SWITCHBACK: A PATRICK FLINT NOVEL (audiobook) by Pamala Fagan Hutchins

Published in 2019 by Pamala Fagan Hutchins.

Read by the author, Pamala Fagan Hutchins.

Duration: 7 hours, 56 minutes.

Unabridged.

My synopsis:

It is 1976 and E.R. Doctor Patrick Flint wants to take his family on a week-long family camping and hunting trip on horseback. He is keenly aware that his teen children are getting older and they won't have too many more opportunities to go on adventures around their Wyoming home.

But, things are starting to unravel. His wife decides she doesn't want to go at the last minute. His daughter is complaining because she'll be out in the mountains and away from the boy she is interested in. 

So, the family separates for the week and that's when things start to go bad - and once things start to go bad in this book they just don't stop.

My review:

The basic outlines of Switchback are quite good, especially for the first book in a series. There's a decent amount of world building and the choice to set the book in 1976 removes all chances of cell phones or computers being a part of the story.

But, there are problems. For example, Dr. Flint is a congenial, funny guy at work. At home, he yells and screams when things don't go his way. The couple throws things at one another - not soft things, but things like dishes and coffee mugs. Maybe that's the way some couples do things, but I've been married a long time and we don't do it that way. Voices can be raised, but things don't get thrown. I disliked the man from that moment.

*****Spoiler Alert*****

This book is just way too busy with plot twists. There are sudden (often violent) plot twists that started at about the one-third point. Once they started coming, they never seemed to stop. An escaped prisoner commits a home invasion, a motorcycle gang (sort of) makes leering sexual comments to the high school daughter, the family uncovers a drug manufacturing operation, a car theft, a devastating car crash, a coyote pack attack caused by the (sort of) gang, food poisoning, a mountain lion attack, a horse killed for no reason, an attempted rape, a kidnapping, a murder, an attempted murder, a stabbing, and a horse breaks its leg in the middle of nowhere. 

There were enough plot twists for 2 or even 3 books. My advice - slow things down and save these ideas for another book.

*****End Spoiler Alert*****

Despite my misgivings about the sheer number of plot twists and my dislike of the main character, I found the last third of the book to be pretty compelling - I wanted to find out how the book ended.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Switchback: A Patrick Flint Novel by Pamala Fagan Hutchins.

STORM WATCH (Joe Pickett #23) (audiobook) by C.J. Box

 

Published by Recorded Books in February of 2023.
Read by David Chandler.
Duration: 9 hours, 4 minutes.
Unabridged.

Synopsis:

Game Warden Joe Pickett is out in a snowstorm chasing down an elk with a broken leg. An out of state driver plowed into an elk herd while consulting the GPS app on his phone and an injured elk somehow limped away. 

Joe and his dog Daisy are on a big ranch owned by an out of state multi-millionaire trying to track down the elk to put it out of its misery. Joe finds the elk, an SUV from a different part of the state, a metal building that is very out of place in this out of the way valley, and a dead man. 

Joe starts to nose around and gets shot at twice by snowmobilers at the top of the valley and that's just the beginning of his troubles...

My review:

For the past 13 years I have been happily reviewing C.J. Box's novels. I went back and looked at those reviews and bit-time politics has been a part of them since almost the beginning. His early books featured eco-terrorists, an EPA ruling about water rights, wind turbines, and more. 

Warning: ***spoilers***

But lately, the books are just getting more and more over the top. There is a running commentary by the lazy sheriff in the last few books that Joe Pickett keeps finding trouble. In the last two books Joe found a man who had been burned to death by Hungarian Nazis. He found his old lady neighbor was killed by the same Nazis. In this book, he discovered a Chinese communist spy who had been killed by meth-heads (actually he discovered it twice because the body was moved). He discovered a dead meth addict, and was nearly assassinated (don't worry - the bad guy was killed.) Joe's friend and self-appointed body guard Nate Romanowski along with Geronimo Jones (Geronimo is Nate Romanowski's Nate Romanowski) kill 6 more men. That's a body count of over a dozen in a county in America's least populated state (576,000 people) in just a few months. In the book before that 5 or 6 people died as well! 18 people dead in this one county in less than a year!

