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Dance with the Devil
In the eye of a storm, as Dr Emma Randall prepares to bury one man, another enters her life with the force of the cyclone gathering around them.
Drew Jarrett, his feet and hands torn by nail wounds, has stumbled onto her isolated farm in the O’Connor Valley, with no clue to the identity of the man who has injured him. But he will come to know that someone wants to kill him – and that he wants Emma more than he has ever wanted any woman.
Emma fights to deny her feelings for Drew, but the growing danger that surrounds her and this mysterious stranger will create an intimacy between them she could never have imagined. As Emma and Drew join forces, their need to stop a killer will soon be rivalled only by their need for each other …
In Dance with the Devil, menace and love meet in a story as suspenseful as it is passionate.
Drew Jarrett, his feet and hands torn by nail wounds, has stumbled onto her isolated farm in the O’Connor Valley, with no clue to the identity of the man who has injured him. But he will come to know that someone wants to kill him – and that he wants Emma more than he has ever wanted any woman.
Emma fights to deny her feelings for Drew, but the growing danger that surrounds her and this mysterious stranger will create an intimacy between them she could never have imagined. As Emma and Drew join forces, their need to stop a killer will soon be rivalled only by their need for each other …
In Dance with the Devil, menace and love meet in a story as suspenseful as it is passionate.
325 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
22 people want to read
About the author
Sandy Curtis
25 books40 followersSandy Curtis lives on Queensland’s Central Coast, not far from the beach where she loves to walk and mull over the intricate plots in her novels. Her husband says he doesn’t know how she keeps it all in her head, and her friends think she must be far more devious than she appears.
Actually, after having dealt with the chaos involved in rearing three children, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, and a kookaburra (teaching it to fly was murder), creating complex characters, fast-paced action and edge-of-your-seat suspense is a breeze for Sandy.
At fourteen she wrote a story about a pickpocket who steals a wallet from an off-duty cop. To make sure her details were authentic, she wrote to Police Headquarters asking them about fingerprints. Her mother received a phone call wanting confirmation the query was genuine, and as Sandy hadn’t told her about the letter (or the story), she nearly had a heart attack thinking her daughter was in trouble with the law.
Sandy’s query resulted in an invitation to tour Police Headquarters with her teacher and several schoolfriends and meet the Police Commissioner. That’s when she learned that although the pen might be mightier than the sword, it does nothing to imbue self-confidence in an extremely nervous fourteen-year-old who had to shake the hand of Queensland’s top cop.
“All my pocket money and birthday money went on purchasing books,” Sandy says. “I devoured them. My aunt and uncle used to let me borrow their Saturday Evening Post (American version) and Reader’s Digest. In one Saturday Evening Post I read a story called “The Answer” by Philip Wylie, about a nuclear explosion which kills an angel and the Defence Force’s efforts to prove it was ‘really an alien being’. I was so impressed with the story I decided that one day I would become a story-teller like Philip Wylie.”
Interviewers often ask Sandy to describe her normal writing day. “Normal is when the chaos in my life subsides to frantic rather than frenzied. I once told a friend that I must have a chaos attractor glued on my forehead and she said that creativity hovers on the edge of chaos, to which I replied that I’d long ago fallen off the edge into the middle.”
Her various occupations, from private secretary to assistant to a Bore Licensing Inspector, as well as hitch-hiking around New Zealand and learning to parachute, have given Sandy lots of people and research skills. It’s the paperwork going feral in her office she has trouble with.
Actually, after having dealt with the chaos involved in rearing three children, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, and a kookaburra (teaching it to fly was murder), creating complex characters, fast-paced action and edge-of-your-seat suspense is a breeze for Sandy.
At fourteen she wrote a story about a pickpocket who steals a wallet from an off-duty cop. To make sure her details were authentic, she wrote to Police Headquarters asking them about fingerprints. Her mother received a phone call wanting confirmation the query was genuine, and as Sandy hadn’t told her about the letter (or the story), she nearly had a heart attack thinking her daughter was in trouble with the law.
Sandy’s query resulted in an invitation to tour Police Headquarters with her teacher and several schoolfriends and meet the Police Commissioner. That’s when she learned that although the pen might be mightier than the sword, it does nothing to imbue self-confidence in an extremely nervous fourteen-year-old who had to shake the hand of Queensland’s top cop.
