This was a strong Western novel and had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed from this type of book. It uses the time-period perfectly and had that element that I was looking for from William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone, it was a strong start to this series and was glad I got to read this.

Hard Men To Kill was not what I expected from a Johnstone western. Overall, an entertaining read but I like the earlier series better.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley

Skillfully written, unique characters. Probably not my groove, but it looked interesting. As a reader I respect the author's attention to detail. This is a good author who will entertain many.

First, the irritating thing is still another another book of 2 palls and their adventures. The two are much like other recent #1-in-a-series duos the Johnstone Clan has unleashed as a claimed to be a series, that may never have a #2 book.

In this case, a #2 isn't needed and I'd suggest to stop here and revisit the few dozen other series left in the dust over the decades.
The more important thing I recognized with this #1-in-a-series is that it may be the best of the last few years.
There's the typical solid characters that is a Johnstone hallmark.
There's also a solid story that is very well plotted. There are twists. Turns. Humor. Fun.

If there is a series to keep, this is it. Drop the rest....or continue older series.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 9 out of ten points.
This book made available via NetGalley.com

Hard Men To Kill is the first book in the series titled the same thing by William W Johnstone and Jay A Johnstone, we meet two minors Charlie and Clem who get ran off of the Betty Sue despite the fact they’ve been told no gold is in the rock soon after they’re driven out of town and decide to head to San Francisco. Through Dumb luck the two minors become finders of loss things whether it be a stolen horse of Shanghai banker son or a spike made out of gold. it’s the gold spike that gives them the most trouble and where one of them falls in love with Greta a woman no one should trust and is only out for herself, they almost get killed and Charlie believes he’s been abandoned by Clint for Greta. This book was OK but it was in no way like the other Johnstone westerns I feel like IDK it was too fanciful and although I enjoyed it it seems lately the books are missing something I cannot put my finger on but having said that I still enjoyed it and would still recommend it. #NetGalley, #KensingtonBooks, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #WilliamAndJJohnstone, #HardMenToKill,

This book, in my opinion, was not up to the normal standards. Trying to follow Clem and Charlie and their shenanigans was like trying to follow a drunken slug. Slow moving and without much direction. Enter an old wife, a bank President, financier Leland Stanford and a golden spike then throw in a drunken wastrel son some other robbers, a crew looking to shanghai some crew….AND well you get the idea of the convoluted twists.

I did read this to the bitter end but it was not much fun!! Hard to recommend this particular story!

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.