Book 25 – C.J. Box – Back of Beyond

Book 25 of 2011 is C.J.Box’s third stand alone thriller Back of Beyond. Released soon after the 11th Joe Pickett novel Cold Wind  (which I started a while back and didn’t finish before it was due back at the library) Back of Beyond was a fast and furious ride through the back country of Yellowstone Park. The novel’s main character is Cody Hoyt a divorced, alcoholic cop thrown off the Denver Police force and now stationed in Montana. When Coty finds his mentor from AA dead in his burned out cabin, Coty knows it’s not the accidental death it appears to be but murder! Soon clues link the murderer to an outfitter leading tourists on a spectacular multi-day wilderness horseback trip into the remote corners of Yellowstone National Park. Coty’s  son Justin is one of the tourist on the trip with his step-father to be! Among the tourists is fourteen-year-old Gracie Sullivan, an awkward but intelligent loner who begins to suspect that someone in their party is dangerous. After accidentally shooting the coroner at the crime scene, Coty is suspended from the force and soon takes off on a chase to stop the tour and rescue his son from the murderer! The action is fast and furious and the book was a real page turner with lots of twists and turns. Here’s what some folks are saying: Read More

Book 16 – Nowhere to Run – C.J. Box

Nowhere to Run is my 16th read of the year and the 10th book in Box’s Joe Pickett series, which keeps getting better and better. This books opens with Joe in his last week of temporary assignment in Baggs Wyoming. The assignment has lasted a year and Joe will be returning to his wife and family soon. But Joe goes into the mountains to investigate some strange happenings, which include camp lootings, tents being slashed, and an elk butchered before the shooters can even collect it! There was also the case of a female Olympic class runner going for a run into the woods and never coming back! On the hunt Joe runs into two twin brothers Caleb and Canish Grimm, who appear to be the men who butchered the Elk! When Joe asks for their fishing license and gives them a citation for hunting without a license their wrath is taken out on himand he barely escapes the mountain alive, but not before he potentially sees the Olympic runner……and the rest of the book revolves around finding out who the Grim Brothers are and was that really the lost runner! Read More