It seems to me that this lazy sheriff has a really good point. In 2020, Wyoming only had 25 murders and that was up quite a bit from previous years. 

I love the Joe Pickett game warden stories with Joe being out in the wild doing game warden stuff. He has fought terrorists with a missile, Nazis, dirty FBI agents, Mexican drug cartel hit teams, uncovered a Chinese Communist plot, fought Antifa extremists (extreme even for Antifa), and found body after body after body. There's a point where it gets to be too much. Who else can you take down after you have taken down Nazis, Communists, and the FBI?

***End Spoilers***

All of the griping being said, the book does move along quite well and, if you have read all of the books, is full of a lot of satisfying moments. 

This book wraps up so many loose ends that it may very well be close to the end of the Joe Pickett series. There are hints of another set of adventures with his daughter or Geronimo Jones or even with a Wyoming state trooper. 

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: STORM WATCH (Joe Pickett #23) by C.J. Box.

SHADOWS REEL (Joe Picket #22) (audiobook) by C.J. Box

 

Published in 2022 by Recorded Books.

Read by David Chandler.
Duration: 9 hours, 4 minutes.
Unabridged.

Synopsis:

Game Warden Joe Pickett investigates a report of a dead elk. Fearing that it is the victim of a botched attempt at poaching, he investigates. Instead, he finds a burned corpse and falls headlong into another murder investigation.

Meanwhile, Joe's wife Marybeth, the director of the local library discovers an odd package left at the library with connections to a prominent Nazi from World War II.

And...Nate Romanowski is in Denver hunting down an old enemy during the midst of an Antifa/BLM riot.

My review:

This is a book series about a game warden. Oftentimes, he is joined by a former special forces guy who is so into nature that he used to stand naked in a stream of water for hours at a time to get the feel of a river and its entire ecosystem - from the slime at the bottom to the fish to the birds that swoop down to the beavers that dam it up.

Antifa protest in Denver

There was almost no "game wardening" in this book and the man who is derisively called "nature boy" in this book spends 99% of this book navigating the urban world of Black Lives Matter and Antifa.

I have complained in my review of the 20th book in this series, Long Range, that Joe Pickett was getting involved in so many other types of police cases that it is easy to forget that the first books in the series - the books that made me start and keep reading a series - were mostly about game warden activities. Lots of searching for poachers. There was a book about eco-terrorists, one with survivalist weirdos and even a big forest fire.

This book seemed to be careening from one political commentary after another - BLM, Antifa, even Hungary. What does the author say? Antifa - irredeemably stupid. BLM - understandable, but over the top. Hungary, despite the popularity of its President in ultra-conservative circles, is linked in this book with violent reaction over careful consideration.

Is this what the author intended? I have no idea. He seems to be making a lot of political comments in his books lately in the Joe Pickett and the Cassie Dewell series. Some are subtle, some are not. I assume that is what he's pulling his characters out of the Wyoming countryside and placing them in cities all over the West, but maybe not. Maybe I am reading too much into it. Either way, I want Joe Pickett to get his butt back into the woods!

I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: SHADOWS REEL (Joe Picket #22) by C.J. Box.

DARK SKY (Joe Pickett #21) (audiobook) by C.J. Box

 

Published by Recorded Books in 2021.
Read by David Chandler.
Duration: 9 hours, 31 minutes.
Unabridged.

Winner of the Spur Award for Western Contemporary Novel (2022)

Synopsis:

Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett is good at his job and is known for dealing honestly with everyone. Usually, it's a good thing to have a great reputation. But, it can also mean that people dump the uncomfortable jobs on you because they know you will do them.

The new Governor of Wyoming has an idea that will pick up his slumping poll numbers - he will convince a tech mogul to build his latest server farm in Wyoming. He hopes that the prestige and, more importantly, new high-paying jobs will help the voting public overlook his scandals when it comes time for re-election.

