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The Devil's Own #1
Dance with the Devil
Johnny Fierro's a gunfighter, maybe the best. He's hunted trouble and a reputation all his life. But the killings and the range wars have worn him out and brought him to a point where he would welcome death —until he hears that his estranged and hated father faces a battle to hold onto his land in the Cimarron Valley. Fierro has sworn to kill his father and this is too good an opportunity to miss. What he hasn't bargained for is a share of the ranch, or a brother he never knew existed. While his upright, authoritarian father and Harvard-educated brother struggle to come to terms with his violent past and vicious reputation, Fierro wrestles with the unwelcome realization that his mother didn't tell him the whole story about the past. He doesn't know what to believe, but he has to make a choice when the bullets start flying.
- GenresWesterns
356 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2014
1 person is currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
J.D. March
3 books4 followersAdventurer and journalist JD March has tracked leopards in the Masai Mara, skied competitively, ridden to hounds, paddled dugout canoes on the Indian Ocean, and is an accomplished sailor. JD has lived in a series of unusual homes, including a haunted twelfth-century house in Cornwall in Britain and a chalet in the French Alps. But a lifelong passion for the old West means JD is happiest in the saddle, rounding up cattle on the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming.
Named Best New Western Author 2015 by True West Magazine
Named Best New Western Author 2015 by True West Magazine
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 18, 2025
2.5 - story and characters were great, my only issue is the inner monologues were incredibly repetitive- seemed like every time we switched pov we had to restate how everyone felt about everything else. but that part dies down towards the end. guy is amazing and believes his brother is an angel. meanwhile his brother is metaphorically rocking back and forth after committing mass murder
July 20, 2014
I love how genres never really go away, even those that have maybe fallen out of favour like Westerns. They just reinvent themselves and carry on.
In the days of the Western’s Hollywood, Louis L'Amour prime, the hero would have been fine, upright, honest, brave and truthful. And white. He’d have a firm hero’s chin and steadfast blue eyes squinting against the sun as he faced down the villain. He might be tempted, briefly, by the saloon girl, but something always happened – usually she died saving him, a la Destry Rides Again – leaving him free for the pure virgin he deserves as a reward. He’d fight for right and he wore a white stetson.
These days he's Johnny Fierro.
Part Indian. Damaged. Manipulative. Wary. Proud. Distrustful. Hard. Deadly. Dangerous. Gun for hire. Killer.
Johnny Fierro is not a man to cross. He kills easily, and if he’s haunted by the ghosts of the men he’s killed, he doesn’t let that show. But under that hard exterior is a man with an extraordinary sense of honour and justice; the owner of a peculiar moral code that has little to do with the mores of the times. Not even the deprivations of living along the dangerous border with Mexico has robbed him of that, though it long ago robbed him of childhood and innocence. He may have his own, warped version of what’s right and what’s wrong, but he applies it consistently.
J D March has created a wonderfully flawed and human hero here, painting a psychologically acute portrait of what a lifetime of abuse creates, how it warps a man and twists him into something he should, perhaps, have never been. March’s knowledge of the old West seeps through the narrative, tying it to real events and people in a way that sets it squarely into its time and place. While the plot of Dance with the Devil has the familiar tropes of an imperilled ranch and a father calling home his estranged sons to help him save the land, Johnny Fierro’s morally ambiguous, dangerous, downright *sexy* character gives the story a sharp jab of realism. This really was how the west was won, by characters who were hard and deadly and who didn’t wear white stetsons.
Johnny Fierro’s is grey, at best.
A gripping story and a compelling, darkly-attractive anti-hero. Don’t miss it.
In the days of the Western’s Hollywood, Louis L'Amour prime, the hero would have been fine, upright, honest, brave and truthful. And white. He’d have a firm hero’s chin and steadfast blue eyes squinting against the sun as he faced down the villain. He might be tempted, briefly, by the saloon girl, but something always happened – usually she died saving him, a la Destry Rides Again – leaving him free for the pure virgin he deserves as a reward. He’d fight for right and he wore a white stetson.
