Category Archives: Joe Pickett Series

March 1, 2020 · 11:57 pm

Review: Long Range by C.J. Box

Title: Long Range by C.J. Box
Joe Pickett Series Book Twenty
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 367 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett must investigate an attempted murder–a crime committed from a confoundingly long distance–in the riveting new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author C. J. Box.

When Joe Pickett is asked to join the rescue efforts for the victim of a startling grizzly attack, he reluctantly leaves his district behind. One survivor of the grizzly’s rampage tells a bizarre story, but just as Joe begins to suspect the attack is not what it seems, he is brought home by an emergency on his own turf. Someone has targeted a prominent local judge, shooting at him from a seemingly impossible distance. While the judge was not hit, his wife is severely wounded, and it is up to Joe to find answers–and the shooter.

The search for the would-be assassin becomes personal when Joe’s best friend, Nate Romanowski –just as he’s adjusting to the arrival of his first child–falls under suspicion for the crime. It’s a race against the clock as Joe tries to clear Nate’s name and identify the real shooter, all while deciphering the grizzly encounter. Beset by threats both man-made and natural, the two men must go to great lengths to keep their loved ones safe.

Review:

The twentieth installment in the marvelous Joe Pickett series, Long Range by C.J. Box is an absolutely riveting mystery.

Wyoming Fish and Game Warden Joe Pickett is out of his territory helping Jackson Hole Game Warden Mike Martin locate the body of hunting guide Jim Trenary.  According to out of state hunter Julius Talbot, the two men were suddenly attacked by a bear.  Talbot managed to escape without injury, but Trenary is appears to have mauled to death. The case is puzzling since unprovoked attacks by bears are virtually unheard of. Is this unsettling bear attack an isolated incident or the beginning of a frightening new trend?

Joe is abruptly called back to Twelve Sleep County following the tragic shooting of Judge Hewitt’s wife, Sue.  By all appearances, the Judge was the intended victim and he orders several law enforcement officers including Joe to investigate.  This case is Joe’s first official encounter with newly elected Sheriff Brendan Kapelow. Needless to say, no one, including Pickett, have a favorable impression of the taciturn sheriff who is not interested in anyone else’s input on the investigation.  After checking out his suspects, Joe is confident none of them are involved in the shooting. After visiting the scene of the shooting, Joe makes a shocking discovery and he turns to Nate Romanowski for advice.

Nate and his wife Liv Brannon are enjoying time with their new baby, Kestrel.  Nate is still a little uneasy about settling into regular life. His fears are soon realized after an unpleasant visit by retired FBI Agent Jeremiah Sanburg. After Sanburg delivers disturbing news, Nate becomes extra vigilant in order to keep his family safe. However, trouble is closer than he realizes when incompetent Sheriff Kapelow sets his sights on Nate for the shooting.

Joe turns to his wife Marybeth for important research into some of his hunches.  She unearths some very shocking information that turns the case upside down.  Joe believes he has uncovered the truth about the shooting, but whom can he trust to help him when everything goes sideways?

Long Range is a spellbinding mystery with a clever storyline and atmospheric setting.  Joe, Marybeth and Nate are vibrantly developed and have continued to grow and evolve over the course of this long running series. The investigation into the shooting is quite fascinating and eventually takes a stunning turn.   With breathtaking plans in place to catch a killer, C.J. Box brings this newest addition to the Joe Pickett series to an edge of the seat, adrenaline-laced conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed and HIGHLY recommend this spectacular mystery to readers of the genre.

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Filed under CJ Box, Contemporary, GP Putnams Sons, Joe Pickett Series, Long Range, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense

March 21, 2018 · 11:58 pm

Review: The Disappeared by C.J. Box

Title: The Disappeared by C.J. Box
Joe Pickett Series Book 18
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 400 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett has two lethal cases to contend with in the electrifying new novel from #1 New York Times-bestselling author C. J. Box.

Wyoming’s new governor isn’t sure what to make of Joe Pickett, but he has a job for him that is extremely delicate. A prominent female British executive never came home from the high-end guest ranch she was visiting, and the British Embassy is pressing hard. Pickett knows that happens sometimes–these ranches are stocked with handsome young cowboys, and “ranch romances” aren’t uncommon. But no sign of her months after she vanished? That suggests something else.

At the same time, his friend Nate Romanowski has asked Joe to intervene with the feds on behalf of falconers who can no longer hunt with eagles even though their permits are in order. Who is blocking the falconers and why? The more he investigates both cases, the more someone wants him to go away. Is it because of the missing woman or because he’s become Nate’s advocate? Or are they somehow connected? The answers, when they come, will be even worse than he’d imagined.

Review:

The Disappeared by C.J. Box is a perplexing mystery about a missing person’s case in Wyoming. Although this latest release is the eighteenth novel in the Joe Pickett series, it can easily be read as standalone.

Joe Pickett is uneasy when new Governor Colter Allen wants him to look into the still unsolved disappearance of Kate Shelford-Longden. The  high profile British ad agency CEO vanished on her way to the Denver airport after spending a week at upscale dude ranch outside of Saratoga.  Joe has an inside track at the Silver Creek Ranch since his oldest daughter Sheridan works there as a horse wrangler. He is also joined by falconer and friend Nate Romanowski, who is a bit of a maverick when it comes to staying within the confines of the law.