The tech mogul is sort of a combination of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerburg. He has new skills he wants to master and the current skill he wants to master is providing himself with all of his own food. He gardens and hunts everything and he is coming to Wyoming to go on an elk hunt in the mountains. Joe Pickett has been chosen to make sure he has a successful hunt and tell him all of the advantages of placing his server farm in Wyoming.

However, there is more awaiting this hunting party than a herd of elk...

My Review:

In my review of the 20th book in this series, Long Range, I wished that Joe Pickett would stop acting like a regular police officer and have cases that took him out into the mountains again. This book fits the bill perfectly! As a bonus, there was some discussion of the pluses and minuses of social media.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Dark Sky (Joe Pickett #21) by C.J. Box.

LONG RANGE (Joe Pickett #20) (audiobook) by C.J. Box

 

Published in 2020 by Recorded Books.
Read by David Chandler.
Duration: 10 hours, 35 minutes.
Unabridged

This book is the 20th in the Joe Pickett series, but in a lot of ways it is the sequel to the 19th book in the series: Wolf Pack. More about that below.

The book starts out with Joe in the deep woods on an investigation of a bear attack. But, he is called back to Saddlestring, Wyoming on an emergency run. The wife of a legendary local judge was shot during a presumed attempted very long range sniper attack on the judge. The judge has demanded that every law enforcement officer in the area investigate immediately, including Game Warden Joe Pickett.

Of course, things are more complicated than that...

************Spoilers*************

In Wolf Pack a Mexican drug cartel assassination team shot up Saddlestring, killing the sheriff, the prosecutor, critically injuring an FBI agent and more. Nate Romanowski killed the leader of the hit squad and in this book their best assassin comes after Nate to exact his revenge. 

Personally, I am getting tired of the plots that take Joe Pickett away from being a game warden. Joe and Nate have disrupted international terrorists and taken on Mexican drug cartels in the last few books. They are good adventure stories, but they get away from the types of stories that made me like this series and they start to get more and more improbable. 

I was more interested in the bear attack part of the book than the attempted assassination of the judge and WAY more interested in the bear attack part of the book than the return of the drug cartel. The drug cartel angle seemed to be a clunky, heavy handed way of redirecting the arc of the Nate Romanowski story line.

**********END SPOILERS***********

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5 mostly based on the fact that I like the main characters and it is always good to spend time with them, even in a frustrating book.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: LONG RANGE (Joe Pickett #20) by C.J. Box.

WOLF PACK (Joe Pickett #19)(audiobook) by C.J. Box

 

Published in 2019 by Recorded Books.

Read by David Chandler.
Duration: 9 hours, 51 minutes.
Unabridged.

Synopsis:

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is back on the job and glad to be doing the mundane work of a game warden once again.

The game warden in the district next to his reaches out and tells him about a fancy drone she has spotted. The drone is being used to drive winter-weakened deer and elk into groups and then panic them into stampedes, killing and maiming several of them. Of course, this is a violation of Wyoming law.

But, when they go to track down the owner, they find that they are stymied everywhere they look. Once they find the owner, it turns out that they wish they hadn't found what they are looking for...

Review:

This is a pretty engrossing thriller with lots of action.

But...

Huge chunks of this book is told from the perspective of characters that are guests in this series. I don't know exactly what percentage, but it felt like Joe Pickett was mostly a guest in book number 19 in the Joe Pickett series. There was not a lot of game wardens doing game warden things because the series has largely moved away from that and, in my opinion, that is simply a shame.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Joe and his family and his friend Nate very much and I was happy to go along for another ride with them in this book. However, this was a good book, but not a great one because it moves away from Joe Pickett and becomes a thriller that could've have been adapted into any police series without a lot of thought. 

I rate this 4 stars out of 5 because it is a good thriller, but I am disappointed.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: WOLF PACK (Joe Pickett #19) by C.J. Box.

SAVAGE RUN (Joe Pickett #2) (audiobook) by C.J. Box

 

Originally published in 2002.

