Winterkill - Joe Pickett, Bk 3 Author:C. J. Box Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett returns in this third adventure in C.J. Box's tough, tender, and engrossing series, which just keeps getting better. — When a forest service supervisor is murdered right after a manic shooting spree that slaughtered a herd of elk, a mysterious stranger who trains falcons and carries an unusual weapon is arreste... more »d for the slaying. Then a special investigative team headed by a devious, vindictive woman arrives in Saddlestring, bent on a bloody confrontation with a group of government-hating survivalists camped out on federal land. Among then is Jeannie Keeley, who abandoned her daughter April three years earlier. Since then, April has become like a daughter to Joe and his wife Marybeth, and a sister to their own children. Now April is right in the middle of what promises to be the last stand for the ragged band of refugees from the firestorms of Waco, Ruby Ridge, and the Montana Freemen, and only Nate the falconer, who owes Joe his life for finding the real killer of the supervisor and freeing him from jail, may be able to save her before the Bighorn Mountains are covered in blood.« less
Great mystery set in Wyoming, featuring Game Warden Joe Pickett. I really enjoyed reading all of the books in this series. I was unable to put the book down!
The Joe Pickett series by Box is becoming one of my favorites along with the Longmire series by Craig Johnson. Both series take place in Wyoming and involve local ranchers, cowboys, hunters, etc. Joe Pickett is the local game warden and gets in the middle of some perplexing situations. In Winterkill, he stumbles upon a U.S. Forest Service supervisor who is wantonly killing a herd of Elk. The FS officer winds up dead and pinned to a tree by some high-powered arrows. In trying to solve the murder, Pickett gets involved in a confrontation between the Feds (FS and FBI) and a group of anti-government sovereigns who end up also putting Pickett's foster daughter in danger. Overall, another great entry in the series. This is the third novel in the Pickett series after Open Season and Savage Run both of which I also enjoyed. Another high recommendation and I'll be looking forward to more in the series.
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.
Linda M. reviewed Winterkill (Joe Pickett, Bk 3) on
This is the fourth C.W. Box book that I have read. I really enjoy his descriptions of life in Wyoming and Montana. A great author and really nice guy when you have the opportunity to meet him.
