Open Season
(A Joe
Pickett Novel #1).
By C. J. Box. 2016. G.P. Putnam’s Sons. ISBN-13: 9780399576607
(Paperback).
Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, and
suffice to say, due to his refusal to take bribes or look the
other way, he’s not won over very many of the residents. And when a
local hunting outfitter ends up dead, splayed out on the woodpile in
the Pickett’s back yard, and two more outfitters are found dead in
a hunting camp, Joe is unsatisfied with the explanation provided by
the local police. He doesn’t believe the outfitter ended up on his
woodpile by coincidence, not when he and Joe had a previously nasty
and humiliating altercation when Joe caught him in the act of
poaching. There are rumblings of endangered species up in the
mountains and deals being sought with a multi-national natural gas
company to build a pipeline. The current sheriff is unexpectedly
bowing out of the upcoming election and Joe’s Fish & Game
colleagues are “misplacing” evidence. Joe dives deep into the
investigation and it’s a long time before he comes up for air.
Box doesn't pull his punches. In
Open Season, bad
things happen to good people and the villains will send chills down
your spine. But what makes this a great start for the series is
Pickett and his family. Like all the best mystery protagonists,
Pickett is a loner who holds tight to his personal code of honor.
What masterfully sets him apart is that he isn’t immune from making
significant blunders and his isolation isn’t of his own choosing.
He’s still a rookie and his naivety, mixed with the complexities
and ambiguities inherent in upholding the law, make for a fresh
perspective in western mysteries.
352 pages
