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Book Review of Winterkill (Joe Pickett, Bk 3)

Winterkill (Joe Pickett, Bk 3)
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A severe winter storm bears down on Joe Pickett's town of Saddlestring but another type of storm--purely a human creation--is in the works as a ragtag band of "Sovereigns" camp in a national forest, much to the consternation of local law enforcement. The book begins with the unlikely killing of Lamar Gardiner, whom Joe arrests after he kills several elk. His pursuit turns more personal when his foster daughter April is kidnapped by her white trash mother, Jeannie Keeley, who's involved with the Sovereigns.

Box's characterizations are as hard as the Wyoming landscape that he details. The villains of the piece are deeply amoral people: federal bureaucrat Melinda Strickland and FBI sociopath Dick Munker. They're both vicious in their own ways and, as is the case with all of Box's novels, they each get their comeuppance.

I started reading this series backwards (starting with "Blood Trail") and reading this makes me understand why Nate Romanowski is a wanted fugitive and how Pickett's daughter Sheridan becomes involved with falconry. This series makes for great reading and deserves a wider audience.