Wow the tension builds in this story things escalate. Hard to put down. Interesting and complex characters to follow along in this journey. The bad guys push the good guy to his max that he can tolerate until he can no longer not fight back. Good read.

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.

This new series of Smoke Jensen books diverges from the run of the original 'Mountain Man' series. The plots more involved and better overall. This entry continues that.

This volume layers various threats involving Smoke and his ranch and beyond. The build up of the elements threatening is paced very well and increases tension as various battles ensue. The direction of the tale seems obvious, but the plotting is such to have the reader unsure how all of the elements can get the reader there. Thus, lots of effort to turn the pages faster to get there.

As usual from the Johnstone Clan, great characters that help embrace the tale. The nuanced approach with a number of new characters is particularly well done.

Writing is fine, but recent new series entries into the Johnstone Clan corral that are particularly well written, have the weaker entries stand out. This is not a drawback, per se. Just an observation involving weaker dialogue and a need to edit in spots. This book would've been stronger with about 75 less pages.

A drawback is further inconsistency of the background of Smoke Jensen and the foundation of the many series. It's unfortunate that an editor for continuity is absent. This is only a problem for those of us that have read a good deal of the series and wish issues of the past were resolved, like the weird handling of the Jensen children.

To note: Unlike so many who read via Netgalley.com, I don't praise every book. In fact, most I've panned. I write my honest view.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 7 out of ten points.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this exciting book about smoke jensen

a renegage swarm of indians lead by black drum are on the rampage killing all white men they come across

and its not long before they find smokes outfit...

but before they do an army base is established with offers that they are there to help with the indian uprising

and as smoke gets to grip with all that is happening so do the army....

but are they a help or hinderance...

a fast paced book that keeps you on your toes, love a good smoke jensen story and this one doesnt let you down

When the Shooting Starts by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone is not the best book in this series mostly because they don't have all the facts strait about when Smoke started his ranch in Colorado but after so many books I can imagine that it's hard keeping track of all the facts. I still enjoyed the book because it had some new and interesting plot twists that I haven't seen befor, such as a company of soldiers who came to protect the citizens but are they really soldiers? The book deals with a lot of different problems and as usual we get a lot of fist fighting and shootouts as there should be in a good western. I still wonder why Smoke suddenly stopped wearing his trademark two gun rig that he had in all the early books. I must thank @kensingtonbooks @netgalley and #Pinnacle that gave me this advance copy and @williamw.j.a.johnstone for writing it. #NetGalley #Kensington #WhenTheShootingStarts

Smoke Jensen is one of the many long-standing series in the Jensen Family Universe that includes Smoke, his children, his relatives, and Smoke's adopted father, Preacher. Smoke has a long and storied career starting as mountain man raised by Preacher, moving on to soldier, renegade, somewhat-outlaw, ending as an law abiding ranch owner who is a pillar of Big Rock, the town he started. When the Shoot Starts, Book 4 of the Smoke Jensen Westerns, takes place soon after Smoke established his ranch Sugarloaf and married Sally, but before his children. An Indian war chief Black Drum escapes from the reservation and swears to destroy the white man who has destroyed his legacy. The more successful he is at this gruesome task, the more Indians join his group until it numbers close to one hundred. At that point, Black Drum decides that Sugarloaf and Big Rock are good places to make his stand. Smoke Jensen disagrees. The story is complicated when outlaws who masquerade as the Army to defend Big Rock from the Indians make it hard to tell the good guys from the bad. Another excellent Smoke Jensen book. If you love this Universe, you won't want to miss it.

The Johnstone family has published a new novel called “When the Shooting Starts” that covers some of the early days of Smoke (Kirby) Jensen and his second wife Sally. The novel is set in Colorado near the Kansas border when the Sugarloaf Ranch was just beginning.

Smoke is known far and wide for some exploits in his earlier days as a fast draw and deadly shot. When he moved and married Sally, he sort of settled down and left those younger, wilder days behind. Several of his friends from those days including the sheriff and the local barkeep are also in the growing town.

Enter a group of marauding Cheyenne looking to avenge their treatment. Every white person is at risk and it appears they may be heading westward toward the Sugarloaf. A group of Colorado Rifle Company men, led by Colonel Lamar Talbot, are following the marauding group that has grown as more disgruntled men have joined. There are some strained relations between the Rifle Company guards and the townspeople as the militia seems to take a “better-than-you attitude.”

Needless to say, there are some violent scenes of attack and murder from the Cheyenne and Colonel Talbot’s group. And sometimes the bad guys are hard to distinguish from the good ones; maybe less bad.

In the end, it is Smoke and his pards along with townspeople, the militia, and Cheyenne fighting it out for what is right and proper. A fairly violent novel that is typical of Western novels of the time is what this one is. It was a classic good guy-bad guy with some intermediates thrown into the mix. Definitely a worthwhile read.

Johnstone's fourth installment to the Smoke Jensen series, When the Shooting Starts, was a pretty good read. Four stars.