These days he's Johnny Fierro.
Part Indian. Damaged. Manipulative. Wary. Proud. Distrustful. Hard. Deadly. Dangerous. Gun for hire. Killer.
Johnny Fierro is not a man to cross. He kills easily, and if he’s haunted by the ghosts of the men he’s killed, he doesn’t let that show. But under that hard exterior is a man with an extraordinary sense of honour and justice; the owner of a peculiar moral code that has little to do with the mores of the times. Not even the deprivations of living along the dangerous border with Mexico has robbed him of that, though it long ago robbed him of childhood and innocence. He may have his own, warped version of what’s right and what’s wrong, but he applies it consistently.
J D March has created a wonderfully flawed and human hero here, painting a psychologically acute portrait of what a lifetime of abuse creates, how it warps a man and twists him into something he should, perhaps, have never been. March’s knowledge of the old West seeps through the narrative, tying it to real events and people in a way that sets it squarely into its time and place. While the plot of Dance with the Devil has the familiar tropes of an imperilled ranch and a father calling home his estranged sons to help him save the land, Johnny Fierro’s morally ambiguous, dangerous, downright *sexy* character gives the story a sharp jab of realism. This really was how the west was won, by characters who were hard and deadly and who didn’t wear white stetsons.
Johnny Fierro’s is grey, at best.
A gripping story and a compelling, darkly-attractive anti-hero. Don’t miss it.
March 7, 2015
A rip roaring good story, well told!
June 9, 2015
Obviously, this author does not ascribe to the Ten Commandments, especially the eighth one "Thou shalt not steal".
August 31, 2023
3.4/5
This is a very classic western; it's as though, if you combined all the westerns to have ever existed, you get this book. But that still somehow makes it unique.
I thoroughly enjoyed the mental picture painted in March's words - it has been a while since I finished it, yet I still remember the scenery and people that were described to me.
But it was the character development that I adored - the main character has actual depth and maturing. I admit, he's a bit of a stereotype (as is the whole book) but this is, in this case, a good thing.
If you enjoy westerns, this is a perfect read for you - you will not be disappointed. And after you've read that, don't hesitate to read the next two!
This is a very classic western; it's as though, if you combined all the westerns to have ever existed, you get this book. But that still somehow makes it unique.
I thoroughly enjoyed the mental picture painted in March's words - it has been a while since I finished it, yet I still remember the scenery and people that were described to me.
But it was the character development that I adored - the main character has actual depth and maturing. I admit, he's a bit of a stereotype (as is the whole book) but this is, in this case, a good thing.
If you enjoy westerns, this is a perfect read for you - you will not be disappointed. And after you've read that, don't hesitate to read the next two!
November 13, 2025
I made it about a hundred or so pages into this piece of cliche filled western novels... I hate a novel where the gunslinging hero is faster than anybody else. The characters are all two-dimensional cutouts that we've seen in far too many westerns before. While I wanted to see the characters grow and resolve their differences, I finally couldn't take anymore of the derivatrive drivel this author was offering. When I reached that point-- this one hit the trash can faster than the hero could draw his gun.
February 11, 2025
A solid mixture of adventure and emotion make this a better read than the average western.
December 30, 2014
I love how genres never really go away, even those that have maybe fallen out of favour like Westerns. They just reinvent themselves and carry on.
In the days of the Western’s Hollywood, Louis L'Amour prime, the hero would have been fine, upright, honest, brave and truthful. And white. He’d have a firm hero’s chin and steadfast blue eyes squinting against the sun as he faced down the villain. He might be tempted, briefly, by the saloon girl, but something always happened – usually she died saving him, a la Destry Rides Again – leaving him free for the pure virgin he deserves as a reward. He’d fight for right and he wore a white stetson.
These days he's Johnny Fierro.
Part Indian. Damaged. Manipulative. Wary. Proud. Distrustful. Hard. Deadly. Dangerous. Gun for hire. Killer.
