I love Johnstone books. I measure all other Westerns against Louis L'Amour and JA Johnstone. This is a new series with an even more unique story line and cast of characters than usual. In book one, CUTTHROATS, the backstory is set for two not quite reformed outlaws to track and kill the members of their former gang. This arrangement will keep them from the gallows while hopefully keeping on the right side of the law. Dedicated Johnstone readers like myself can already anticipate our two manhunters running into all sorts of trouble. I'll happily keep reading as long as they ride.

Cutthroats was a pretty good read. Though, it is not my favorite by Mr Johnstone. I give it three and a half stars.

This new series from William W. Johnstone was a pleasant surprise. Interesting charcters and a different kind of plot. Still I'm a sucker for westerns, I can't help myself. I have to thank #Netgalley and #Kensington for giving me the opportunity to try #Cutthroats If someone out there think that some of the books from this author has been a little tame lately, try this it is really good.

Cutthroat (Pinnacle 2019) is William Johnstone's latest Western and the first of a new series, Slash and Pecos Westerns. In this Johnstone Western, two outlaws, Slash and Pecos, are thrown out of their gang, barely managing to escape with their lives, and end up in the safest place they know--the hidden home of the widow of one of the gang members. They decide to pull one last job, designed to give them seed money to buy a freight business and live out their lives on the straight  side of the law. That plan is interrupted when bounty hunters track them down, burn them out, and leave them living in a cave--though not before Pecos and Slash kill most of them. With what seems to be their usual bad luck, the effort to go straight doesn't work any better than their escape and they end up in jail waiting to be hanged. To free themselves will require they do something they never would have thought they would.

This is a fast moving story with lots of detail on life and culture of the old west. A good addition to the plethora of other westerns out by William Johnstone et al.

--to be reviewed on my blog, WordDreams, August 30

I received this from Netgalley.com for a review.

Pecos and Slash are wanted outlaws, just as they are about to be the guests of honor at a 'necktie party' they are rescued by Marshal L.C. Bledsoe. He’ll let them live if they hunt down their old gang, the Snake River Marauders. And kill those prairie rats—with extreme prejudice.

Great start to a new series. Fast moving story about two not so really bad guys who have done a lot of bad things but now want to do something good. Lots of action and lost (and found) love.

4☆

Title: Cutthroats

Series: Slash and Pecos Western

Author: William W.Johnstone

Genre: western

Pages:414

Not every Western hero wears a white hat or a tin star. Most of them are just fighting to survive. Some of them can be liars, cheaters, and thieves. And then there's a couple of old-time robbers named Slash and Pecos . . .



Two wanted outlaws. One hell of a story.

After a lifetime of robbing banks and holding up trains, Jimmy "Slash" Braddock and Melvin "Pecos Kid" Baker are ready to call it quits--though not completely by choice. Sold out by their old gang, Slash and Pecos have to bust out of jail and pull one last job to finance their early retirement . . .



The target is a rancher's payroll train. Catch is: the train is carrying a Gatling gun and twenty deputy US marshals who know they're coming. Caught and quickly sentenced to hang, their old enemy--the wheelchair-bound, bucket of mean, Marshal L.C. Bledsoe--shows up at the last minute to spare their lives. For a price. He'll let them live if they hunt down their old gang, the Snake River Marauders. And kill those prairie rats--with extreme prejudice . . .





My thoughts

Rating: 4.5

Would I recommend it? yes

Will I read more of this series? yes

Would I read more by this author ? yes of course I would

Once again the authors have doing a job of bring one of their stories to live, especially the characters Slash and Pecos, the story like many others of their's pulled me in to the story and had me hooked , there's just something about their stories that I will always love wither its a western or horror , While its some right like many of their other ones , its still a good one to read , and I hope this does become a series because there isn't a hole lot of westerns out there that the bad guys become the good guys in some way or there. With that said I want to say thanks to Netgalley for letting me read and review it exchange for my honest opinion .