Published in 2010 by Recorded Books.
Read by David Chandler.
Duration: 8 hours, 48 minutes.
Unabridged.

I have been reading the Joe Pickett series for the last 10 years and I have been reading them all out of order. I started with book number one, went on to number thirteen and so on...

So, here I am ten years later with a review of Savage Run (book number two.)

The book starts out from the perspective of a radical environmentalist who leads a national organization. However, he is tired of using lawsuits to fight for the environment. He likes to get his hands dirty by spiking trees and cutting fences. While he is out doing that he gets blown up by a bomb that was strapped to a cow. 

Photo by DWD

Joe Pickett gets called out to the explosion site because there may have been wildlife injured or killed. He finds a horrible mess and soon enough gets sucked into another, much larger situation...

This is Box's sophomore effort and there is evidence of a sophomore slump here. It's not a bad book, it's just not as good as the rest of the series usually is. It has some very compelling parts, but the tension of what should have been the biggest moment of the chase scene is deflated by from comments that appear in the first part of the book.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: SAVAGE RUN (Joe Pickett #2) by C.J. Box.

CITY of WINDOWS (Lucas Page #1) by Robert Pobi

Published by Macmillan Audio in 2019.

Read by Stephen Graybill.
Duration: 11 hours, 5 minutes.

Unabridged.

City of Windows features Lucas Page, a certified genius (an astrophysicist) with a special talent - he can envision the relations between the stars as they rotate in the sky above and predict where they will go mathematically. It is a natural talent, one he's had since he was a little boy. He can apply this skill to crime scenes as well. He can eyeball a crime scene and tell from what direction and angle a shot came from without having to take all of the steps that Crime Scene Investigators usually have to take. 

But, he was seriously injured while on the job with the FBI several years ago. The incident took an eye, a hand and part of a leg. He gladly walked away from the FBI and became a college professor.

But, when his old partner is killed by a sniper with a very long-range shot on a busy road in New York City in the middle of a snowstorm, Lucas Page is reluctantly called back into duty. He easily figures out the angles for the shooting, but the secrets he uncovers along the way in his investigation aren't nearly as easy to deal with...

City of Windows had a lot of positives going for it, including an interesting back story for the Lucas Page, supporting characters that you want to root for and a grown up discussion of guns and violence in America.

*****SPOILERS*****

The book has a lot of discussion of militias and "patriot" movement groups. People who follow these topics, even on a superficial level will recognize the parallels to Ruby Ridge siege of 1992 in Idaho involving the FBI and the U.S. Marshals. It starts out very unsympathetic to their arguments, but then takes a turn that shows that sometimes they have a point. It does not end up supporting them, but makes an interesting discussion.

The book also has an interesting discussion of guns. It never advocates getting rid of them, but readily acknowledges that groups like the NRA (I am a former member) and its ever-active spokesman Wayne LaPierre whip up a lot of outrage no matter whether it makes sense or not and how this interacts with the politics of militias and patriot movement groups.

*****END SPOILERS*****

I ended up rating this book 3 stars out of 5. The mystery was very solid but the author's writing style was often overdone. Too many times he added an extra metaphor that didn't need to be there. For example, I clearly remember a reference to a rope ladder hanging from a house window being compared to a disconnected spinal column. It struck me as the author trying too hard. 

On top of that, the main character, Lucas Page, was more than a little hard to take. Would I want him working on a murder case if I were the FBI? Of course - he's talented and who cares about his manners?

But, I am not working with him - I am choosing to spend 11 hours with him in an audiobook and I don't think I will choose to spend another 11 hours with him in the next book since I wouldn't want to spend 11 hours with him in real life.

Bottom line: This book has some good points, a solid mystery but not enough for me to say it was more than "just okay" and certainly not enough for me to go on with the rest of the series.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: CITY of WINDOWS (Lucas Page #1) by Robert Pobi.

DEATH WITHOUT COMPANY (Longmire #2) (audiobook) by Craig Johnson

 

Originally published in 2006.

