Book Review: North of Laramie: A Buck Trammel Western by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone

North of Laramie by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This would be my third western of William A. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone’s books. I have to say, I quite enjoy them. They have surprised me more than one, and on top of that, I get so immersed in this world that sometimes I don’t want to leave.

Buck Trammel is one interesting character-one I really would like to fall in love with since he’s tall (Tall men + Brittany=Brittany Bait). But he is traveling with a man named Adam Hagen, which I’ve kept an eye on because one, there’s something about him that I don’t like. Yes, he’s a drunk and a gambler, but behind all of that is a schemer. I don’t know what it is about Adam Hagen that I don’t like, but I just...don’t...like...him.

And on top of that, the Bowman gang is coming after the both of them after Trammel killed two of their kin (which sucks, by the by). I understand you want revenge on the men who killed your family, but come on now. It is NOT that bloody serious (I mean, two people dying, yes. Getting revenge? Stupid as hell. At least, on my side of things). And they’re trying to make new lives in Laramie-Adam’s a hotelier and Trammel’s a sheriff after the other one just up and left and died after swearing him in.

I do like the characters in the story-Buck, Adam, Emily (I actually ship them). But my favorite parts have to be when we stay alone in Trammel’s mind and him trying to figure out if he wanted to stay being the law after being a Pinkerton man, then being in The Golden Lilly in Witchita as the bodyguard. I found those parts interesting, almost as character development because he’s trying to figure out if he wanted to stay being the law, or settle down somewhere, get married, have a couple kids. But with the Bowman gang after him, he didn’t think that he would, though I wish he did because he deserves everything (Adam doesn’t, but that’s another story for another time).

My least favorite would have to be Madame Peachtree (ha ha) and her men, because she wanted Trammel to look the other away while she did what she wanted to do (opium, her saloon), but he arrested her and her men, but then he found her leger that only Adam and Emily can read...oh BOY that’s all I have to say. OH BOY. That’s when I have to keep my eye on Adam, because it seems like the Bowman gang is in the background, and he’s working his own plans in the front of the story.

And boy, was I right-when they came into Laramie, and Lefty showed up to try and kill Buck, Adam went to talk to Lucien Clay, striking up a deal with him (and basically using Buck was a bargaining chip) which he didn’t like in the end. There was a gunfight between Buck and Lefty and his men, and he killed them all in self-defense. Then the end, when Hagen told him what he wanted to do in Blacktown (turn it into a Opium den) in which Buck downright refused to let happen.

I did enjoy this book so much and I want to read more! In! This! Series!

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