Last Mountain Man #40

 Strike of the Mountain Man

by

William W. Johnstone

and

J.A. Johnstone

A young man has inherited a ranch—and a whole lot of trouble—in this Western in the New York Times bestselling series.

In Colorado Territory, Smoke Jensen is trying to live at peace with the big, beautiful world around him. Then a tinhorn named Puddle enters his valley—and unleashes a hellstorm of a range war.

Then the shooting started

Malcolm Theodore Puddle is a twenty-one-year-old shipping clerk—from way back East. What is he doing out here? The Mountain Man's former neighbor, Humbolt Puddle, has died and left his crumbling six-hundred-acre ranch to his only living heir, just as a greedy and ruthless cattle baron is circling the Humbolt ranch like a ravenous vulture. Poor, unsuspecting Puddle is walking into a death trap.

Smoke is the not the pitying kind. But any enemy of Smoke's neighbor is his enemy, too: Kill-crazy hired gunmen are threatening the whole valley and good men are dying. Puddle may not be much, but he's all Smoke has—as a take-no-prisoners mountain man and a timid tinhorn make for an army of two . . . in one hell of a fight.

Colonel Marquis Lucien Garneau—a Frenchman with a shadowed past, wanted back home for murder and theft—has crossed the ocean to reinvent himself in Colorado. His ambition? To become the most powerful rancher in the territory.

With Deekus Templeton at his side, Garneau begins seizing land by ruthless means. But he’s never faced a man like Smoke Jensen, a rancher quick on the draw and unwilling to yield.

When Humbolt Puddle secures Smoke’s promise to protect his nephew’s inheritance, Smoke stands ready. Garneau, however, has other plans. Templeton unleashes a band of hired gunmen to crush resistance. Only one man has the skill and grit to stand against them all.

This installment in the Last Mountain Man series delivers sharp writing, relentless action, and page-turning suspense. It’s a Western that grips from the first shot to the final showdown, keeping readers hooked until the very last page.

 Brace for Impact

 by

Anthony J. Tata

The hijackers were among the last to board. Three men in their twenties—sporting close-cropped hair, tactical gear, and carrying small duffel bags—stood out immediately. Alongside them was a sharply dressed Chinese businessman in a $3,000 Zegna suit, also under suspicion. Minutes before takeoff, Zara Sheridan, a newly appointed air marshal and former military police NCO on her first assignment, is scrambling to find their true identities when she receives a disturbing alert from the regional office . . .

An experimental fighter jet, the Hyperion X, has crashed near Sheridan’s North Carolina home. One of the jet’s senior engineers is on board Sheridan’s flight, en route to Taiwan to close a multibillion-dollar deal for Blackwood Aviation. His presence is not a coincidence. But by the time Sheridan realizes who he is—and what’s going to happen—it’s too late . . .

The plane is in the air. The hijack team takes over.

The lives of 350 passengers and 14 crew members are at stake. As tensions rise and the violence escalates, Sheridan uncovers shocking information about the new weapons technology the hijackers are after—and how it could change the course of global events. In the wrong hands, it could trigger a third world war. And she’s the only one who can stop it . . .

Terrifying, tense, and all-too-possible, Brace for Impact delivers a masterfully crafted scenario ripped from tomorrow’s headlines.

Crafting a story confined to the skies could easily feel restrictive, but Tata avoids that trap by splitting the action between Zara Sheridan in the air and her son on the ground. Add in a lethal assassin and shadowy private contractors, and the tension only escalates.

This marks a strong launch to a new series—tight writing, relentless pacing, and suspense that rarely lets up. The action unfolds so cinematically that it practically begs for a film adaptation, one that might even outshine the book itself. If high-octane thrillers packed with danger and intrigue are your thing, this one should be at the top of your list.

Thank you to Kensington and Net Galley for an ARC of this book.

Sharpe Series

 Sharpe's Command

(Sharpe and the Bridge at Almaraz, May 1812)

by

Bernard Cornwell

Outsider.

Hero.

Rogue.

If any man can do the impossible it’s Richard Sharpe.

And the impossible is exactly what the formidable Captain Sharpe is asked to do when he’s sent on an undercover mission to a small village in the Spanish countryside, far behind enemy lines.

