C. J. Box - In Plain Sight

Table of Contents

PRAISE FOR... In Plain Sight

Startling... well-plotted... an explosive conclusion... full of tense suspense and believable, emotional, well-crafted characters. Lansing State Journal

Edge-of-the-chair suspense... Heart-stopping action... [An] unforgettable mystery. Library Journal (starred review)

More violence than C. J. Boxs other novels and shows the ethical changes in his detective from a bumbling but happy professional to a man with a lot on his conscience.

The sixth in the series, and the best.

Thrilling and frightening... Will satisfy C. J. Box fans well into the night. The Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger

Any mystery fan... can get drawn in just by reading the opening page of In Plain Sight. Just be warned, youll want to keep the lights burning. Billings (MT) Gazette

Box continues to write the sharpest suspenses west of the Pecos. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Intelligent [and] compassionate. The New York Times

Grade A... Deserves to be on any list of top American mysteries... If you havent yet discovered C. J. Box, dont wait.

C. J. Box has quickly established himself as an original voice... He is fresh, captivating, and has something to say.

Michael Connelly

If anything, Box is getting better... Recommended for practically everybody. Booklist (starred review)

An absolute must. Kirkus Reviews

Taut, suspenseful... [A] skillfully orchestrated climax.

The surprises [Box] springs keep you guessing right to the endand a little beyond. People

Action-packed. The Denver Post

Ripping good... Trophy Hunt is a choice mystery; spooky, poignant, thrilling, and rugged... Joe Pickett, his wife, and daughters are the best frontier detectives going. See what the buzz is all about and spend some quality reading time in Big Sky Country with C. J. Box.

Box, who has quickly become one of the writers whose books I look forward to every year, continues his run of excellence in Trophy Hunt. Rocky Mountain News

Well-crafted. USA Today

Exquisite descriptions... Moves smoothly and suspense-fully to the showdown. The Washington Post

Winterkill proves that Box... is one of the best new voices in the mystery game. [Its] a full-fledged thriller, Wyoming-style. Rocky Mountain News

Fast moving, intelligent. Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Box proves he knows how to make every storm into a story.

The suspense tears forward like a brush fire. People

Hunker down and hang on tight for an intense, twisting ride that lasts to the final page. The Denver Post

Impressive... tense. The Washington Post

Riveting... Box weaves in a history that gives the action a rich context... Harrowing. USA Today

Brilliantly crafted... bears comparison to the best work of mystery giants such as Tony Hillerman and James Lee Burke.

A New York Times Notable Book
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Award Nominee,
Best Mystery/ Thriller

Buy two copies of Open Season, and save one in mint condition to sell to first-edition collectors. C. J. Box is a great storyteller. Tony Hillerman

Intriguing, with a forest setting so treacherous it makes Nevada Barrs locales look positively comfy, with a motive for murder that is as unique as any in modern fiction. Pickett is a refreshingly human and befuddled hero... But its Boxs offbeat way of telling the story that puts it on the best of the year track. Los Angeles Times

A muscular first novel... Box writes as straight as his characters shoot, and he has a stand-up hero to shoulder his passionate concerns about endangered lives and liberties.

A fascinating, well-scripted debut novel. Its a classic tale of Wild West justice. USA Today

BLUE HEAVEN
THE JOE PICKETT NOVELS
OPEN SEASON
SAVAGE RUN
WINTERKILL
TROPHY HUNT
OUT OF RANGE
IN PLAIN SIGHT
FREE FIRE
BLOOD TRAIL

Family quarrels are bitter things. They dont go by any rules. Theyre not like aches or wounds; theyre more like splits in the skin that wont heal because theres not enough material.

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

The great plain drinks the blood of Christian men and is satisfied.

O. E. RLVAAG, GIANTS IN THE EARTH

WHEN RANCH OWNER OPAL SCARLETT VANISHED, NO one mourned except her three grown sons, Arlen, Hank, and Wyatt, who expressed their loss by getting into a fight with shovels.

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett almost didnt hear the call over his radio when it came over the mutual-aid channel. He was driving west on Bighorn Road, having picked up his fourteen-year-old daughter, Sheridan, and her best friend, Julie, after track practice to take them home. Sheridan and Julie were talking a mile a minute, gesticulating, making his dog, Maxine, flinch with their flying arms as they talked. Julie lived on the Thunderhead Ranch, which was much farther out of town than the Picketts home.

Joe caught snippets of their conversation while he drove, his attention on his radio and the wounded hum of the engine and the dancing gauges on the dash. Joe didnt yet trust the truck, a vehicle recently assigned to him. The check-engine light would flash on and off, and occasionally there was a knocking sound under the hood that sounded like popcorn popping. The truck had been issued to him as revenge by his cost-conscious superiors, after his last vehicle had burned up in a fire in Jackson Hole. Even though the suspension was shot, the truck did have a CD player, a rarity in state vehicles, and the sound track for the ride home had been a CD Sheridan had made for him. It was titled Get with it, Dad in a black felt marker. Shed given it to him two days before after breakfast, saying, You need to listen to this new music so you dont seem so clueless. It may help. Things were changing in his family. His girls were getting older. Joe was not only under the thumb of his superiors but was apparently becoming clueless too. His red uniform shirt with the pronghorn antelope Game and Fish patch on the shoulder and his green Filson vest were caked with mud from changing a tire on the mountain earlier in the day.