Customer Reviews

Last Mountain Man/Return of Th (The Last Mountain Man)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The Last Mountain Man" is the beginning of the Smoke Jensen story. Smoke is a raw naive kid, who learns fast, and won't take any crap from any outlaw murdering thief. If you like the Western genre you'll LOVE William W. Johnstone's "Mountain Man" series. Smoke Jensen is genuine.

I read this book when it was first out in paper back, since then, I think I've read everything Johnstone has written. A true storyteller.

I LOVE THIS BOOK. IT IS HIS BEST ONE. I AM GLAD THAT I GOT ONE OF THE FIRST COPIES BEFORE THEY CHANGED COVERS.

I was in awe reading about the adventures of Smoke Jensen and Preacher The action was fast and brutal, a real page-turner. You can almost smell the gunsmoke! I'm glad I finally discovered Mr. Johnstone.

The book The Last Mountain Man is about an 18 year old boy named Smoke, who swears to get revenge on the men who killed his father and brother. Smoke lives with a mountain man named Preacher, who teaches Smoke everything he needs to know about the west. I would recommend this book to any one who like westerns and/or action books.

I was a big Louis L'amor fan. Johnstone is an exciting author and reads very much the way L'amor does. This book begins a series about Smoke Jensen. It is excellent!, easy to read, and worthy of the time to read.

For the most part this is a mildly entertaining, simplistic, pulp western. There is some good dialog, a little humor, and some evocative descriptive writing. Character development and motivation is minimal, as is the plot - which is simply one long episode of revenge. The secondary character Preacher is by far the most three-dimensional and interesting. Smoke Jensen and his wife Nicole are both flat and unmemorable.

Unfortunately, just like in Johnstone's "Revenge of the Mountain Man" that I have also read, rape is mentioned at least once every 30 pages; and this book contains a very graphic, disturbing rape-murder. The author is obviously obsessed with sexual violence, and for me it nearly ruined the experience. This book is not suitable for young readers, and seems like an attempt to cross a western with the true crime genre.

If you like western saga's then any Preacher or Smoke Jensen story by William Johnstone is for you. I am hooked on these books. Excellent story lines. Period pieces well researched.Fast paced and the hero's are men you will admire and respect.

We don't use the word "classic" much, but "The Last Mountain Man" is a clasic western and historical fiction. It begins as a coming-of-age novel about a 16 year old boy named Kirby Jensen who discovers his singular agility at drawing and shooting guns is matched with a peculiar indifference to death and dying. Along the way, he meets and is adopted by a mountain man known as Preacher who teaches him how to survive in the wild as they travel together, finally settle on a ranch when Kirby, now nicknamed, "Smoke," falls in love.

As the story builds we learn that Smoke's father and brother have been murdered by treacherous Confederate comrades in the civil war. The suspense grows as more and more hideous deeds are unveiled until finally the evil men go on to kill Preacher and Smoke's wife and baby son. Then, Smoke has no choice but to settle the score that has destroyed his life.

Johnstone's love of the old west, the grandeur and beauty of the terrain as well as the native Americans and Europeans who populate it, is obvious from the first page. His prose is lyrical and his knowledge of the history of that vast area know as "the west" is awesome--one literally feels it as the story unfolds. Against the harshness of the virgin forests, steep mountains, and frozen winters, the author also paints a picture of affection, tenderness, and love among his characters. It's also possible that no one alive can describe a gun battle more dramatically than William W. Johnstone.

If you like history and you like the American west and you want to feel what some of it could have been like, you'll love "The Last Mountain Man."