Published by Recorded Books in 2007.
Read by George Guidall.
Duration: 9 hours, 48 minutes.

Unabridged

Walt Longmire's mentor as the Sheriff of Absaroka County is Lucian, a long-retired and extra-cranky one-legged man. Lucian lives in an assisted living home and he calls in Walt when a resident passes away. Nursing home residents passing away isn't normally an event that draws a lot of suspicion, but Lucian insists it was murder. Longmire decides to listen to Lucian and soon enough Walt uncovers a lot more than anyone was expecting...

I am coming to the Longmire book series after seeing the entire Longmire TV series. This is technically my third book. I listened to number 3, the first book and now the second book. 

And...I am going to give this series a rest for a while. I liked the interesting characters, but the book has serious pacing issues. As I said, I watched the series. My least favorite part of the series was the sequences when Walt would get visions. This book had way too many visions - they slowed the book and did little for me.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: DEATH WITHOUT COMPANY (Longmire #2) (audiobook) by Craig Johnson.

THE COLD DISH (Longmire #1)(audiobook) by Craig Johnson

 

Originally published in 2004.
Published by Recorded Books in 2007.
Read by George Guidall.
Duration: 13 hours, 17 minutes.
Unabridged.

The Longmire book series is the definition of a successful franchise with 16 novels and a six season television series. I watched the series and I enjoyed it immensely, so I decided to give the books a go.

There are obvious differences in characters (The Ferg is a massive change, for example), but they are not deal-breakers. I prefer to look at them as another interpretation of the characters. 

The main mystery in The Cold Dish was highly adapted for the TV series, so much so that it was basically a whole new mystery.

A few years earlier 4 white high school boys sexually assaulted a fellow student. She was Native American who suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and didn't really understand what had happened. The trial that followed was rough on the local white and Native American communities and ended with minimal punishments for the boys. 

Now, the boys are being murdered one by one by a sniper using an 1874 Sharps Rifle (or a replica) and Longmire has no shortage of suspects...

So, what did I think?

The story drug from time to time, but the main characters are strong. I am not sure if that is because I know another version of them from the TV show or if they were strong in the novel. Either way, I am going to keep going.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: THE COLD DISH by Craig Johnson.

KINDNESS GOES UNPUNISHED (Longmire #3) (audiobook) by Craig Johnson

Published by Recorded Books in 2007.
Read by George Guidall
Duration: 8 hours, 42 minutes.
Unabridged.

Walt Longmire is the Sheriff of Absaroka County in Wyoming and in Kindness Goes Unpunished he is off to Philadelphia to visit his daughter Cady. This visit comes as part of a road trip with his friend Henry Standing Bear who is presenting some photos at a museum. To add some extra fun, Walt is going to meet up with his tough-talking deputy Vic's family, since she is also from Philadelphia. Turns out they are entrenched in the police department, from top to bottom.

But, before the visit really got started, Cady is pushed off of a balcony and suffers a head injury, leaving her in a coma. Walt and Henry start investigating and soon things start to get very complicated, very fast.

This is the third book in this series, but the first one that I have read or listened to. Normally, I don't join series midway, but I felt confident that I could start with this one because I had seen two season of the TV show based on the book series so at least I would know who the characters are. I wasn't lost, but I didn't particularly enjoy the Philadelphia-based "fish out of water" aspect of this book. It was okay, but not great.

The audiobook was read by George Guidall. He has long been recognized as one of the best in the audiobook business and he does a great job with this book. But, it was just a so-so book no matter who read it so I am going to have to rate it 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Kindness Goes Unpunished
.

THE DISAPPEARED (Joe Pickett #18) by C.J. Box

Published in 2018 by G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Game Warden Joe Pickett and the new governor of Wyoming have a turbulent relationship at best. The previous governor used Joe as his own personal law enforcement officer from time-to-time. This wasn't because Joe was some sort of rogue cop - quite the opposite. He knew that Joe was a dogged investigator who had a talent for following clues where they led him - or at the very least stumbling around blind and stepping in the middle of the problem on accident. Sure, it had a real cost in damage to trucks (a tradition continued in this book), but Joe could be trusted to do the right thing.

