The Jensen Brand by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As has mostly been consistently the case, the first of the very many Johnstone Clan book series is very good. The books have more depth and better characters. This one is no exception.

The story is introducing even more character’s to the Smoke Jensen series. The characters have been mentioned in the series over the multi-dozens of Smoke books, but never fleshed out beyond mere mentions. The two of focus here are still not as fleshed out as others have been in the past. The writer expects the reader to accept the shallow staging.

Oddly, it’s the bad guy who is extremely well written. This is one of the first Johnstone books since the early part of the Smoke series that the bad guy really comes across as threatening beyond a list all of the bad things the bad guy had done. The technique the writer used to enhance the threat I usually see by the most skilled writers. I wonder why such techniques weren’t used to the two characters introduced.

The story is standard for the Johnstone Clan, but a nice diversion of the nearly identical stories that have been repeated ad nauseum in the Smoke series. It’s a linear story with no surprises and a mostly expected ending.

For Johnstone Clan followers of the Smoke Jensen series this is a milestone of introducing the weird disappearance of the Jensen children. The explanations given to their being gone is ridiculous. Especially as other children are brought in by the Jensens over the 3 decades of the ‘Last Mountain Man’ series.

Bottom line: i recommend this book: 6 out of 10 points.

View all my reviews

A Funny Thing Happened to Me on My Way to the Grave by Jack Douglas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As I re-read the Jack Douglas library in order for the first time, I see how Douglas produced his first books as a collection of avant-garde views. Douglas starts here, writing about his life, coalescing his writing skills as a cohesive narrative. His next books hone these skills to some wonderfully funny and poignant books.

In this autobiography Douglas again presents what he claims happens and that which he wraps in humor. His writing is a bit clunky, but his anecdotes get better throughout.

There are many references to Hollywood celebrities, but not as many as might be found in even a lesser known celebrity biography. Douglas keeps the name dropping to a minimum.

Bottom line: I recommend this book: 6 out of 10 points.

View all my reviews

Cheyenne Challenge by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After reading a few Johnstone Clan clunkers, including one that came out around the time this book came out, it’s GREAT to read very good Johnstone Clan book.

The book is very well written with terrific narrative of surroundings and dialogue. Too many Johnstone Clan books will take Preacher or Smoke and have their dialogue entirely shift gears many times through out story making the reader have to wonder of the character’s sanity. This book is pretty consistent with all characters.

Also, often efforts to add character nuances fails miserably. This author of the Clan deftly includes details that click in well. There are also various levels occurring throughout the book better handled than in other Johnstone Clan books.

The story has been written many times, including in Johnstone Clan books. But this is the better of all stories I’ve read.

Bottom Line: I recommend this book. 8 out of 10 points.

View all my reviews

My Brother Was an Only Child by Jack Douglas
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Never thought I’d repeat a review for a book. But my opinion of Douglas’ ‘Never Trust a Naked Bus Driver’ is the same as my opinion of ‘My Brother Was an Only Child’.

———————————-
I have been a Jack Douglas fan since I was in junior high school and first discovered his writings in the Orlando Public Library. It’s been a long while since I’ve really read Douglas. I recently came across most all of his library during my travels to add to the entire library I’ve had for decades. That and other happenings in my life trajectories has me delving back into the humor genre and I’m starting by re-reading Douglas.

After reading this book I can’t recall that I’ve read it before, but know I have. The reason I likely don’t remember reading this book is how shallow it is to the bulk of Douglas’ other books. The book seems a dumping ground for whatever Douglas scribbles at anyone time. Frankly, much of it comes across as being written during the cocktail hour.

Nearly the entire book are non-sequiturs a-plenty that leads to somebody killing someone else or themselves. It quickly gets predictable and less and less funny. For a short book there are a number of pages of just one line that really doesn’t lead to much.

Again, I love Douglas’s writings…just not this.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book. 4 of ten points.

View all my reviews

Never Trust a Naked Bus Driver by Jack Douglas
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have been a Jack Douglas fan since I was in junior high school and first discovered his writings in the Orlando Public Library. It’s been a long while since I’ve really read Douglas. I recently came across most all of his library during my travels to add to the entire library I’ve had for decades. That and other happenings in my life trajectories has me delving back into the humor genre and I’m starting by re-reading Douglas.

After reading this book I can’t recall that I’ve read it before, but know I have. The reason I likely don’t remember reading this book is how shallow it is to the bulk of Douglas’ other books. The book seems a dumping ground for whatever Douglas scribbles at anyone time. Frankly, much of it comes across as being written during the cocktail hour.

