Helpful Score: 4
I was recommended this book by Amazon and read it from the library a couple of years ago. I've been looking for the sequel ever since (and just found out that there are now 5 books in the series. It's a great book, and I recommend it highly.
From booklist:
Every few years a first novel appears that immediately sets itself apart from the crowd. As readers, we feel that special shock of recognition that announces, "Here is something special." Taking dead aim with his first sentence ("When a high-powered rifle hits living flesh it makes a distinctive--pow-WHOP--sound that is unmistakable even at tremendous distance"), Wyoming first-novelist Box remains square on target throughout this superb debut. Joe Pickett, game warden of Twelve Sleep County in Wyoming, is just the kind of everyman hero we can't help but identify with: something of a plodder, even a bit of a bungler (he loses his gun to a poacher in the novel's opening scene), he is nevertheless the kind of man who responds to a crisis with courage and the ability to act decisively (just the way we like to think we would respond). And Joe faces a major-league crisis in his rookie year as game warden: when three elk hunters are killed under suspicious circumstances (one of them dies in the warden's backyard, apparently on his way to deliver something), Joe can't understand why his colleagues seem to want to sweep the case under the rug. When he looks under that rug, however, he finds a many-tentacled scam involving an oil pipeline and an endangered species. Soon Joe's career is in jeopardy and his family in mortal danger. The plot is constructed with airtight precision, generating remarkable suspense while drawing us completely into a vividly realized world. The Wyoming high country is a palpable presence here; its ruggedness plays a crucial role in the story, and its grandeur is continually set against the venality of most human concerns. The endangered-species theme, often a plot element is crime fiction, is explored with impressive complexity and no shortage of villains on all sides of the issue. And, best of all, the soft-spoken Joe Pickett is a Gary Cooper for our time: flawed, insecure, but a stand-up guy when it counts--the perfect mix of dream and reality.
From booklist:
Every few years a first novel appears that immediately sets itself apart from the crowd. As readers, we feel that special shock of recognition that announces, "Here is something special." Taking dead aim with his first sentence ("When a high-powered rifle hits living flesh it makes a distinctive--pow-WHOP--sound that is unmistakable even at tremendous distance"), Wyoming first-novelist Box remains square on target throughout this superb debut. Joe Pickett, game warden of Twelve Sleep County in Wyoming, is just the kind of everyman hero we can't help but identify with: something of a plodder, even a bit of a bungler (he loses his gun to a poacher in the novel's opening scene), he is nevertheless the kind of man who responds to a crisis with courage and the ability to act decisively (just the way we like to think we would respond). And Joe faces a major-league crisis in his rookie year as game warden: when three elk hunters are killed under suspicious circumstances (one of them dies in the warden's backyard, apparently on his way to deliver something), Joe can't understand why his colleagues seem to want to sweep the case under the rug. When he looks under that rug, however, he finds a many-tentacled scam involving an oil pipeline and an endangered species. Soon Joe's career is in jeopardy and his family in mortal danger. The plot is constructed with airtight precision, generating remarkable suspense while drawing us completely into a vividly realized world. The Wyoming high country is a palpable presence here; its ruggedness plays a crucial role in the story, and its grandeur is continually set against the venality of most human concerns. The endangered-species theme, often a plot element is crime fiction, is explored with impressive complexity and no shortage of villains on all sides of the issue. And, best of all, the soft-spoken Joe Pickett is a Gary Cooper for our time: flawed, insecure, but a stand-up guy when it counts--the perfect mix of dream and reality.
Helpful Score: 2
First Book in the Joe Pickett series. If you like good mystry books with alot of heart and great Characters this is a book for you!! It also has plenty of action.
Helpful Score: 2
Joe Pickett isn't your average hero. He's a game warden trainee who becomes involved in a murder when a local outfitter's body appears in his woodpile. The plot concerning greedy business interests versus a thought-to-be-extinct mammal in Wyoming's beautiful wilderness is familiar, but the characterizations are great. Joe is a courageous yet flawed hero; his wife, Marybeth, is loving yet headstrong. What happens to the characters in this novel is reflected in their emotional growth over the next books in the series and often has devastating consequences. A great read.
Helpful Score: 2
First book of the ongoing character Joe Pickett, game warden. If you think you have 'best' friends you might want to rethink that when strange things start happening in your territory. When you find a murder scene and all of a sudden you find a dead man on your wood pile, who had disarmed you previously, and you suddenly find yourself suspended from your job but yet you keep on trying to discover the reason behind all this without knowing that your daughter is somehow involved. For a first novel this was enough to keep you interested and rooting for Joe all the way.
Helpful Score: 1
Loved this start to a series with Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden, as the main character. Box does a great job with both characterization and locale. The plot centers around the conflict between a gas line that would bring work to the rural Wyoming town and the possibility of an endangered species being in the area. Greed and power mongering make folks who Pickett trusted not so trustworthy. Pickett seems a little out of his depth in this book, very principled and a little naive...but a great father. I'm looking forward to getting to know Pickett and his family better, since this is the first of 11 so far. I love a new (to me) series!
