Table of Contents
When I came across the world of Joe Pickett, I was reminded of the time I discovered Tony Hillerman.
Michael Connelly
PRAISE FOR
Free Fire
[Free Fire is] Yellowstone in all its dangerous glory.
The Wall Street Journal
C. J. Box has fashioned a splendid thriller, deftly plotted and skillfully executed... Previous Joe Pickett novels have earned Box numerous awards. This should bring him another.
The San Diego Union-Tribune
A must read for anyone whos headed for Yellowstone this summer, and highly recommended for everyone else.
The Rocky Mountain News (critics choice pick)
Absorbing... His best yet.
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Box, winner of the Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe, and Barry mystery awards, knows how to turn on the nail-biting suspense and violence until the cliff-hanger of an ending... Highly recommended.
Library Journal (starred review)
Though Joes far out in no-mans-land, as professionally on his own as hes ever been, the family mans moral compass is as strong as ever. And setting the action in the bubbling Yellowstone caldera... is a masterstroke.
Booklist (starred review)
Absorbing... Almost unimaginably exotic.
Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader
Well paced and action packed. Pickett proves once again to be an appealing hero.
The Madison (WI) Capital Times
Deftly plotted and quickly paced.
Lansing (MI) City Pulse
Like the thunder telling of a coming storm, [Free Fire] builds to a lightning strike finish that will leave you breathless and in awe.
Crimespree Magazine
C. J. Box is that rarest of writersa skillful, talented, and careful wordsmith who also tells a rollicking good story.
Alexandra Fuller, author ofDont Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight
C. J. Box vividly evokes life in the West.
People
In Plain Sight
Startling... Well plotted... An explosive conclusion... Full of tense suspense and believable, emotional, well-crafted characters.
Lansing (MI) State Journal
Edge-of-the-chair-suspense... Heart-stopping action... [An] unforgettable mystery.
Library Journal (starred review)
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
Out of Range
Intelligent [and] compassionate.
The New York Times
Grade A. If you havent yet discovered C. J. Box, dont wait.
Rocky Mountain News
An absolute must.
Kirkus Reviews
Trophy Hunt
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.
The Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger
Winterkill
Exquisite descriptions... Moves smoothly and suspensefully to the showdown.
The Washington Post
Fast moving, intelligent.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Box proves he knows how to make every storm into a story.
Houston Chronicle
Savage Run
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
Brilliantly crafted... Bears comparison to the best work of mystery giants such as Tony Hillerman and James Lee Burke.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Open Season
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.
Los Angeles Times
A muscular first novel... Box writes as straight as his characters shoot.
The New York Times Book Review
Also by C. J . Box
The Joe Pickett Novels
OPEN SEASON
SAVAGE RUN
WINTERKILL
TROPHY HUNT
OUT OF RANGE
IN PLAIN SIGHT
FREE FIRE
BLOOD TRAIL
BLUE HEAVEN
To Becky, who finally saw her bear
... and Laurie, always
part one
YELLOWSTONE ACT, 1872
AN ACT TO SET APART A CERTAIN TRACT OF
LAND LYING NEAR THE HEADWATERS OF THE
YELLOWSTONE RIVER AS A PUBLIC PARK
Approved March 1, 1872 (17 Stat. 32)
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the tract of land in the Territories of Montana and Wyoming, lying near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River... is hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of the United States, and dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people; and all persons who shall locate or settle upon or occupy the same, or any part thereof, except as hereinafter provided, shall be considered trespassers and removed therefrom. (U.S.C., title 16, sec. 21.)
Bechler River Ranger Station Yellowstone National Park July 21
A HALF-HOUR AFTER CLAY MCCANN WALKED INTO the backwoods ranger station and turned over his still-warm weapons, after hed announced to the startled seasonal ranger behind the desk that hed just slaughtered four campers near Robinson Lake, the nervous ranger said, Law enforcement will be here any minute. Do you want to call a lawyer?
McCann looked up from where he was sitting on a rough-hewn bench. The seasonal ranger saw a big man, a soft man with a sunburn already blooming on his freckled cheeks from just that morning, wearing ill-fitting, brand-new outdoor clothes that still bore folds from the packaging, his blood-flecked hands curled in his lap like he wanted nothing to do with them.
McCann said, You dont understand. I am a lawyer.
Then he smiled, as if sharing a joke.
Saddlestring, WyomingOctober 5
JOE PICKETT WAS FIXING A BARBED-WIRE FENCE ON a boulder-strewn hillside on the southwest corner of the Longbrake Ranch when the white jet cleared the mountaintop and halved the cloudless pale blue sky. He winced as the roar of the engines washed over him and seemed to suck out all sound and complexity from the cold mid-morning, leaving a vacuum in the pummeled silence. Maxine, Joes old Labrador, looked at the sky from her pool of shade next to the pickup.
