i really enjoy western books, and this was a really good historical novel. You could tell that the author had a lot of passion for the topic and it was well-researched.

Excellent, well researched, and run to read. This has information fit for someone new to the subject, and for those who have read dozens of books on it.

Ride the Devil's Herd started out strong. I really enjoyed the equal attention paid to the Cowboys and the Earp brothers. I also liked that there was no hero worship of anyone in the book. The Cowboys were multidimensional and the Earp brothers were allowed to have a few warts.
I wish I had stopped reading the book before the epilogue.
John Boessenecker used the epilogue as a platform for his political stance on modern policing. It rang as not just tone-deaf, but offensive, especially in the light of the egregious acts by police officers happening far too frequently.
"A similar danger exists today, when American police are routinely attacked by far-left politicians, activists, and reporters for using lawful force against criminal suspects. Entirely proper and necessary use of force by law enforcement is now routinely referred to as 'police violence.' And in a trend that is becoming increasingly familiar, prosecutors, using the flimsiest of evidence, now file criminal cases against officers for shootings and other physical force in attempting to carry out their official duties. Historically, the appropriate remedy for excessive use of police force is administrative discipline, termination of employment, or a civil lawsuit, not criminal prosecution."
There is definitely an audience receptive to this point-of-view. However, I am not that audience.

I read just about anything set in the wild west of the Wyatt Earp era, fiction or nonfiction, it doesn't matter. This is a nonfiction that has so much fascinating history that it feels more like fiction. Some of it I knew, some of it I didn't. All of it left me wishing for more. John Boessenecker has written a western my uncles and I will be proud to have on the shelf with our Louie L'Amours.

I should have realized that the Earp brothers had to be a little edgy, but the legend of Wyatt Earp is such that you don’t realize how many times he crossed the law prior to becoming a lawman, and then after he was a lawman. He was a stone cold killer. And the Earps travelled...a lot, moving 75 miles in a day, or on a manhunt for 16 days where horses literally dropped dead underneath them. And they truly travelled the country from Mexico to Alaska.
Sadly there was an overload of historical names, this Cowboy riding with this group, that killer riding with that group... it was difficult to keep up who was who. Twenty percent of the book is footnotes and appendix.
Of interest, there was a lot of shooting and killing...and a lot of horses died. It made me realize how sanitized movies are. Life during those times was much much more brutal.

If you wanted a textbook-like description of all things Wild West, this is your book. I found all the information intriguing but was left wishing that it was longer (and at 512 pages- that's saying something) It would have been nice to include more details about daily life in Tombstone



That said, it has to be one of the best books on Wyatt Earp ever written. The author definitely did his research as there are so many small details included about the Earp family that I've never heard about, and I'm a die-hard classic western movie fan.

For someone like me, who knew nothing about the Earp brothers, or the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, this book was interesting, but a bit of information overload. "Ride the Devil's Herd" gives readers as complete a history on the lawlessness of the West, cattle rustling, stagecoach holdups, etc as it is probably possible to do. Each of the main so-called "Cow Boys", sheriffs and other lawmen both on the Earp's side and against them, as well as the Earp family, get extensive biographical details here. After awhile I couldn't keep track of who was who among the Cow Boys and their many illegal adventures, swindles, deals, etc. all blurred together. Similarly, I didn't necessarily need to know how so many of them lived their post-Tombstone lives (especially since many weren't involved in the O.K. Corral fight in the first place).

The research behind "Devil's Herd" is extensive and Boessenecker clearly finds his subject fascinating. I would have enjoyed more details about life in Tombstone, but details of how Western law worked do a good job of laying out the differences between the West and law elsewhere in America at the time. Overall an interesting book, very informative, but one that had maybe a little more detail about extraneous, or at least side issues and people than needed. It would have helped the pace move faster and might have left the reader less bogged down in different names largely committing the same acts, as well as unable to keep track of who was on whose side when and why.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Wyatt Earp, the Wild West, and cowboys are all part of the American legend, and Boessenecker makes an effort to provide details on all three in Ride the Devil’s Herd. There is a wealth of information and research in this book, attempting to chronicle the true story of the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral.

I believe that Boessenecker’s greatest difficulty is the breadth of his subject. There is simply so much information the narrative element quickly gets lost. A meandering path tours through the lives of the Earp brothers and various Cow Boys, and what is by all rights the climax of the narrative, the shootout and its aftermath, feels like just another pause on the journey. The writing style was off-putting as well. The local law enforcement was categorized as “inept” or “inept and cowardly” twice within the first few paragraphs, and the rest of the book followed a similar pattern. Boessenecker seems torn between attempting to use period relevant language and structures and using more modern syntax, grammar, and vocabulary. The end result is jarring, and neither style works well. The third and final issue I had with this work was the pivot to modern policing and journalism. While there’s no question that the current state of policing or journalism in the United States is tied up in the history of those fields, the conclusions drawn in the final few pages of the book are abrupt and underdeveloped.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

*Edited upon further reflection

Received from Net Gallery to read and give review! This story is being told by a third person on the Wyatt brothers and the enemy The Cowboys. You have your typical wild West gunfight and the research on this was fantastic! Have read a lot of books on All these characters but I really think this was a great story,better than most I have read! The characters come alive for you to see what happens during this time in history! You have anything and everything in this story to have you enjoy the book.Very well written where you think you are right there watching this All take place. It's a great read!

This is quite a different book to read, it almost reads more like a classroom history lesson instead of a book told by or experienced by characters. It is told in third person, like you are outside the circle listening to someone tell you how things happened. I had trouble with that concept.
I will admit, I only got 40% into this one and I had to give up. After multiple hours of reading or listening using VoiceView on my Kindle, I was still not any farther into understanding or being able to keep track of who was who and what was going on. So many names, so many things happened, lots of people killed in shootouts, lots of horses were rode to hard and lots of cows were stolen. But I just could not keep track of all of it nor find a character that I could relate to and care about.
So much historical research went into this book, that is where the 3 stars come from, the research was exhausting I’m sure, but the 2 stars I removed was because if this story would have been told first person by Wyatt it could have been so much better. Great concept, bad execution.
I was allowed an ARC from Harlequin and NetGalley for my honest unbiased review. This one gets 3 stars.