Some Die Young is the first book in a new series by William W Johnstone in JA Johnstone, in the book we meet John Bannik, Who has recently been released from prison and is now on his way to his brothers Texas farm. It is a homecoming that doesn’t last long however because John is afraid a vengeful Judge Will put a warrant out for his arrest for a reason unknown to the reader. Up on leaving his brother asked where is he headed and John cryptically says “I don’t know, but I’ll know when I get there. “
On his journey he sees a man being shot at by two outlaws and stops to help only to learn the man’s a barber and lives in glory Texas and this is how John winds up in the little town The barber who he becomes good friends with tells him about a great place to eat unfortunately when they arrive and may and name Virgil Dawson has killed a gambler and taken over the eating house he announces whoever tries to come in will be shot. Needless to say John had his heart set on eating there so he makes a citizens arrest and this is how he comes to be the Marshall. Although the people in his town know him as Marshall Cochran and not Bannick, it doesn’t take him long to settle in and start a routine. When the two marshals come to pick up Virgil so he can stand trial, he at first avoids them due to fearing The release of the bogus warrant but when in transport Papa Dawson and his other three outlaw sons rob the Marshalls in release Virgil. He has no choice but to work closely with the two men. That will not be the last Marshall Cochran here’s of the Dawson family. He really is enjoying being Marshall but soon his biggest fear comes to visit in the form of the special agent looking for him around town. John Bannick is tall and imposing and people get the total opposite impression of who he really is the kind helpful respectful gentlemen which in the end may save The life he is coming to Love. I really enjoyed this book I just only hope the future books let us see who John Bannick really is because I thought is that I really didn’t get a good grasp on him as a character. If the author could just flush him out a little bit more it would be very appreciated. We don’t know anything about his childhood where he learned to shoot so well ET see having said that I am still going to read the next book I love the Johnstone westerns and this one is no exception. #PelicanAndKensingtonPublishers, #NetGalley, #WilliamWJohnstone, #JohnAJohnstone,#SomeDieYoung,

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.

The Johnstone family has another hit character in John Bannack (aka John Cochran). He is also known as the Man from Waco. In the basic story line, John has been convicted of a crime, which he didn't commit, and sentenced to 20 years of hard labor. He soon becomes an enforcer for a sympathetic judge and essentially has free run of the area bringing in other real criminals.

Unfortunately, that judge who, before he died granted John a pardon after 5 years, but another judge (Grant) who for whatever reason hated John was determined to re-imprison him for the remainder of his 20-year sentence. John suspected this might happen and he took off from the area and just decided to head west.

He stopped by to see and older brother and to say goodbye. Then he just took off toward the setting sun with no particular place in mind. He stopped by several places and wherever his stature and looks caused people to think him a criminal. In realty, he was a gentle giant always looking after the little people and those in need. This caused him to get involved with a man half his size when two robbers were trying to kill him and take his wagon. John ran them off and helped the man, who was a barber, and his wagon was carrying an honest-to-goodness real barber chair from back east.

The barber prevailed on John to come to his town where once again he had to become the salvation as a drunken man had kidnapped three women in a restaurant. Just so happens that this Dawson boy, was the son of a notorious family of criminals who were determined on revenge and release of the kidnapper.

As you might imagine John, who had been named town marshal, took a dim view of such shenanigans, and fought back. This struggle is the main focus of most of the book along with the notorious Judge Raymond Grant who wanted John either dead or back in prison getting involved with finding John.

A good read that is very fast and action-packed. A good story even if cliched! I enjoyed it.

In William Johnstone's Book 2 of The Man From Waco, Some Die Young, (Pinnacle Books 2024), John Bannock is starting the next part of his life, now that a pardon has freed him from imprisonment for a crime his brother committed and John took the fall for. He heads out to find his future which turns out to be Sheriff of a small town named Glory. Bannock is easy going, almost impossible to scare, quick with a gun, and seems exactly the right man for this low key job. That is, until the Judge who pardoned him dies and the pardon is reversed so the new judge sends a man out to recapture Bannock and return him to prison. Bannock must not let that happen, but also wants to be sure the good people who trust him in Glory don't suffer. A lot of exciting stuff happens to make that happen.

This is a well told western with lots of unexpected twists and turns. Highly recommended.

I haven't gotten to the first in this, a still another, series of the Johnstone Clan of writers. I got to this one via NetGalley.com. The cover and series name is mighty misleading. Waco has next to nothing involving the book. The title is more than confusing. No young died. In fact, they thrived in the story. However, the cover image is one of the best reflecting the interior in the past decade.

The story starts in a clunky way and I was concerned I was entering bad Johnstone writing territory. The writer of this one I believe I've read before with lots of references to meals and those that cook them. That writer's work I haven't cared far. Wonder if this was written by the meals writer and then had another jump in. The reason: Though starting clunky, it straightens out and gets better and better.

This new series features a character out to do the right thing and the plotting follows that aim very well. This well contrasts those on the other side better than the more recent Johnstone books that dance around the good and bad and end up with stories that have less defined purpose and the plotting falls apart.

The writing is typical Johnstone with the typical strong characterizations of most all involved. This was trickier,as with another recent Johnstone book, that had focus in different communities adding to the cast of characters while still keeping each defined separately.

The writer does a terrific job navigating the story back and forth between areas and moving the story well to make use of the travel. I like the written concerns over characters that are more plot driven than what would otherwise be emotional goo. Very well done overall.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 8 out of ten points.