Heart of the Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

* Just to note: Due to illness and a hafty workload, I’ve fallen behind my goal of 100 books in 2018. So, I’m reading through a series of Mountain Man books to catch up.*

The book that preceded this one, ‘Guns of the Mountain Man, was just terrible. A bulk of the book were pages and pages of previous books framed as a flashback. Here the formula continues to a lesser extent.

I don’t know what was happening in the Johnstone Clan stable at the time of the publication of this book. Was Johnstone fighting illness now and unfinished books were filled with other content to beef them up? Was Johnstone thinking such reflection necessary? But why at 25 books into the series such a dramatic change of course? There had been reflection in past books occasionally, but not at the rate of ‘Guns’ and then this one, ‘Heart of the Mountain Man’.

Instead of Smoke’s wife being kidnapped, this time it’s the sheriff’s with not unexpected results ensuing. One plus is references to various characters that populate the town and area usually not mentioned much after their initial appearance. The writing is fine. The characters always good. The settings lacking.

The title stinks and cover art useless. I get the tradition of the one word followed by ‘of the Mountain Man’, but I’m dumbfounded why better words are hardly ever used at this point. That and just any ol’ tin type form hundred plus years ago is tacked on the cover. I know this changes later, but, unfortunately not much for the better.

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

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