Halfway to Hell
by William W. Johnstone & J.A. Johnstone

ARC provided by Kensington Publishing

Justice in the West isn’t always black and white—it’s often written in blood. Halfway to Hell is a dust-choked, bullet-riddled ride through a lawless land where the strong survive and the weak get buried. The Johnstones once again prove their mastery of the Western genre, delivering a story as brutal as the frontier itself, where danger lurks around every bend and a man’s reputation can be the difference between life and death.

From the moment the first shot is fired, the tension doesn’t let up. The protagonist isn’t some perfect, untouchable gunslinger—he’s a man shaped by hardship, caught between doing what’s right and what will keep him alive. But in a town where outlaws make the rules and justice is a dying concept, the choice might not be his to make. As the body count rises and enemies close in, survival means playing by his own set of rules—and those rules are written in lead.

The Johnstones paint a world that feels as real as the dust beneath a cowboy’s boots. The settings are vivid, from saloons filled with dangerous men to sprawling landscapes where trouble can find you miles from the nearest town. Every encounter crackles with tension, every showdown is a masterclass in Western storytelling, and the stakes are high enough that you can’t help but grip the pages a little tighter.

With its relentless pacing, morally complex characters, and the kind of action that hits hard and fast, Halfway to Hell is everything a Western should be—gritty, gripping, and impossible to put down. Fans of classic frontier justice, high-stakes revenge, and rugged antiheroes won’t want to miss this one.

Highly recommended for fans of: Classic Westerns, tough-as-nails protagonists, and stories where justice is earned at the barrel of a gun.

Halfway To Hell, is the first book in The Slick Parker westerns by William W Johnstone and Jay A Johnstone Parker Jones Junior is about to lock up the sheriffs office and go have a beer at Clancy‘s saloon, the local bar so when Marshall Tanner best walks in asking about wanted men Parker is quick to let him know that the most they get is young boys causing chaos and a drunk every now and then. He explains that Rory Junction isn’t the hot bed of criminality other places in the west tend to be. The Marshall still shows him warning, posters of men warned for crime and another man wanted for questioning. Parker never could’ve guessed the man wanted for questioning would be the same man. He would see later in the saloon bleeding out from a gunshot who gives them a clue that sends him on a journey of danger, intrigue and romance. with his brother-in-law, dropping big-time hints that he should really start his adult life. Parker believes the clue leads to the gold, stolen by an outlaw a gang that robbed a train carrying payroll while on his journey, he makes new friends and runs into old ones and word gets out. He’s on the hunt with the clue for the gold so soon the outlaws are after him but before his adventure is over, he will learn just because someone smiles in your face doesn’t mean they’re your friend. This book was super Duper good. This is a kind of Johnstone western. I miss and was so happy to read this and couldn’t read it fast enough what a great read.#NetGalley, #PinnacleBooks, #WilliamWJohnstone, #JJohnstone, #HalfwayToHell, #TheSlickParkerJonesWesterns,.

Halfway to Hell by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone is the first in a new series about Slick Parker. It is not the best work from this writer but it's not the worst. It is a bog standard western with all the ingredients you would expect. I don't think I will follow this series as it hasn't that extra to keep me interested. That is my view. I still like westerns but I don't have the time to read everything that comes out. If you like a regular western I can recommend this. I thank Pinnacle , Kensington Books and Netgalley for letting me read this advance copy.

This is an entertaining story. Following a young deputy sheriff named Parker, who really doesn’t know how to be a deputy, but knows what is right and wrong. As the deputy begins, looking for his own way in the world, he gets embroiled in a situation with a somewhat crooked deputy US Marshal.

This marshal named Best is on the search for some train robbers who took $50 thousand in gold. What the Marshal soon finds is that the original planner of the robbery has decided to keep all the money instead of sharing with the gang.

The back-stabbing planner gets himself shot and dies but not before he hides the gold. Now we have a race to see who can find the hidden gold. Parker gets involved, falling in love along the track. Many twists later there is a resolution but not turns out as planned.

A delightful read in the Western tradition. Good versus evil with twists. A quick read and very enjoyable.

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.