For the quiet, remote village, sitting high above the Almaraz bridge, is about to become the center of a battle for the future of Europe. Two French armies march towards the bridge, one from the North and one from the South. If they meet, the British are lost.

Only Sharpe's small group of men—with their cunning and courage to rely on—stand in their way. But they're rapidly outnumbered, enemies are hiding in plain sight, and as the French edge ever closer to the frontline, time is running out. . . .

When you pick up a Richard Sharpe novel, you know exactly what awaits you: relentless action, simmering intrigue, and a brutal clash with the French. True to form, this tale delivers without faltering.

Sharpe and his men are sent to meet a guerrilla leader who promises them a secret path around Miravete Castle. Yet from the outset, something feels off. Their supposed ally proves treacherous—first demanding their gold, then their weapons, and finally, their very lives.

Cornwell’s writing is sharp and compelling, the pace unyielding. Once again, he grips the reader from the opening pages and refuses to let go until the final line.

Thomas Caine Thriller

 White Tiger

by

Andrew Warren

Thomas Caine #6

CIA Paramilitary Officer Thomas Caine is a man with countless enemies, but few friends. So when an ally from his past is brutally attacked, Caine returns to Japan to settle the score. There, his mission takes a deadly turn when he crosses paths with Byakko, the White Tiger - a merciless Yakuza gangster whose hypnotic gaze strikes fear into the hearts of his victims.

Following a trail of bloodshed to the snow-swept city of Sapporo, Caine uncovers a chilling conspiracy. The White Tiger is linked to a cabal of foreign operatives plotting a devastating attack on US soil. And the countdown has already begun…

From Seoul’s neon-lit alleys to the icy forests of Hokkaido, Japan, Caine races to protect a terrified woman who holds the key to this sinister plan. Can he prevent a viral outbreak from killing thousands before it's too late?

To look into the White Tiger’s eyes is to stare death in the face. But Caine is a predator himself. And in this clash of killers, only one will survive…

The story was well written and full of action to keep the pages turning. This was the first Thomas Caine for me and it was OK. 

Not sure if I'm fully convinced on the series though. There was something about it. However I'm willing to give the series another crack down the road and maybe even reread this book to see if I can get a better grip on it. 

Don't let this turn you off however. This is only my opinion. Still worth 4 stars on the good parts alone.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

The Frontiersman #3

 The Darkest Winter

By

William W Johnstone

&

J.A. Johnstone

Exiled from the Smoky Mountains for gunning down a man in self-defense, Breck Wallace tries to make a new home in St. Louis, even tries his hand at romance, but some men are too wild to settle down. Breck is soon back on the trail, where a vicious gang of trappers, after his goods, picks up his scent and begins to dog his every step, until Breck’s only choice is to bed down for the winter with a tribe of friendly Indians. In the frigid, brutal cold of a Rocky Mountain winter, he hopes to find peace…but death is not done with Breck Wallace. When the trappers ambush the Indians and leave Breck for dead, the frontiersman must ride deeper into the mountains than he has ever gone before. Peace be damned. The blood will flow until vengeance is his alone…

Breck Wallace and his trusted trapping partner Morgan set out from St. Louis once again, bound for the unforgiving wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. But their journey nearly ends before it begins—someone wants Breck dead.

Deep in the wilds, they stumble upon Carnahan and his crew of trappers, saving them from a brutal Indian attack. Gratitude is short-lived, though. By dawn, one of Carnahan’s men—driven by spite—accuses Breck and Morgan of theft, igniting tensions that threaten to boil over.

And that’s just the start. What follows is a relentless gauntlet: a punishing winter, a vengeful adversary, and a descent into bloody conflict. This season in the Rockies may be Wallace’s most harrowing yet.

This is the second Frontiersman novel I’ve read, and apparently I’m tackling the series in reverse. No matter—the writing is sharp, the action gripping, and the suspense constant. The author’s depiction of the early 1800s frontier is bold and evocative, with broad strokes that bring the landscape to life without bogging it down in detail.

I’ve long been a fan of the Preacher Mountain Man books, but the Frontiersman series holds its own. This installment was a thrilling ride from start to finish—an easy 5-star read.