Lone Star Book Blog Tour: All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone by John J. Jacobson (Review)

ALL THE COWBOYS AIN’T GONE

BY JOHN J. JACOBSON
 
Pages: 352
Pub Date: February 23, 2021
Categories: Historical Fiction / Action Adventure / Western
 
 
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All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone is the rollicking adventure story of Lincoln Smith, a young Texan living at the beginning of the twentieth century, who thinks of himself as the last true cowboy. He longs for the days of the Old West, when men like his father, a famous Texas Ranger, lived by the chivalric code. Lincoln finds himself hopelessly out of time and place in the fast-changing United States of the new century. When he gets his heart broken by a sweetheart who doesn’t appreciate his anachronistic tendencies, he does what any sensible young romantic would do: he joins the French Foreign Legion. 
 
On his way to an ancient and exotic country at the edge of the Sahara, Lincoln encounters a number of curious characters and strange adventures, from a desert hermit who can slow up time to a battle with a crocodile cult that worships the god of death. He meets them all with his own charming brand of courage and resourcefulness. 
 
Purchase: Bookshop.org
 

 

“The direction of the arrow cannot be changed. It may be slowed, but not changed.”

All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone by John J. Jacobson is an exuberant good time set at the tail end of the Old West era. Living in Texas during the turn of the twentieth century, young Lincoln Smith longs for those long-gone glory days of the Texas Rangers and the Old West uncluttered by oil wells and modern machinery. The spread of the railroad across the United States and other inventions are nothing but travesties and eyesores to Lincoln. Books about the Old West and the French Foreign Legion sustain him throughout his childhood, providing him with the dream of one day joining the Legion and traveling to lands left unmarred by modern ways and contraptions.

In the first six chapters, Lincoln’s life takes a dramatic turn just months before his twelfth birthday. The story jumps ahead ten years, and Lincoln reluctantly shuffles off to college, but more exciting capers are on the horizon when he finally seizes the opportunity to seek out the Legionnaires and travel to exotic destinations.

Lincoln is a completely likable main character, full of spunk and ingenuity and endowed with proper grammar (his mother is a school teacher, after all), his father’s rifle (Lincoln’s most prized possession), and an unquenchable zest for adventure. When Lincoln meets two older guys, Jake and Johnny, who are also intent on joining the Legion, the story takes a new and often hilarious turn. The goal for these two gents is to get posted in Sidi Bel Abbès in Algeria, North Africa, so they can secretly look for King Sol’s lost treasure in legendary Mur. Lincoln agrees to help them search but insists his loyalty will remain with the Legion if they join up. Once again, however, the plot twists and turns in a new direction.

Jacobson has a flair for adding a hefty dose humor into some dastardly action filled with murder, peril, and greed. This mixture works well in this story, making it fast paced and fun to read. The reader never becomes a victim of boredom with All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone because riotous and dangerous surprises await Lincoln and his friends around every corner.

Lincoln’s adventures are somewhat reminiscent of Sir H. Rider Haggard’s 1885 bestseller King Solomon’s Mines, positioning All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone at the edges of that Lost World literary subgenre of the popular Victorian adventure/romance. While Lincoln quickly adapts his rugged old-fashioned Texas ways where ever he goes, he always remains a swashbuckling adventurer and a gentleman with an unshakable code of honor.

All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone is a must read for anyone needing a break from life’s toils and tribulations and looking for a spirited romp that moves from Texas all the way to Algeria, with Lincoln Smith never failing to charm and entertain throughout each chapter.

“I’ve never been accused of being normal.”

Enter the giveaway below on or before March 19, 2021, for a chance to win a copy of All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone by John J. Jacobson.


I received a free copy of this book from Lone Star Book Blog Tours in exchange for my honest review.

 

 

 

Though John J. Jacobson didn’t join the French Foreign Legion after being jilted by a girlfriend, or over his displeasure of missing the last great cattle drive, he has, borrowing Churchill’s phrase, lived a rather variegated life. He was born in Nevada, grew up in the West, surfed big waves in Hawaii, circled the world thrice, survived the sixties and seventies, corporate America, and grad school. Among other degrees he has an MA in Renaissance literature from Claremont Graduate University. 

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GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
FIVE WINNERS each receive a print copy
of All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone. 
(US Only. Ends midnight, CDT, March 19, 2021)
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One Reply to “Lone Star Book Blog Tour: All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone by John J. Jacobson (Review)”

  1. Yes! King Solomon’s Mines! That was the book that was niggling me while I was reading. Your review is spot-on — what a fun adventure with Lincoln. Thanks for a great review.