Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Town Tamer | 2014 | J.A. Johnstone | Buy |
| 2 | Manslaughter | 2015 | J.A. Johnstone | Buy |
| 3 | Better off Dead | 2016 | J.A. Johnstone | Buy |
The Shawn O’Brien series follows a classic Western archetype: the town tamer. Shawn O’Brien is a gunfighter who rides into lawless frontier towns and puts things right, usually at the point of a gun. The first book, Town Tamer, establishes the premise clearly and sets the tone for the rest of the series.
Published between 2014 and 2016, the three books take O’Brien through a progression of increasingly dangerous assignments. Manslaughter raises the body count, and Better off Dead pushes him up against enemies who aren’t going down easy. J.A. Johnstone wrote O’Brien as a man who’s good at violence but not entirely comfortable with it, which adds a layer of tension beyond the standard gunfight. The series is short enough to read in a weekend and delivers solid action throughout.