In this first book, Conrad’s beloved wife, Rebel, is kidnapped for ransom and when he delivers the $50,000, she is brutally murdered and Conrad is left alive. They gradually warmed to each other over the years. Their relationship was a tenuous one at best. In the early books, Conrad didn’t approve of or like his father. She left half of her estate to Morgan, half to Conrad. Raised in the East, Conrad was unaware of who his father was(as Morgan was unaware he had a son) until after her death. It centers around a former minor character in the long running series, The Last Gunfighter, Frank Morgan, known as The Drifter, created by William Johnstone and continued after his passing.Ĭonrad Browning is Morgan’s son from a short marriage when he was young, ended by his father-in-law, a rich man who didn’t approve of a gunfighter married to his daughter. Johnstone, the first book to carry the name without William W, Johnstone in large letters above it. pub date June 26, 2018Pinnacleable to post review at B&N 7.25.THE LONER is the first book in a new western series from Pinnacle Books.

Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. Johnstone, and Pinnacle in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free electronic copy of this western historical novel from Netgalley, William W. Johnstone is an author I follow and prefer to own his books rather than borrow, so that I may share and read again as I want. It is one I can happily recommend to family and friends, and will want to read again some cold winter day. This is a book that was difficult to put down. In the small town of Dale, Colorado they find a community of good people being overrun by true bad guys, and decide to stay awhile. As their responsibilities allow, the boys occasionally like to wander a bit and find interesting things to do. Both men, mid-twenties, are running fairly large ranches in the far northwest. Matt Bodine, of European extraction, was home schooled by his school teacher mother on the ranch his father ran. Sam Two Wolves, college educated back east, was the son of a Cheyenne warrior and a beautiful white woman. Sam and Matt were raised in the west about as close as brothers - they consider themselves blood brothers. Gunsmoke and Gold follows that general outline with just a little spice to liven up the mix. Johnstone writes a classy western novel, his men clean and wholesome and polite, and his ladies strong and brave and full of heart.

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