Joe has serious reservations about Allen’s motives for asking him to look into Kate’s disappearance but since his curiosity is piqued about what happened to fellow Game Warden Steve Pollock, he sets out for Saratoga.  The case file he receives is light on theories and information and DCI Agent Michael Williams is not exactly eager to discuss the investigation. Nevertheless,  Joe  has little choice but to commence with the governor ordered search for Kate.

Although the staff at the Silver Creek Ranch undergo rigorous vetting during the hiring process, the contractors who occasionally work for them are not. Farriers Brad and Ben Youngberg raise a few eyebrows due to their “work hard, play harder” attitude so they are definitely persons of interest. The father/son owners of the local fish farm also raise a few flags so they remain on the suspect list as well. Then there are curious nocturnal happenings that are occurring at the local mill owned by Jeb Pryor. His overnight employee Wylie Frye is earning extra money on the side but what exactly are the people who are paying him up to?

Because Joe is pressed for time, Nate is involved in questioning some of their suspects. Nate inadvertently finds himself at a wind energy farm that completely shocks him due to the vast number of wind turbines under construction.  Nate has a conspiracy theory that ties in with his initial reason for meeting with Joe and this discovery certainly does not cast any doubt on his supposition. But how does the Buckbush Wind Energy Project fit in with the disappearances of game warden Steve Pollock, Kate Shelford-Longden and the the odd goings-on at Jeb’s mill?

Taking place during a bitter cold and snowy Wyoming winter, The Disappeared is an engrossing mystery which also features intriguing environmental issues that are socially relevant in today’s world. Joe, Sheridan and Nate are intrepid amateur sleuths who methodically investigate Kate’s disappearance along with the curious other things they uncover along the way. With Joe’s future hanging in the balance, C.J. Box brings this latest addition to the Joe Pickett series to a gratifying conclusion that wraps up most of the novel’s dangling threads. Fans of the series and genre will definitely enjoy this latest mystery starring the lovable, straight arrow game warden.

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Filed under CJ Box, Contemporary, GP Putnams Sons, Joe Pickett Series, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense, The Disappeared

March 7, 2016 · 11:57 pm

Review: Off the Grid by C.J. Box

Title: Off the Grid by C.J. Box
Joe Pickett Series Book Sixteen
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Length: 380 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Penguin’s First to Read Program

Summary:

New York Times–bestselling author C. J. Box returns with a suspenseful new Joe Pickett novel.

Nate Romanowski is off the grid, recuperating from wounds and trying to deal with past crimes, when he is suddenly surrounded by a small team of elite professional special operators. They’re not there to threaten him, but to make a deal. They need help destroying a domestic terror cell in Wyoming’s Red Desert, and in return they’ll make Nate’s criminal record disappear.

But they are not what they seem, as Nate’s friend Joe Pickett discovers. They have a much different plan in mind, and it just may be something that takes them all down—including Nate and Joe.

Review:

Off the Grid by C.J. Box is a terrifyingly realistic thriller that takes place in the very isolated Red Desert area in Wyoming. This sixteenth installment in the Joe Pickett series reunites Game Warden Joe Pickett with his good friend, Nate Romanowski, when their paths unexpectedly cross after the outgoing governor asks Joe to investigate the suspicious happenings in the desert.

Nate has been living completely off the grid when an unspecified government agency sends two of its agents to coerce him into finding missing journalist Muhammad “Ibby” Ibraaheem. Although Ibby’s reputation is impeccable, his disappearance nearly two years earlier certainly caught the attention of the federal government and it appears he may be involved in some type of terrorist plot. Nate wants nothing more than to be left alone, but the agents’ promise of expunging his record coupled with some very unsubtle threats convince him to accept the assignment.

Just as Joe is heading home from a long day in the field, a distress call about a rogue bear possibly attacking a hunter puts his evening plans on hold. Using info from the GPS trackers on both the hunter and the bear, his worst fears are realized when he finds the nearly dead hunter in the bear’s cache. Joe narrowly escapes the hunter’s fate when the bear returns but both he and the bear escape the encounter unscathed. With the bear’s whereabouts now unknown, he thinks outgoing Governor Spencer Rulon is planning to assign him the nearly impossible task of tracking the bear but much to his surprise, Rulon wants Joe to investigate what is going on in the Red Desert.

Neither Nate nor Joe is prepared for what is awaiting them in the desert. The conditions in the remote area are harsh and unforgiving but what they discover at Ibby’s camp ratchets the danger level into the stratosphere. Ibby’s idealistic plan is about to come to fruition but, unbeknownst to him, the other men he is working with are planning an attack so catastrophic that it is nearly incomprehensible. Nate and Joe are determined to foil the terrorist plot but they are so completely outnumbered and outgunned, they cannot help but wonder if they will escape with their lives.

With a plausible plot and plenty of action, Off the Grid by C.J. Box is a pulse-pounding thriller that is fast-paced and engrossing.  The storyline is horrifyingly realistic in this post 9/11 era and the bad guys are chillingly brutal and willing to die for their cause. The beautiful yet desolate Red Desert is the ideal setting for these nefarious dealings and it is also the perfect backdrop for Joe and Nate’s final stand against the evildoers. A riveting novel of suspense, this sixteenth installment in the Joe Pickett series can be read as a standalone, but I highly recommend the entire series.

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Filed under CJ Box, Contemporary, GP Putnams Sons, Joe Pickett Series, Mystery, Off the Grid, Rated B+, Review, Suspense, Thriller