“All my pocket money and birthday money went on purchasing books,” Sandy says. “I devoured them. My aunt and uncle used to let me borrow their Saturday Evening Post (American version) and Reader’s Digest. In one Saturday Evening Post I read a story called “The Answer” by Philip Wylie, about a nuclear explosion which kills an angel and the Defence Force’s efforts to prove it was ‘really an alien being’. I was so impressed with the story I decided that one day I would become a story-teller like Philip Wylie.”
Interviewers often ask Sandy to describe her normal writing day. “Normal is when the chaos in my life subsides to frantic rather than frenzied. I once told a friend that I must have a chaos attractor glued on my forehead and she said that creativity hovers on the edge of chaos, to which I replied that I’d long ago fallen off the edge into the middle.”
Her various occupations, from private secretary to assistant to a Bore Licensing Inspector, as well as hitch-hiking around New Zealand and learning to parachute, have given Sandy lots of people and research skills. It’s the paperwork going feral in her office she has trouble with.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 8, 2014
Dr Emma Randall sat beside the body on the ground, gently brushing the hair from his forehead with her face deeply etched in grief. But she knew she couldn’t stay there, as there was a cyclone heading her way, and it would be there within minutes. Suddenly she spotted a figure stumbling toward her house – he looked terribly injured; as she debated what to do, the man fell and didn’t rise again. Leaving the body, she rushed to the fallen man; struggling while looking at his injuries in horror, she half supported, half dragged him to the house and into her surgery.
Completely isolated on her farm in the O’Connor Valley south of Cairns, she had learned to rely on no-one but herself. So after tending to the stranger’s injuries, she battled the winds to drag the body to shelter in the nearby shed. Then she prepared for the cyclone which was upon them, making them both as safe as possible while they rode out the hugely damaging storm.
Drew Jarrett, a lawyer from Cairns who had been on a fishing holiday in the nearby bushland had managed to escape his captor, a man he called the devil – his horrific injuries shocked Emma, but Drew had no idea who had tried to kill him. But with the storm still raging around them, there was nothing that could be done…
Once the flood waters had subsided and the roads were once again opened, Emma took Drew back to Cairns where he could be properly assessed at the local hospital, as well as report the incident to the police. But the danger intensified when a body was found, murdered brutally. Did this murder have anything to do with Drew’s abductor? As Emma was fighting her growing feelings for Drew, the evil was surrounding them – did they really need to dance with the devil?
I absolutely loved this fast paced and gripping thriller by Aussie author Sandy Curtis. I have read and loved most of Sandy’s work now, and in my opinion, this is one of her best. The building romance between the two leading characters was enjoyable; the incredible plot was brilliant! I have no hesitation in highly recommending this, and all, of Sandy Curtis’ novels.
Completely isolated on her farm in the O’Connor Valley south of Cairns, she had learned to rely on no-one but herself. So after tending to the stranger’s injuries, she battled the winds to drag the body to shelter in the nearby shed. Then she prepared for the cyclone which was upon them, making them both as safe as possible while they rode out the hugely damaging storm.
Drew Jarrett, a lawyer from Cairns who had been on a fishing holiday in the nearby bushland had managed to escape his captor, a man he called the devil – his horrific injuries shocked Emma, but Drew had no idea who had tried to kill him. But with the storm still raging around them, there was nothing that could be done…
Once the flood waters had subsided and the roads were once again opened, Emma took Drew back to Cairns where he could be properly assessed at the local hospital, as well as report the incident to the police. But the danger intensified when a body was found, murdered brutally. Did this murder have anything to do with Drew’s abductor? As Emma was fighting her growing feelings for Drew, the evil was surrounding them – did they really need to dance with the devil?
I absolutely loved this fast paced and gripping thriller by Aussie author Sandy Curtis. I have read and loved most of Sandy’s work now, and in my opinion, this is one of her best. The building romance between the two leading characters was enjoyable; the incredible plot was brilliant! I have no hesitation in highly recommending this, and all, of Sandy Curtis’ novels.
December 4, 2025
Review to follow.
April 17, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed Dance with the Devil and finished it in two sittings. Every couple should have the fierce chemistry that struck Emma and Drew, thrown together by a mad, religious fanatic bent on revenge against everyone that he blames for the death of someone close to him (anything more would be a spoiler). The final scenes bring a nail-biting conclusion. A great read!
November 9, 2018
Now I know that romantic suspense is not my thing. Too much romantic, too little suspense here.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews