There is no such thing as a bad Johnstone western. Each series is built around main characters whose belief in the law and family is absolute, even if they've had to be reformed to get there. From Preacher, the original mountain man to the Jensen family to Perly Gates, to.....well, you get the point. Many times, characters from one series will show up in another as supporting hands. The communities are true to the era, clothing, guns, food and troubles are all what you'd find if you looked them up in the history books. No two stories are the same, each character or set of characters is unique and so are their stories. The writing is skillful, readers are pulled into the story and you will laugh and cry right along with the characters. I made the mistake of picking up a Johnstone western my uncle was reading. Ive been hooked ever since. Now I share them with my reading family and will continue as long as new Johnstones are released.

Red River Vengeance, book five from the Perley Gates Western series, was a good read. I am giving it four stars.

I haven't read any other book in this series, so it was hard understanding all the other components in this book. but I love a good western and mystery.

Perley Gates tries to live a peaceful life despite having a deadly secret. He has very fast reflexes and is very "fast on the draw," at a time and in a place where such a combination earns one a deadly reputation for good or worse. Plus, they have to live with a target on their back. Life is running normally in the small town of Paris, next to where Perley's family owns a ranch. But that all comes to an end when brothers Jesse, Lucas, Micah, and Leonard, their partner, ride into town and rob the bank, taking a close friend of Perley's hostage in the process. Led by the town sheriff, a pose goes after them but returns empty handed. Perley, distressed, goes after them with his good friend possum to rescue his friend and bring the criminals to justice. Life finally seems to return to normal for the small town of Paris until Redmond Quinn, aka English Red, shows up in the guise of a successful gambler and business man, with sinister plans to take over the town or "put it on the map" as he puts it, by turning the saloon into a professional casino. With the lives of the towns' citizens at stake, it's up to Perley to blow his cover and put a stop to his nefarious plans before its too late. Red River Vengeance was a thoroughly well written story with good plots, interesting characters with lots of personality, and was a really good addition to the Perley Gates series.

I enjoyed parts of this book, but after the beginning story plot ended, a subplot began, which was hard for me to get interested in. This was NOT your typical western, full of raw adventure and challenges western.. After the first 25% of the book, I found the rest slow paced and a bit disappointing. Not horrible, but not typical Johnstone writing. The story did little to resonate with me, Life in a old western town, with a sprinkle of difficult people that come to town, want to exercise their dim wit and flex their trigger finger.

So, not my favorite Johnstone Western, but clean, no foul language.

Thank you to NetGalley, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Red River Vengeance” by the Johnstone family trust and written by J. A. Johnstone is a rip roaring Western. It will keep the reader wondering what will happen next.

If you follow the Johnstone books, you will be familiar with the two main protagonists In this book—Perley Gates and Possum Smith. Perley got his monicker in an unusual way but many people assume it is “Pearly.” Reading the book will tell you how that name came about.

Perley and Possum are an inseparable duo. One young-Perley and one older-Possum. But the best of friends and mentor and mentee. The youngster has not taken a sweetheart let along a wife but there is a likely candidate in the person of a waitress named Becky Morris.

As the story proceeds there is nearly love in the air but something seems to always intercede before it blossoms. In any western there must be bad men who are always thwarting the desires of good people. In this case it is several different bad men involved. There is also a bank robbery and a kidnapping. But these crimes are only the beginning.

An outside “gentleman” named Redmond Quinn professing to be a businessman, has a proposition to increase the profits in the town. But like many things what seems to be the case is more than it seems. Redmond is fast with a gun and determines that he should be the “cock-of-the-walk” in the town. Perley has through a series of incidents become the temporary Deputy. Will they end up fighting it out or will the mild mannered deputy be able to avoid the confrontation? Lots of subplots at play in this book.

The various subplots make it an interesting read as the book builds to its ultimate climax. Nice interweaving of a couple of storylines make for a fun experience for the Western aficionado. Definitely worth the while to read this one and find out what happens to all the characters.

I have read Red River Vengeance by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone. This is fifth book about Perley Gates. I really enjoy this series just because that character is so well written. This time we start with a bankrobbery and a kidnapping and then we move on to a new slick dude in town. This is a story filled with fisticuffs, gunfighting and even romance. I think my collection of books by @williamw.j.a.johnstone is about to be the biggest number of books from one author in my library. I must thank @netgalley @kensingtonbooks and @pinnaclepublishers #WhatIamReading #LibraryOfAbibliofob #eARC #WilliamWJohnstone #JAJohnstone #Western #RedRiverVengeance #PerleyGates #NetGalley