In The Disappeared the new governor found about Joe and has tried to use him to deal with political problems masked as law enforcement problems. Joe has refused and the new governor does not deal with rejection well.

However, this time there is a real-life law enforcement issue to deal with. A female British executive and media darling has disappeared after vacationing at a very high end dude ranch - the same ranch that employs Joe's oldest daughter as a wrangler (cowgirl guide for the rich and famous that want to experience a bit of cowboy life). The British executive checked out, drove away in her rental car and never arrived at the airport. She just vanished and the British press is having a field day. The fancy dude ranch is concerned that it will hurt their business and this has gotten the attention of the governor and his surly chief of staff.

So, Joe is off to investigate in the middle of winter and enters the very touristy world of dude ranches for the world's elite. But, there are other issues to deal with - the Governor's office is very impatient, Joe's daughter has a serious boyfriend at the ranch and Nate Romanowski is pestering him about eagles...

All Joe Pickett books are a worthy read for me - I've been reading them for eight years now, thanks to the recommendation in a comment left on one of my online reviews. Joe is like an old friend and this one is a tough read because Joe is off balance for the duration of the book. It is also not as satisfying a read because it is clearly part of a two-part series (or more). One set of problems are resolved only to stumble upon even more problems and I am not satisfied only because I want to know what is going to happen next (If you are a Marvel movie fan, you know the feeling - it's the one you had at the end of Infinity War).

So, I rate this one 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: THE DISAPPEARED (Joe Pickett #18) by C.J. Box.

P.S. Watch out for Nate Romanowski and his fish!

DEAR BOB and SUE: ONE COUPLE'S JOURNEY THROUGH the NATIONAL PARKS (audiobook) by Matt Smith and Karen Smith

Published by Tantor Audio in 2017.
Read by David Colacci and Susan Ericksen
Duration: 14 hours, 48 minutes
Unabridged

Matt and Karen Smith decided to visit every National Park in the U.S. National Park System. They decided to only visit the 58 sites that are actually named "National Park". This is important because there are over 400 sites in the park system that have titles like National Monument, National Lakeshore and National Recreational Area - so many that it is doubtful that any one person has been to them all. As if to prove this point, just after the Smiths published the first edition to this book, a new National Park was added to the system and they had to go visit it and update their own book just to keep their own record intact. 

The book is written as a series of e-mails back to their sometimes traveling partners Bob and Sue. Bob and Sue never actually accompany them on one of these trips. They alternate back and forth narrating their adventures in the order that they visited them. 

By necessity, the visits to each of these parks is merely a cursory visit and not detailed description of the park. When you do the math, it works out in this audiobook to about 15 minutes per park, minus stories of their travels to and from the parks. Some get more than that - the Grand Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns come to mind. 

Have you ever traveled with another couple? Even if you are best friends, there will be times when you are sick of them and their way of doing things. While I generally found the book to be interesting, there were times that I grew weary of traveling with the Smiths and I put the audiobook on hold for a while, like the time when Karen Smith rinses mud and horse manure off of her hiking boots in the hotel shower and then complains that the shower drain runs slow. Sometimes, their snide comments got a little old but, in the end, I enjoyed this trip through all of the parks. It made me want to get back on the road with the family and start seeing more of the country again.

The audiobook was read by David Colacci and Susan Ericksen. I thought they did a very convincing job as the voices of these two travelers.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: DEAR BOB and SUE: ONE COUPLE'S JOURNEY THROUGH the NATIONAL PARKS.

VICIOUS CIRCLE (A Joe Pickett Novel) by C.J. Box

Published in 2017 by G.P. Putnam's Sons.

In 2015's Endangered, C.J. Box introduced his readers to the Cates family. The Cates family was a dangerous group by anyone's standards - likely to poach wildlife, cheat business partners or maybe just get in a fight for the sheer fun of it. The most dangerous members of the family are the mom and the golden child Dallas. Dallas is also a champion professional rodeo star and should have been a real celebrity in his hometown of Saddlestring, except for the fact that no one can stand him or his family.

