined on revenge and release of the kidnapper.

As you might imagine John, who had been named town marshal, took a dim view of such shenanigans, and fought back.  This struggle is the main focus of most of the book along with the notorious Judge Raymond Grant who wanted John either dead or back in prison getting involved with finding John.

A good read that is very fast and action-packed.  A good story even if cliched!  I enjoyed it.

 

 

Fort Buzzard --5 stars *****

Just about any book with Preacher, a renowned Mountain Man, is good.  Add in his longtime pal Jamie MacCallister and you've got a blockbuster.  This book is no exception -- it is just great.

Jamie and Preacher have been tasked by the Army to find out what happened in a gruesome murder of some soldiers and a surveying crew in the mountains looking for a path for a new railroad.;  The two experienced Mountain men take the job and also take an inexperienced freshly minted lieutenant to teach the ropes.in the wild west. 

Two competing businessmen want to blame the other and it is up to the newly arrived group to determine who was behind the gruesome murders of the surveyors.  Could it have been the friendly Crows aggravated at the encroachment or could it have been white men dressed at Indians?  Or even something else.

Leave it to Jamie and Preacher to figure it out, which they do.  In so doing the Johnstones have a fine story to tell.. A definitely good read and highly recommended. It goes fast as it is hard to put down.