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THE LONER is the first book in a new western series from Pinnacle Books. The author is J.A. Johnstone, the first book to carry the name without William W, Johnstone in large letters above it.
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.
Conrad 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. Raised in the East, Conrad was unaware of who his father was(as Morgan was unaware he had a son) until after her death. She left half of her estate to Morgan, half to Conrad.
In the early books, Conrad didn’t approve of or like his father. Their relationship was a tenuous one at best. They gradually warmed to each other over the years.
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. It becomes apparent that the leader of the gang had been hired by someone to do the job and make sure Conrad suffers.
Wounded, he fakes his own death and intends to hunt down the gang(all their faces are burned into his memory, as well as a few names). He’s found by Philip Bearpaw, an old Paiute Indian given to spouting Milton. After his recovery, Bearpaw helps the young man hone his rudimentary skills with a gun(after all, he is the son of Frank Morgan) until he’s ready, then they set out to find the men responsible for his wife’s murder.
He’s now Kid Morgan, a moniker he adopts to hide his real identity.
The first book sets up the further tales of The Drifter as he will be known. I liked the book and I thought I knew who the author would be. I may be wrong, but the style, feel, of the novel seems different.
This series is part of a deal to be sold exclusively through Walmart, though mine was ordered through the Johnstone family’s website.
Update: Book 2, The Devil’s Badland is out.
Update: Book 3, Dead Man’s Gold comes out next month.
Update: Book 4, The Big Gundown is available at Walmarts starting in February
Update: Book 5, Rattlesnake Valley is out in April
Book 6, Seven Ways To Die hits Walmart shelves in June
Book 7, Bounty Killers arrives in October
Book 8, Trail of Blood, February, 2011
Book 9: Killer Poker, March 2011
Book 10: Blood of Renegades, July, 2011
Book 11: Crossfire, October, 2011
Book 12: Inferno, January, 2012: the cover mislabels this as the eleventh book
Book 13: Brutal Vengeance, April, 2012
Book 14: Hard Luck Money, July, 2012
Book 15: Bullets Don’t Die, October, 2012
Not The Baseball Pitcher 
Randy, book tomorrow?
Sounds like an interesting series debut. Thanks for highlighting it.
Good book, can’t wait for the next series. When will that be avaliable.
Next month, The Devil’s Badland, is scheduled for release. The third I’m not sure about yet.
Thanks for the heads up. Do you think J.A. Johnstone is one or more ghostwriters for the Johnstone brand? I surmise as much in my short book review of A Town Called Fury: Hard Country at:
http://blogginoutloud.blogspot.com/2009/06/hard-country-by-william-w-johnstone.html
To J.A. Johnstone. I have enjoyed the Blood Bond series. I am reading the books written by William W. now. I don’t know if you have read these books but whoever is in charge of doing the spelling can’t spell and the printer doesn’t know what he is printing. Plus keep the characters straight and Sam is not a Cherokee.
notifiemewhenthefollowingbookscomeavablelonerseries sevendaystodie,bountykillers
Seven Days To Die is in Walmart stores now. There was some sort of screw-up which delayed it a month. I picked up my copy. I’m not sure if that will put the next one back a month or not.
I have always enjoyed all of the different series of books written by the William W. Johnstone / J. A. Johnstone team. Didn’t and still don’t care who writes them, they are good reading. Now for my exception, I have just read “Slaughter of Eagles” and romance entering the book with the Janelle character and frankly I believe this story line should have been changed, something more realistic to the time. Book got to be slow reading and boring. The Luke Mueller character seemed to find it fairly easy to get away from Falcon. First time I have ever wrote in.
Larry, I have to agree on Slaughter of Eagles. It did drag a bit. I’m not sure where they’re heading with Janelle either.
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I Have read almost all of the Loner series and i love them, they are ausome. really ausome
they need to make a movie of it. I have just finished #8 “Trail of Blood” is their a # 9? i would like to get one i want him to find his twins.
Jimmy, there are two more scheduled for later this year. Probably more after that.
I have been reading William Johnstone books for years. Both westerns and ashes. I thought I would give J. A. a chance and see if he was any good. I like ja’s books more because they make a more vivid picture in my mind. Like a movie rather than a narrative
I have been a fan of William for many years. I have been unhappy with the way his books have been taken since his death. They have lost a great deal of the excitement, fighting + shooting. The JA books have some of the old spark Williams books had that made me a fan. Keep them coming.
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I just finished reading Massacre Mountain, by William and JA. I have read many (dozens!) of the Johnstone books and enjoyed them. However, Massacre Mountain is the first one of which I am aware that has employed so much humor. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and laughed out loud at some of the antics and situations in which Cotton Pickens found himself. This book is an especially great read. Please, more like this one!
The entire series so far has been phenomenal . Can’t wait for the rest of them.
I’v read all of The Loner series and can’t wait for the next Hard Luck.
waiting on my next loner book to come out its july 1st 2012 hurry up walt
Dear Miss Johnstone
I am missing Books 9 10 and 12 of the Loner serious.Could I order them through This site ?
I have nothing to do with the books other than being a fan. WilliamWJohnstone.com is the place to go to find the books you’re missing. Or a used book site, Amazon, Abebooks, Biblio.com, or Alibris.
I just finished LONER…..I would like to tell the author that the Jornada del Muerto
Trail runs through our ranch and it’s very visible…..the trail is a 20-30 foot rut that runs full length north and south. Sometimes when the winds shift we find old artifacts on and close to the trail