Thrilling story with a plot that kept me turning the pages, really well written with great characters. Highly recommend to everyone who is a fan of this genre.

If the author's name is Johnstone, you can count on a great Western...or a great prison(?) book? This is most definitely not your typical Western, even though it takes place in the 1800's Wild West era. The second book in the Hank Fallon series, faithful Johnstone readers find Hank being pardoned from prison only to turn around and go back in undercover to find the cash from several bank robberies. His means and methods are typical Johnstone....exciting and entertaining...and set him up for the next chapter in his quest to find the men who killed his wife and daughter. Definitely a new story line for Johnstone, but he definitely knew what his readers like.

I did not enjoy Behind the Iron much. I am not sure I will continue the Hank Fallon series. I give this one two stars.

JJust good as the others ,in fact this is the first time I've ever read one of their books that their hero goes from the Good guy to the bad guy then back to the Good guy , can't wait tto read more of this series ,with that said I want to say thanks Netgalley letting me read and review it .

Another great book from the Johnstones. It is always great to ride the trail with them. Loved this book. I honestly don’t think they can write a bad book.

GN Behind the Iron is the second in a series of western historical novels by William W. Johnstone featuring Harry Fallon. This is one of those novels not yet completed at the death of William W. Johnstone, and was finished and prepared for publication by J. A. Johnstone. It is an excellent novel, with up to minute changes in western technology to fit the timeframe of the story. I have been really enjoying these westerns, and am grateful to the family for adding to the legacy of W. W. He will be sorely missed.

Fallon is an ex-US Marshal and paroled prisoner who has done ten years time in the Illinois State Penitentiary and undercover time in Joliet in Yuma, AZ, and will be entering the Jefferson City Missouri jail undercover at the behest of the American Detective Agency, despite the fact that several of the men Fallon caught and saw prosecuted and sent to this pen would most likely recognize him. But if he is to learn the identity of the person or persons responsible for the death of his wife and daughter while he was doing time in Illinois, he feels it necessary to cater to the MacGregor's at ADA who have this information, and will share it if they have Fallon's help as they attempt to rise to the reputation of the Pinkerton's.

A very interesting look at Chicago in the 1890's, also the pace of the advancement of the medical field and penal professionals.

I received a free electronic copy of this western historical novel from Netgalley, the Johnstone Family, and Pinnacle Books in exchange for an honesty review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

In William Johnstone's Behind the Iron (Penguin Random House 2018), Harry 'Hank' Fallon, former deputy US Marshall and paroled prisoner, has a difficult background that is complicated by a rich mix of law and disorder. He was released from prison early for saving the lives of several guards and ended up working for the American Detective Agency, a wannabe Pinkerton Detective Agency who would never live up to that sort of stellar reputation. He knows they're using him but it doesn't bother him much, because he's using them, too.

Harry Fallon had been at the Illinois State Penitentiary in Joliet, saving the lives of a few guards during a bloody riot, and that act of bravery, kindness, humanity—just a spur-of-the-moment decision, truthfully—had led to a parole for Harry Fallon, former deputy United States marshal for Judge Isaac Parker’s court in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Fallon had been given a job at Werner’s Wheelwright in Chicago and a place to live at Missus Ketchum’s Boarding House near Lake Michigan. And then this small man had changed Fallon’s life.

While he was in prison, his family was killed. Now, he will take any job that allows him to find the killers and bring justice to them, even if it's of the Wild West variety. Luckily, he is well-suited for fighting bad guys. He is a fast thinker, quick with his guns, and about as powerful as anyone he might run into.  Like most westerns, things don’t go quite as planned, but as a reader, that only makes it more exciting.

The story is set in the late 1800's with a well-developed plot peopled by vibrant and busy characters. While it’s not the typical Wild West with small towns, horses, range wars, and untamed people who went West for freedom, it's definitely a look into a long-gone era where the rule of law meant something only if enforced with a gun.

This is the second in the Hank Fallon Westerns series. I couldn't be happier. BTW, the tagline is right. It is quite violent.

--review to be published on my blog, WordDreams 2/4/19