The Comanche Kid by James Robert Daniels

This recommendation came to me by way of the Six-Gun Justice Podcast Facebook group. I read the intriguing description – “A love child of The Searchers, Lonesome Dove, and True Grit” and I knew I couldn’t go wrong. Not wanting to wait, I downloaded the Kindle version and jumped right in.

The story is set-up as a narration by 16 year old Jane Fury as she begins, “It was early spring when the ocotillo was in bloom that the raiders come down on us and killed everyone but me and Sally.” She goes on to describe how the day started peacefully as she and her twin brother Jamie gathered leaf buds from the cattails growing in the marsh. It was Jamie who went running when they heard the screaming in the distance, ordering her to stay put. She wanted to go with him, but he told her there was no reason – she couldn’t do anything anyway because she was a girl. And there’s the hook – because she’s a girl!

Jane then goes on to describe in painful detail how she stays behind listening to the horror that is happening to her family, and only after a rain storm and then silence does she venture to where her mother, brother and father lay dead. But where is Sally? The three-year old is nowhere to be found, and that’s when Jane realizes that the Comanche have taken her. This is Jane’s story – her quest to find her lost sister, and she will use any means necessary to find her.

With Jamie’s words ringing in her ears, “you’re a girl—there’s nothing you can do up there”, Jane makes a crucial decision. She puts on Jamie’s bloody clothes, chops off her hair, and grabbing her father’s guns she goes after the Comanche raiders. And boy does she go after them.

Fueled with anger, Jane’s journey (now as Jamie) takes her dangerously close to dying herself. Surviving on her wits, sharp aim, and sheer determination she tracks down the Comanche that killed her family, joins a cattle drive, tries to find help at an army fort, and eventually finds her way back to the Comanche – not all at once mind you – there is plenty of wild adventure in between but to go into any more detail would give away some crucial information. But through it all the Comanche Kid, as “Jamie” is now known, never stops looking for Sally.

Jane’s narration is so personal and at times very painful, yet it never wavers or bogs down. The story is fast paced and moves with almost the same relentless speed as Jane when she realizes just how close she is to finally avenging her family. With a cast of wonderful characters this story is very reminiscent of those masterfully told stories mentioned above; and I did think quite a bit of “True Grit”, but I was also thinking of the TV series “1883” and how the narration of that show was also very personal and bittersweet.

This book was beautifully written and Jane’s voice was very much alive throughout. I took a chance on a book recommended from a Facebook post that I might have normally skipped, and I’m so glad that I did. This one is so special that even though I purchased the Kindle version, I just knew that it also needed to be added to my bookshelves, so I purchased the hardcover as well.

If you’re a fan of westerns or just good adventures, try this one. And if you do, please let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear from other fans of “The Comanche Kid”.