Nearly the entire book are non-sequiturs a-plenty that leads to somebody killing someone else or themselves. It quickly gets predictable and less and less funny. For a short book there are a number of pages of just one line that really doesn’t lead to much.

Again, I love Douglas’s writings…just not this.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book. 4 of ten points.

View all my reviews

The Great Train Massacre by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A good tale from the Johnstone Clan. Territory covered before, but this may be the best that has covered it. The story is riddled with complications for all, except for the inevitable. The predictability of the Johnstone books is wearing on me was I close in on 100 read. The earliest Smoke books were very unpredictable and anyone could die in those. This book stays in the safe territory of all of it’s characters.

The characters in this volume do not stand out as much as others in the various series. The settings are very good at first and simplify as the book continues. This book is one that particularly felt as if it were created with a template.

Bottom line: I recommend the book. 5 out of 10 points.

View all my reviews

The Wind at My Back : The Life and Times of Pat O’Brien by Pat O’Brien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

St Patrick’s Day was in view and I thought I’d ready of a stalwart Paddy. Pat O’Brien was such a constant part of a long string of films with his fellow Irish in Hollywood, James Cagney, Frank McHugh, Allen Jenkins, etc, etc. Opening the recent book acquisition I settled in to a view of Hollywood from Paddy. But, that is not what i found.

O’Brien begins the book very strong laying out in great detail about birth, life in Wisconsin, war and all else leading to his career in show business. He steps that up with a fascinating view of his time on and off stage in theater. This is the strongest part of the book. Especially interesting is the parallel of career with Spencer Tracy.

In 1930 he found himself being bought off the stage and into Howard Hughes’ film, ‘The Front Page’. Thus began his film career. But here is where the book severely stumbles. After such great insights of life in the theater and his life, O’Brien then starts tacking together various vignettes of only some of his film work and his life. It’s an odd shift. Did he not want to write about his time in film? Was he behind in his deadline for the book and thought writing of his film time would be easier and then found he had to rush through it? Something else?

At a point in his career he found himself unable to get work. He writes in the book many times about his frustration never learning of his blacklisting, though he felt it had nothing to do with the more well-known communist black listing. As he writes, he was non-political. The passion of his writing of his frustration has me wonder if that is why he didn’t write much of his film work. Did the black listing make him feel his entire film career was wasted.

He writes of his favorite films he made. But the writing is with noted hesitation. There’s an entire chapter about Knute Rockne. But the writing leans more about the Catholic angle of the film than the actual making of the film.

Catholicism is the solid foundation that O’Brien built his life with. He writes of this in every way throughout his book. That might also explain his hesitancy of writing more about his film career. Did O’Brien feel it was God’s will to restrict his ability to make movies and thus he shouldn’t have pursued movies? This is somewhat supported by his writing that he returned to the stage to pay bills and there is obvious passion in his writing of his return to theater.

He also devotes significant space of his time, sometimes very dangerous, entertaining our military servicemen during World War II. He is clearly, and rightly, proud of his efforts. Exciting stories are presented in this chapter.

Though O’Brien is a noted member of the “Irish Mafia”, some members noted above, almost nothing is written of gatherings. What is well intertwined throughout the book is being a member of The Lambs Club in New York City. This he was proud to be a part of. I’m pretty certain he was part of other organizations. But those are not mentioned. The Lambs are.

This is otherwise a well written book, though not well laid out to tell O’Brien’s story. The book is clearly a view of what O’Brien was most proud of in his life.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 7 of 10 points.

View all my reviews

The Apostle by Brad Thor
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

‘The Apostle’ is a standard action novel of Brad Thor’s hero, Scot Harvath, but with an odd anchor attached.

The book starts very well with a nice set up for a potential novel of intrigue and solving a hostage issue involving a very interesting character with even more interesting ties to the President. All of that is quickly and then thoroughly squandered as still another repetitive tale of Harvath to the rescue. There was so much to play with that was earlier presented. Why Thor didn’t construct a better story is a stronger mystery than how Harvath will solve the kidnapping.

How the problem is solved involves still another team attached to Harvath that has a highly unbelievable rate of success in all ways to solve the problem. Again, if the earlier start of the book wasn’t to be used, why not, at least, make Harvath’s job more difficult and interesting.

The anchor in the book is a side story that is nearly entirely unrelated to the main plot of the book. Why Thor tacked it on is still another mystery hard to figure than how Harvath will end a story. Here’s the really odd part: The side story is more interesting than the main plot. Thor should have duped the whole Harvath plot and just focus on the side story..