Johnny Fierro is not a man to cross. He kills easily, and if he’s haunted by the ghosts of the men he’s killed, he doesn’t let that show. But under that hard exterior is a man with an extraordinary sense of honour and justice; the owner of a peculiar moral code that has little to do with the mores of the times. Not even the deprivations of living along the dangerous border with Mexico has robbed him of that, though it long ago robbed him of childhood and innocence. He may have his own, warped version of what’s right and what’s wrong, but he applies it consistently.
J D March has created a wonderfully flawed and human hero here, painting a psychologically acute portrait of what a lifetime of abuse creates, how it warps a man and twists him into something he should, perhaps, have never been. March’s knowledge of the old West seeps through the narrative, tying it to real events and people in a way that sets it squarely into its time and place. While the plot of Dance with the Devil has the familiar tropes of an imperilled ranch and a father calling home his estranged sons to help him save the land, Johnny Fierro’s morally ambiguous, dangerous, downright *sexy* character gives the story a sharp jab of realism. This really was how the west was won, by characters who were hard and deadly and who didn’t wear white stetsons.
Johnny Fierro’s is grey, at best.
A gripping story and a compelling, darkly-attractive anti-hero. Don’t miss it.
In the days of the Western’s Hollywood, Louis L'Amour prime, the hero would have been fine, upright, honest, brave and truthful. And white. He’d have a firm hero’s chin and steadfast blue eyes squinting against the sun as he faced down the villain. He might be tempted, briefly, by the saloon girl, but something always happened – usually she died saving him, a la Destry Rides Again – leaving him free for the pure virgin he deserves as a reward. He’d fight for right and he wore a white stetson.
These days he's Johnny Fierro.
Part Indian. Damaged. Manipulative. Wary. Proud. Distrustful. Hard. Deadly. Dangerous. Gun for hire. Killer.
Johnny Fierro is not a man to cross. He kills easily, and if he’s haunted by the ghosts of the men he’s killed, he doesn’t let that show. But under that hard exterior is a man with an extraordinary sense of honour and justice; the owner of a peculiar moral code that has little to do with the mores of the times. Not even the deprivations of living along the dangerous border with Mexico has robbed him of that, though it long ago robbed him of childhood and innocence. He may have his own, warped version of what’s right and what’s wrong, but he applies it consistently.
J D March has created a wonderfully flawed and human hero here, painting a psychologically acute portrait of what a lifetime of abuse creates, how it warps a man and twists him into something he should, perhaps, have never been. March’s knowledge of the old West seeps through the narrative, tying it to real events and people in a way that sets it squarely into its time and place. While the plot of Dance with the Devil has the familiar tropes of an imperilled ranch and a father calling home his estranged sons to help him save the land, Johnny Fierro’s morally ambiguous, dangerous, downright *sexy* character gives the story a sharp jab of realism. This really was how the west was won, by characters who were hard and deadly and who didn’t wear white stetsons.
Johnny Fierro’s is grey, at best.
A gripping story and a compelling, darkly-attractive anti-hero. Don’t miss it.
October 16, 2016
Most western novels tend to be a bit melodramatic and this one no different. However, there is a fine line between melodramatic and hokey. For me this one never quite crossed that line.
The main character is a gunfighter struggling to accept changing his life and getting out of the business. This is book one of a series and it's interesting enough that I'll be checking out the later books. There is enough left unexplained about Johnny Fierro that I want to learn more.
If you like westerns, it's a fun read.
The main character is a gunfighter struggling to accept changing his life and getting out of the business. This is book one of a series and it's interesting enough that I'll be checking out the later books. There is enough left unexplained about Johnny Fierro that I want to learn more.
If you like westerns, it's a fun read.
August 20, 2015
I'm not sure how this book got on my to-read list but it was good; I'm glad it did. It's an old-fashioned western.
My only complaint is the way the lead character was referred to by two different names denoting two aspects of his life - almost like multiple personalities. He even referred to himself in the third-person that way. I began to grit my teeth when they talked about him almost as another person.
My only complaint is the way the lead character was referred to by two different names denoting two aspects of his life - almost like multiple personalities. He even referred to himself in the third-person that way. I began to grit my teeth when they talked about him almost as another person.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews