DWD's Reviews

The Series Continues in Its Winning Ways Originally published in March of 2011 I am a giant fan of C.J. Box and have been ever since a fan of Robert Crais left a comment on one of my reviews of an Elvis Cole book that told me to check out C.J. Box's Joe Pickett series. I am now happily, but haphazardly, working my way through the series.  Because I am bouncing around, I already knew a lot about Nate Romanowski before I read this book. I don't know if my approach to the series has caused this, but I am not a fan of the  Romanowski character. I suppose it's a staple of the genre - the principled good guy has a rougher, tougher guy who has his back. Elvis Cole has Joe Pike. Spenser has Hawk. Heck, I guess you could even note that Han Solo has Chewbacca. Despite the long history of this type of character, I would just as soon read more about good but not overly tough guy Pickett than his nearly unstoppable buddy. That being said, this is still a really good book. Th

Bad news: your father-in-law has been murdered. Worse news: Your mother-in-law is suspect #1 Published in 2011 by G.P. Putnam's Sons A person who left a comment on one of my Amazon reviews told me about C.J. Box and gave me the title to his first book featuring Joe Pickett. I found it at the library and I was hooked. If you like Michael Connelly or Robert Crais you will love C.J. Box. If you like Tony Hillerman, you will enjoy Box's descriptions of the local landscape and the people of Wyoming. Cold Wind features Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden. Joe loves the great outdoors, loves being a game warden, loves his wife, loves his family, hates bureaucracy and hates his mother-in-law. His mother-in-law is a real piece of work and is almost universally despised. She has clawed and married her way to a fortune and has no problem using people and tricks of divorce law to take more money.  Joe Pickett's current father-in-law. Earl Alden, is one of Wyoming's biggest

Inspired by a true case of abuse of power by the EPA Published March 12, 2013 by Putnam I really enjoy C.J. Box 's Joe Pickett series but I freely admit that I, sadly, just sort of forget about these great books. There's no reason for that because this series is every bit as good as the ones I never forget about (Michael Connelly and Robert Crais) but I just do. Breaking Point is an excellent addition to the series. The book features a local landowner and his family who are told by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that they need to stop construction on their property in a subdivision at the edge of Saddlestring, Wyoming because it is a "wetland" even though there is no water and no spring on it. They are given a few days to return the property to its pre-construction condition or face stiff fines ($70,000 per day). The property owners are given no way to appeal the decision and no one will discuss the problem with them from the EPA. When the fa

Looks like I've got a new series to read! A fter reading rave reviews for another C.J. Box book on Amazon.com, I decided to give the series a try. So, I found the first one, Open Season , and gave it a chance. In spite of being able to tell who the bad guys were from the first 75 pages (including motivations), this is one heck of a good story. The characters are interesting. Joe Pickett is as likable of a protagonist as you can imagine and his job is interesting. The descriptions of the countryside are also quite vivid and easy to imagine. The drama is real and visceral. The conversations don't sound forced or contrived. In short, despite being a first novel, this is really very, very good, in spite of the transparent plot. Maybe even because of it - I could see the big climax coming from a mile away but the entire time I was wondering how bad it would be when it happened. I rated this book 5 stars out of a possible 5 stars. This book can be found on Amazon.com