• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2011 May #1
  Box built his reputation with his ongoing series about Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden who's a bad shot and a good guy. But stand-alone thrillers have given Box room to experiment. His third features a cop, Cody Hoyt, who is everything Pickett is not. An alcoholic smoker with a short fuse, Hoyt has left his previous jobs and his family in shambles. When his AA sponsor is murdered, however, his stubborn single-mindedness may just be his saving grace. The trail leads Hoyt, decidedly not an outdoorsman, into the Yellowstone backcountry, where others are in danger—and for a surprising reason. Part of the fun here is seeing Box take familiar elements from his other fiction and rework them into something different. The plot is a bit more tangled than in his standout stand-alone, Blue Heaven (2008), and the role played by Cody's distrustful partner, Larry, doesn't quite work as well as it could. But it's still terrifically entertaining stuff that comes together with a bang in the end. We almost hate to say this, but Hoyt has series potential, too. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Box is big news—and with a 125,000-copy first printing, a 10-city tour, and a major marketing push, this book will do business. Copyright 2011 Booklist Reviews.

C.J. BOX is the bestselling author of Three Weeks to Say Goodbye, and ten novels including the award-winning Joe Pickett series.Blue Heaven won the Edgar® Award for Best Novel in 2009, and he's won the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, and the Barry Award. His first novel,Open Season, was a New York Times Notable Book and an Edgar® Award and L.A. Times Book Prize finalist. The novels have been translated into 25 languages. Box lives in Wyoming.