Loner Books In Order

Publication Order of The Loner Books

The Loner is a series of Westerns written by J.A. Johnstone. The books follow the exploits of a successful businessman who casts his wealth and privilege aside to get vengeance on the people that wronged him.

+The Story

The Loner novels are fairly straightforward Westerns. For some people, this is a good thing. J.A. Johnstone gives them exactly what they have been asking for: a fast-paced tale filled with plenty of gun violence and led by a hero with unrivaled shooting skills.

For other people, the Loner series is simply too clichéd, playing with so many overused tropes that the books become predictable.

The series follows Conrad Browning. When he is first introduced in ‘The Loner’, the first novel in the Loner series, published in 2009, Conrad is happy. Even by the standards of the 1800s, his life is comfortable.

For one thing, the young man has a successful business that has ensured that he has access to every luxury he could ever want. More importantly, though, is the beautiful wife that makes Conrad’s home such a happy place.

Conrad thought that life as he knew it would proceed in the same charming fashion until he passed away comfortably in his bed as an old man. But then mysterious assailants came into Conrad’s life.

They took his wife and offered to give her back if Conrad paid them a significant sum. Conrad did not hesitate to meet the demands of these mysterious foes. However, they proceeded to kill his wife regardless.

Any other man would have been broken by the experience. And the murderers in question had every reason to believe that they would ride off into the sunset with Conrad’s money. Unfortunately for them, it turned out that Conrad Browning was no ordinary man.

The wealthy entrepreneur is actually the son of Frank Morgan, a legendary gunfighter whose legend still persists in Conrad’s day. The secret of his parentage remained hidden for so long because Conrad chose to take his stepfather’s name at an early age.

He also saw fit to remain as distant as possible from Frank Morgan’s legacy, unwilling to let his father’s sins taint his own successes. With his world suddenly upended and the love of his life unjustly taken from him, Conrad Browning sets his mind on revenge.

The businessman might have chosen to cut ties with his father’s legacy but that did not stop him from taking up the gun and mastering the abilities that made his father such a dangerous foe.

Knowing that he must take drastic steps to get his vengeance and also realizing that he won’t be satisfied until the men who killed his wife are dead, Conrad kills the Conrad Browning persona.

He fakes his death, takes up the name Kid Morgan and goes on a bloodthirsty rampage. The men that ruined his life quickly realize that as deadly as Frank Morgan was, Kid Morgan is actually deadlier.

It doesn’t take Conrad long to exact his revenge. By this point, he has attracted the moniker ‘The Loner’. With his own legend finally starting to take shape, Conrad begins to traverse the Wild West.

While he does not necessarily seek out trouble, along the way, Conrad makes new friends, forms alliances, and encounters acts of injustice. The cowboy is spurred on to right wrongs and stop bad guys wherever he meets them.

Conrad is almost merciless in his efforts to expunge evil wherever he sees it. And his efforts garner him many enemies.

While the Loner series does not necessarily need to be read in order, especially when new installments in the series bring with them new antagonists, an understanding of Conrad Browning’s past and the origins of his relationships with his new friends will add to one’s enjoyment of later novels.

J.A. Johnstone typically produces overarching stories. While some of the author’s antagonists will die in the same novels in which they are introduced, others will live to torment Conrad two or three books down the line.

+The Author
William W. Johnstone was a world-renowned author of Westerns. Born in Southern Missouri, William lived a varied and exciting life before his death in 2004 at the age of 65.

J.A. Johnstone was William’s nephew. He assisted his uncle on his writing projects, working as a researcher and a fact checker. J.A. was so familiar with his uncle’s writing style that when William died, he was the only logical successor to his literary empire.

The first few years of J.A. Johnstone’s life were spent producing novels in series that his uncle had started. Over time, the author branched out and began to produce his own novels. While audiences where initially hesitant to accept J.A. Johnstone’s efforts on his uncle’s behalf, they were less resistant when he began to publish his own original works.

+The Loner
Conrad Browning’s father is Frank Morgan, a legendary gunfighter. But no one knows that and even if he told them, they might not believe it. After all, Conrad is a young successful businessman. The idea that he might have the blood of a gunfighter in his veins just doesn’t seem plausible.

And Conrad was all too happy to keep his connection with his father buried. But then his wife was taken from him. And the people who took her saw fit to kill her. And suddenly Conrad found that he no longer cared enough to protect his reputation as a businessman.

Swiftly faking his death and taking up the gun, Conrad became Kid Morgan, an outlaw who deals out justice the old fashion way. Conrad will stop at nothing to settle the debt that his enemies accrued, regardless of the blood he must shed.

+The Devil’s Badland
Conrad Browning died the day his wife was murdered. He faked his death and left the life of privilege that his position as a successful businessman afforded him, becoming the Loner, a revenge-fueled gunfighter with unmatched skills.

And Conrad got his revenge. He found the people that killed his wife and ended their lives. But he cannot rest. Conrad might have dealt with the people who carried out the actual deed but he still doesn’t know who put them up to the task.

Now Conrad is on the hunt, following a trail that will hopefully put the tragedy of his wife to rest.