Characters are OK and are either returning or rehashed older characters. Settings are particularly good throughout the book.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book. 4 out of 10 points.

View all my reviews

Apalachee Gold by Frank G. Slaughter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a lesser of Slaughter’s books. The depth of the narrative is sorely missing and the dialogue is irritating. The plot is, as usual, very tight to the historical known evidence. This being the most fascinating part of any Slaughter historical novel.

Slaughter’s characters are almost entirely based upon people noted in the journey of Cabeza and his gang across north America and, it appears, Slaughter has done a fantastic job depicting who they were, what they did and how they did it.

The narrative of this Slaughter book is very weak. In other books involving early Florida, you can almost feel the effort to cut through saw grass and palmetto, as written by Slaughter. In this book, Slaughter skims descriptions of landscape and settings and sticks to much more dialogue than usual for him.

It’s Slaughter’s dialogue in this book that disturbs me, as accurate as it may be. He well represented typical banter translated from Spanish. The Spanish language is a simplistic one. The incredible nuances of the English language just don’t exist. It appears Slaughter wrote out his dialogue, had it translated & edited in Spanish and then translated back in English to give the book further authenticity. Slaughter is usually so eloquent with the exchanges of characters. Here there’s a bluntness I don’t care for, much as I am not fan of the Spanish language. So, that I find Slaughter’s effort to be authentic to be admired and irritating as well.

All of this comes to what seems to be a quick effort by Slaughter lacking depth.

Bottom line: i don’t recommend this book. 5 out of 10 points.

View all my reviews

From Dawn to Sunset, Recollections of a Pioneer Florida Judge, Volume II by E.C. May
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Author May continues his life experiences in this sequel to his first book. The tales take place mostly in Alachua, Citrus and Marion Counties in Florida. The tales reveal much of the lives of those living in those areas in the late 1800s and early 1900s that is missing in most histories of Florida. Little is recognized of the very violent ways of folks back then all over Florida. While Florida preceded the west with cowboys and saloons, it also continued those ways after most of the west settled down. May’s writings back that up.

The first collection of stories was a very good collection. This one has a weaker lot. The most interesting stories are of the characters that crossed May’s path.

The largest trouble of May’s book is, it seems, that May was trying to write better and made many, many, many missteps throughout the book. It’s not typographical errors, it’s using words in the wrong places or using words that don’t make any sense at all. The contextual errors made me have to stop and wonder what he was writing about at times. The book is confusing.

Bottom line: I recommend this book for Florida history folks. 7 out of 10.
All others probably best to pass. 4 out of ten points.

View all my reviews

Creed of the Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

What a disaster. How did this one get past Johnstone, who was still alive when this one was published? This racks up all the worst a book can conjure: Very poor writing, poor plotting, vast inconsistency, poor history, bad characters, scant settings and that’s enough.

I have no idea who wrote this book, but can maybe, possibly forgive if there were a dozen people involved, in different countries writing in different languages. How on earth did Johnstone let his foundation character get this mangled? Smoke Jensen goes from confident farmer, to child sounding lost soul to bloody killer to lion of the law. Worse there are flashbacks where parts of other books are lifted making this all even more apparent.

As I’ve been mostly reading the Mountain Man series in order I’ve found the last few to have flashbacks with parts of other books included. I put up with it once. then twice and now after more lazy acts like this, I strike this book down. This is the worse of the others in that much larger chunks of other books are used. This is a lousy way to cheat the reader.

The plot is a mess. There is a good idea at the hear t of it all, but it’s all old territory traveled more than Preacher has traveled the mountains. There are all kinds of problems to point out, including all of the lifted material. Let me focus on one obvious detail. Jensen is a witness to a crime. He knows he and another mountain man are the only witnesses. Jensen then chases down those who did the crime and goes WAY out of his way to bring them to trial and threatens everyone if the verdict isn’t against the bad guys.

So, what does, always written as smart & clever, Smoke Jensen do. He leaves. Thus undermining the very trial he fought for. Thus, the bad guys have to be freed with no evidence and that places Jensen tracking them down to just threaten them again. So what next happens? The book is ended with zero resolution to the threats. The book ends with some sappy silliness with Jensen’s wife, who, in this book, is a nymphomaniac.

Of the 75+ Johnstone books I’ve read, this is one of about three I’ve panned so hard. The others are just written poorly and not of the western genre.

Bottom line: i don’t recommend this book. 1 out of 10 points.

View all my reviews