Joe Pickett helped break up the Cates family crime ring and in the process most of the family was killed. Dallas Cates and his mother went to jail. His mother is serving a life sentence. In the process of her family being taken down she broke her neck and is now paralyzed.

Joe Pickett has a problem. Dallas Cates has just been released from jail and it's clear that he wants revenge. He hasn't made a move yet, but it is obvious that he wants to punish Joe by taking out his family, just like Joe took out his.

And, to make matters worse, Joe Pickett's mother-in-law is back in town...

This was a great entry in the long-running Joe Pickett series. It was a return to the basics for Joe (no international plots - as in one of the more recent books). Just a story of revenge told well. A very modern version of a classic Western theme.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Vicious Circle by C.J. Box.

OUT of RANGE (Joe Pickett #5) by C. J. Box

Originally published in 2005.

Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett has been re-assigned in Out of Range. Normally, he covers the area around the town of Saddlestring but he has been temporarily re-assigned to a plum location - Jackson, Wyoming - the home of the Grand Tetons and a well-known retreat for the rich and the famous.

While Joe is thrilled for the opportunity, he is not happy about the circumstances behind it. A fellow game warden that he knew and respected suffered some sort of mental breakdown and killed himself. Plus, his family has been receiving ominous "breather" phone messages at all times of day and night...

So, Joe Pickett goes off to Jackson only to find that this new assignment is extraordinarily complicated by politically-connected power players, trendy protesters and the investigation into the previous game warden's suicide and things are getting weirder and more complicated all of the time...

I am reading this series in what seems to be an insane random order. A lot of the events in this book are referred to in other books down the line so this is an important chapter in his story. But, this was not the best of the Joe Pickett series and certainly not a good one to start with if you are thinking of starting the series. But, for me at least, a book with Joe Pickett is like a visit with old friends.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazom.com here: OUT of RANGE (Joe Pickett #5) by C. J. Box.

Reviewed on May 15, 2017

WINTERKILL(Joe Pickett #3) by C.J. Box

When Joe Met Nate...   

Originally Published in 2003

Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett is making his rounds in Winterkill when he sees a hunter open fire on a herd of Elk, killing many more than a hunting license would allow. It turns out he is the local administrator of federal lands, the man who approves permits, makes rental agreements for grazing or logging and the like. He escapes Joe's custody for a few minutes, only to be found pinned to a tree - the victim of an attack with a hunting bow.

The local sheriff has a suspect in mind - a local anti-government type that Joe has heard of but has not met - Nate Romanowski (for those who have not read the series, Joe and Nate become de facto partners in many of the books in this series). Joe suspects that Nate is not the real killer and goes off on his own to do a little detective work on the side. He has his eyes on a wandering group of anti-government activists who have set up camp in a federal forest. And, they include the biological mother of the foster child Joe's family has been trying to adopt for the last several months. Throw in a nutty federal bureaucrat and a wild winter storm and you can see how things will get tough for Joe Pickett this winter...

I read the Joe Pickett books as I naturally find them. I could order them all and read them in order but, what's the fun in that?  This book is the beginning of four different multi-book plot lines and it would actually be a good place to start the series if you can't find book #1 or #2 in the series. The action is great, the tension over the proper use of federal lands is real, even if it is overdone by some of the characters in this book. 

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Winterkill by C.J. Box.

WITHOUT FAIL (Jack Reacher #6) (audiobook) by Lee Child

Originally released in 2007 by Brilliance Audio.
Read by Dick Hill
Duration: 16 hours, 34 minutes
Unabridged

Jack Reacher is back in Without Fail. He is tracked down by his deceased brother's former colleague in the Secret Service (and ex-girlfriend) because she wants him to take a run at the security around the Vice President-elect in order to test it.

It turns out there is a serious plot to kill the Vice President-elect and Reacher and a partner he has brought in to help join in to hunt for the plotters.

