Rope Burn is another entertaining book from William W Johnstone's Those Jensen's Boys! series. It is getting four and a half stars from me.

The western genre has a bad rap and an even worse following. William W Johnstone and JA Johnstone write stories that are equally entertaining and true to period as any of the more famous genres and their characters are much more memorable. While they may take a few shortcuts that land them into some pretty tight situations...in this one they end up on a prison working crew...they always look out for each other and their families and fight for what is good and right. This series...Those Jensen Boys!...feature a couple of brothers who come from a long history of Jensens. They learned right from wrong from their father, grandfather and many more Jensen relatives that the Johnstones often introduce to another series. From Preacher in the mountain frontier to Luke Jensen's fastest draw, you will not find a bad or even slow Johnstone book.

In the Johnstone's fifth in the Those Jensen Boys! series, Rope Burn (Pinnacle 2020), brothers, Ace and Chance Jensen are unwinding after completing a ranching job, having a good time before looking for their next job. Though they realize they should mind their own business, when a barmaid is bothered by a big thug, they end up killing the thug in self-defense. That ends them up in jail, almost hanged, and saved only to be put on an Army work crew. It doesn't take long for them to realize there is nothing lawful about their arrest, conviction, and escape from hanging. The problem is, what do they do about it?

Well, this is the Jensen Boys, nephews to the infamous Smoke Jensen as well as Luke Jensen, and adopted relatives to the equally-famous Preacher and Matt Jensen. Ace and Chance come from a long line of problem-solvers who never quit, especially in a battle between right and wrong. Without giving things away, things definitely get a lot worse before the better starts but then it does and it's a wild ride. As usual, the story includes all the best characteristics of good Westerns--bad lawmen, Indians, beautiful women, and surviving the unsurvivable.

I haven't read the Jensen Boys series before but not for any reason. Pretty much I just didn’t get to it. Now I have to read all of them.

--to be reviewed on my blog, WordDreams 2020

This was not the best one in the series but it's a western and I like those. Sadly I have missed book 4 and I will look into that. What can I say about this one? Some new twist involved and otherwise, the good guys are good but the bad guys are not always bad... Thanks go to #Pinnacle #Netgalley and #KensingtonBooks for giving me a couple of hours reading.