DWD's Reviews

Published in 2014 Normally, I am not much of a fan of short stories. For me, by the time I figure out what's going on in the story it's over and then I have to go through the whole process again in the next story. The exception to this has always been Stephen King - he creates characters that the reader can buy into very quickly in a story. I will add C.J. Box to that list with Stephen King. Throughout Shots Fired  Box quickly establishes the parameters of the story and then delivers 10 good short stories. Four of them feature his previously established characters joe Pickett or Nate Romanowski. Nine of them take place in modern times. Nine take place in Wyoming. The one that does not take place in Wyoming features members of the Sioux nation who are working at Euro-Disney in France. It is one of my favorites in the collection. A quote from the book: "Giving alcohol to an alcoholic makes him happy, but it doesn't help him. Buying stuff for people who won&#

Published in 2010 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett is in the last week of his exile to a lonely post - Baggs, Wyoming. Most men would take this last week to fill out the last bits of paper work, say goodbye to new acquaintances and maybe just take it easy. Not Joe Pickett. Joe loves the mountains of Wyoming and he looks at this as one last chance to take a pass through some wild and rugged territory that he may never get to see again. So, he heads off to check into a complaint about butchered elk (a hunter wounded an elk and before he could catch up to it to finish it off someone had already finished it, butchered it and carted off the best pieces) and several comments from long-time locals that the area just felt like something was wrong. So, Joe heads off with a couple of horses, his nearly useless pistol (Joe is a great guy but a terrible shot with a pistol) and his trusty shotgun and all sorts of camping gear to investigate. He also has his satelli

Published in 2009 by G.P. Putnam's Sons. Years ago, 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's Navajo Tribal Police books than I am sure that you will enjoy Box's descriptions of the local landscape and the people of Wyoming. In Below Zero  Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett is working on two cases. The first case (and the minor one in the story) concern's Joe's pursuit of the Mad Archer, a poacher that likes to shoot his arrows at just about anything. Besides out of season game, the Mad Archer has shot a bald eagle and Tube, the ultra-friendly Corgi-Labrador mix that Pickett has adopted. Joe arrests him and he promptly skips town while out on bail and Joe goes back on the hunt for him. The main story concerns a dying Chic

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

A pleasant surprise Published in 1997. I f you are an avid reader, you know how much of a gamble it can be to pick up a book by an author you've never heard of and jump into the middle of a series. You could get lucky and find a great new author to read or you could just be wasting your time. Well, I'm pleased to report that this is a great book and I'm going to seek out the others in the series. A Death in Victory is the third in a series featuring Harry Starbranch, the town police officer in Victory, Wyoming. Rather than go through plot details I'll give you a general idea about the book. A Death in Victory reads a bit like Robert Parker meets Tony Hillerman. Starbranch is a wisecracking cop who is not afraid to throw his fists. He has friends and connections everywhere and is not afraid to use them. But, like Hillerman, there's an acknowledgment of the reality of the immenseness of the wide open western spaces. He describes Wyoming and its