This is a typical Reacher book - lots of snide comments, fistfights and even gunplay. The part where he is brought in by the Secret Service is a stretch, but Lee Child makes it palatable.

The audiobook is read by veteran reader Dick Hill. He gives Reacher a strong voice and I think he really gets the character.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Without Fail by Lee Child.

OFF the GRID (Joe Pickett #16) by C. J. Box

Published in 2016 by G.P. Putnam's Sons

This installment in the saga of Joe Pickett starts out with a bear encounter in the mountains and ends up in a violent confrontation in Wyoming's Red Desert.

Joe Pickett's special relationship with the Governor is coming to an end in Off the Grid because the Governor's term is coming to an end. But, that doesn't stop him from going on one last special mission to the Red Desert area of Wyoming.

Meanwhile, Nate Romanowski has been approached by men from a secret group of government agents who are worried about national security issues. They know all about Nate and his delicate legal situation and promise to clear all of that up if he goes on a special assignment for them in the Red Desert area of Wyoming.

Also, Joe's daughter Sheridan goes for a weekend camping trip to volunteer to help an unknown activist group in (you guessed it) the Red Desert area of Wyoming.

As you know, if you follow this series, when Nate and Joe and Joe's family get involved in some sort of nefarious activity, there's bound to be plenty of action and drama.

Despite the obvious forced coincidence of having all of these characters show up in the same corner of Wyoming at the same time, the action and spending more time with these characters makes up for it.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Off the Grid by C.J. Box.

ENDANGERED (Joe Pickett # 15) by C.J. Box

Published in 2015 by G.P. Putnam's Sons

Technically, Endangered is a Joe Pickett and Nate Romanowski novel but they have no interaction throughout the book. Nate has been released from prison because of a complex deal between the feds and Joe Pickett's boss, the Governor of Wyoming. But, one of the conditions of his release is that he cannot have any contact with Joe Pickett - a part of the deal that was tossed in out of spite by the FBI agent that negotiated the deal.

Romanowski agrees and heads off to a new life with his new love interest.  They have opened a business in which he will use his hunting falcons to clear out smaller birds from barns and the like. But, Romanowski soon discovers that he was mostly let out of prison to become bait for the people that he testified against in prison so that the FBI can have a chance to nab them - maybe before they kill Nate, maybe not.

Meanwhile, Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett is dealing with troubles of his own. His adopted daughter April has returned to Twelve Sleep County, unbeknownst to her family. They find out when she is discovered on the side of the road nearly beaten to death. Pickett has his suspicions of the real culprit even though the clues are pointing to a strange loner who lives on the edge of town...

This is an exciting, suspenseful addition to the series. Lots of action, lots of drama and multiple story lines. The ending was satisfying, if not a little too pat for my tastes. 

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Endangered (Joe Pickett #15). 

THE EAGLE CATCHER (Wind River Reservation Mystery #1) by Margaret Coel

Originally published in 1995.

Set on the Wind River Arapaho reservation in Central Wyoming, this murder mystery features a likable cast of characters and great descriptions of cultural aspects of the Arapaho. Comparisons will inevitably be made to Tony Hillerman's series set amongst the Navajo and this book fares quite well in the comparison.

The mystery involves the murder of Harvey Castle, the tribal chairman in the middle of the Ethete powwow. The custom is that everyone camps out in tipis for the event and Harvey Castle is found stabbed to death in his tipi - murdered in his sleep.

The local police and the FBI quickly find a suspect but Father John O'Malley of the reservation's Jesuit mission doesn't buy it. He starts his own investigation and soon ruffles a lot of feathers as he starts to figure out who really killed Harvey Castle...

I really like the John O'Malley character. He was a once proud priest who was humbled by alcoholism and sent out in the middle of nowhere to get his life together. He has made a real connection with his parishioners and O'Malley's past grand failure makes him a very approachable character (and a much better priest).

The mystery was not particularly hard to solve (I nailed it early on) but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Eagle Catcher.