IN PLAIN SIGHT (Joe Pickett #6) by C.J. Box

 

Published in 2006.

I have been reading C.J. Box's series about Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett for the last five years now after having someone recommend him to me on Amazon. The problem is, I have made absolutely no effort to read them in order - I just read them as I find them. So, I have read #1 and #9-13 plus several of Box's standalone novels. In Plain Sight is the first one that I felt a little lost in it as I jumped in but I got things figured out after 50 or 60 pages and still enjoyed another adventure with Joe Pickett.
In this book, Joe is dealing with a new boss at the state level who is much more bureaucrat than he is game warden. While they butt heads, the town of Saddlestring is being torn apart by an internal family feud with the Scarlett family. The Scarletts are one of the original white families to move into the area and they have been stunningly successful over the generations. They have the biggest ranch with the best land. They are on all of the boards, in the state legislature and employ lots of people. This family civil war splits the town apart and has gotten to the point where it looks like there will be an old-fashioned range war. And Joe is in the middle of it because his daughter is best friends with a daughter of one of the rivals.

 Throw in a mysterious new ranch hand with an explosive temper who has a grudge against Joe Pickett and several brutal animal mutilations designed to taunt the game warden and terrify his family and you have a situation that Joe just can't ignore, even if his boss wants him to for political considerations...

 For me, this story took a little while to get going partially because of my initial confusion (see the first paragraph). That being said, I give it an entirely respectable 4 stars out of 5 because once it got going it grabbed my attention.

 In Plain Sight can be found on Amazon here: In Plain Sight (A Joe Pickett Novel)

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