Courage of the Mountain Man (The Last Mountain Man) [Mass Market Paperback]

William W. Johnstone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 7, 1995 | Series: The Last Mountain Man

Clint Black ran the biggest cattle operation in Montana. His Circle 45 spread controlled the best water, the richest graze, and he had his own personal army of cutthroats. And he didn't like competition. Only a fool could fail to see trouble when Smoke Jensen brought 3,500 head up from Colorado to sell to Black's neighbour. Jensen was willing to talk to the man, but Clint Black was more hard headed than sensible, more bloodthirsty than businesslike. So when he heard that Smoke was headed this way, he set up a little roadblock...backed by the biggest guns in the territory. Then he sent out the work to Smoke Jensen: Back down or die!

--This text refers to an alternate Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From AudioFile

Clint Black is the heavy in another Smoke Jensen potboiler. The evil and ornery Black is a cattle kingpin with henchmen and guile to spare, as evidenced when Jensen and company dare to move cattle through Black's turf. As listeners will often find in these two-fisted productions, the Mountain Man episode is larded with hammy sound effects and cowboy pulp characters brought to life by Doug van Liew, who clearly wore chaps and spurs throughout the reading. A horse opera with a moral, for those who like their justice Old West-style, COURAGE OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN is good escapist fun. D.J.B. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Zebra Books (December 7, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821753665
• ISBN-13: 978-0821753668
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,241,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Another fine entry in the Smoke Jensen series of Westerns - you'll want to read them all so get the list!, January 5, 2012

By 

DAVERAT "daverat" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Courage of the Mountain Man (Mountain Man #10) (Mass Market Paperback)

This particular series of Westerns, featuring the character of Smoke Jensen, have fiercly dedicated fans. I"m more of a casual reader myself, but I have been buying these books as gifts for a family friend who is serving a prison sentence for almost 3 years now. I am rating these based on his reviews and the latter half of the series that I have read. My freind tells me these are the perfect escape books for people who are either incarcerated or perhaps disabled or elderly and I would say that's a fair assessment. The action is fast-paced and the descriptions of the Western frontier are authentically detailed. Both my friend and I appreciate that WWJ often refers to historic events of interest and will try and tie the story in with those happenings. Reading this series and the Preacher Series by the same author has motivated my friend to ask for non-fiction books about the Frontier and the Old West, so Jophnstone is clearly kindling an interest in the time period about which he writes. My friend was a "reluctant reader" and young when I began sending these, so these books might appeal to teens who like Western films, comics orother media but can't be tied down to a book! The Smoke Jensen series covers so much of the Western Frontier and even afterwards there is a carry-on series featuring Matt Jensen. It's important to get the list of the books in order of publication so you can begin where you left off. See my Update note below regarding that.

Having begun reading these books myself I can attest that they are well-wrriten and intelligent but they do not require the reader to have a master's degree in history or be a total history geek. True events are worked into the structure of the stories or mentioned by the characters as part of the action itself. In addition, Johnstone manages to weave in real western or cowboy poet poems or quotes such as famed Yukon Poet, Robert W. Service! It's attention to that kind of detail that makes the books so authentic and fun to read. The stories really take you away, transporting you to that time amd way of life while remaining fast-paced and action-oriented. His politics are a bit conservative/Libertarian but not in a bad way. It's more that Johnstone's protagonists advocate being able to take care of themselves and others, which is fitting with the time periods in which he sets his fiction. He does have a futuristic, post-apocalypse series written , but I have not read that yet. I undertsand politics play a bigger part in those books. So, as you can see, these are good and fun, fast reads but not "dumbed-down" books by any stretch of the imagination. They merely attempt to make the reader feel a part of the story as opposed to an observer. I like that.

There are currently 34 books in this particular series and the first 28 or so were written totally by WWJ. The later books were collaborations with his niece Jo Johnstone. WWJ himself passed away a few years ago in 2004 or 2006, depending on your source. Since his death, Jo has taken over most of the continuing series. However, readers didn't even realize the man had died until his publisher 'fessed up so I would assume that the current writer is keeping with the same tried & true formula that fans expect when they buy one of these books. When I began sending the later books to my family friend, he never noticed any major changes in the quality of the story-telling. Therefore I assume that Jo Johnstone, niece and Assistant to the original writer must be working from an outline W.W.J. left behind. That would be my guess since he wrote several series at once and planned them all out carefully. In case it matters to others and some have messaged me, I started sending the books to my family friend as part of a Christian Program. I've learned a lot about what books are popular "inside" as a result. I got the idea of sending these to elderly friends as a result and they loved them just as much! These are fun, entertaining books that manage to learn 'ya a little somethin' along the way!

Update Jan 2012: Wikipedia has a list of the order of publication by title of each series if you simply search on the authors name. Then you can print that out & figure out where you want to begin or restart your reading. My family friend has almost finished the Smoke Jensen series but still has a lot of the Preacher series to go. Many of these books are available in the older, double book format, or as part of the bargain 4 for 3 program. That's why having the list is good. SOme are on 4 for 3 and some aren't but you can plan ahead with your reading! If you are sending to someone who is incarcerated and want to take advtange of the 4 for 3 program, find out how may books you can send in one week or if you can delay shipment if need be. If you're reading them for your own pleasure or sending them to somebody in a nursing home, then this is unlikely to be an issue for you.

As for the List I found on Wikipedia - I typed up the list in WORD on a double sided page printout and mailed my friend 2 copies; 1 for his reference and one for mine. I had him send me one copy back marked up with where he was in each series and which ones interested him the most and he did that. It's a good system. When I buy one, I draw a line through it. When he tells me he got it, I check it off in red. He does the same and that way we're one the same page. These William W. Johnstone Series set in the Western Frontier both the Smoke Jensen MountainMen series, the newer Matt Jensen series and the Preacher Man Series are highly desirable as "trade items" on the inside and/or will be greatly welcomed if your loved one donates them to the facilities library. I have found out over the years that having good books to "trade, share or donate is a very useful thing to a man or woman behind bars.If you're generous with your books when you're done with them, you are likely to be offered other people's books when they finish theirs and Smoke Jensen is a popular dude!

FYI: For those sending to incarcerated readers, here's something interesting I learned, If you write P.O. BOX NO PO BOX on the first line of the address, Amazon's computer will ship them via the USA Postal Service so for example, I write Names: John Doe # 123456789XYZ, PO BOX NO PO BOX - Whatever C.I., Street Address , City, Zip code, My phone number. That way it doesn't violate most State Prison rules. Using that P.O. BOX NO PO BOX trick bypasses UPS or Fedex if you have PRIME and ships the books out Via Postal Service 2nd Day service. Check the used books too because some of the cheaper used ones are Prime Eligible and if you're paying for Prime, why not take advantage of the free shipping?

If you know somebody who could use a little escape to this time period, you really can't go wrong with these books. The only thing I would say is to be aware of his politics which do tend to be a little bit on the conservative side of things. This doesn't figure as much in the westerns but in his Post-apocalypse series mentioned above and called ASHES, it's front and center. Many fans of Westerns have never gotten around to that series but I'm just puttin' it out there for you so you know. You never know, you might just like those books too!

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but not his best, April 30, 2003

By 

Max Inman (holland, mi. U.S.A) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Courage of the Mountain Man (The Last Mountain Man) (Mass Market Paperback)

Smoke Jensen takes 3,500 head of cattle up into Montana to sell to the neighbor of Clint Black, a man who would try anything to desuade or prevent anyone from doing something black does not want to happen. But trying to stop Jensen is like trying to stop an 18 ft. hole in Hoover Dam with a cotton swab.