Shooting Iron by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This 2nd entry in the ‘Devil’s Gulch’ series, is a bit of a drop from the first. The story is good and plotted out well. Unfortunately, there is a lot of repetitive narrative and dialogue that drags the book. This is really a shorter story drawn out far more than it should have been. The repetitive narrative and dialogue gets irritating. The writer need a nudge by the Johnstone editors to grab a thesaurus. A tighter approach would’ve made a great book.

I guess the issue is the length of book equating to funds paid the writers so that length matches. Ugh!
As readers are falling away in droves, shorter books would be a far better trail to take.
Maybe a collection of shorter stories. The preview section at the end of each book is already adding a good bit of another story.

The plot and story is a very good one. The characters very good. There are returning characters and new ones. The Henderson character was a good addition and added a layer that well aided the story.
The writing, setting aside the excess, is well done.

This book is a continuation of the first. However, a reader doesn’t have to read the first to follow the story.

I have no idea who is picking the Johnstone Clan titles, but this is another bad one. I get the simple-title-to-sell mantra. I just believe the johnstone moniker should do better.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 6 out of ten points.
I had access to this book via the NetGalley.com site.

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