STORM WATCH - C. J. Box


 Game Warden Joe Pickett is tracking a wounded elk into the mountains. A massive snow storm is just about to hit so he needs to find it quickly so he can get back to his truck and home before getting stuck. Just his luck, then, to discover a building in the middle of nowhere that he's never seen before.  A building with massive, industrial fans.  With a body that's been partially shoved into one of the massive fans. And when he gets in for a closer look, someone takes a shot at him from the woods.

Pickett can't safely get the body out of the woods because of the storm, but does what he can to come back and investigate later.  But when the sheriff's office arrives after the storm, the body is missing, and when Pickett starts his investigation, he finds that no one seems to want him to look into the matter - not the extreme environmentalists in the territory, not the Federal agents who show up, and not even the state governor. Which of course makes Pickett want to dig in even more.

This is the 23rd book in the Joe Pickett series and like most, if not all, the previous books, this is bound to go straight on to the bestseller list. I've only read a couple of the Pickett novels, as well as a couple of the Cassie Dewell series (which I quite enjoy) and I really found this to be a bit dull.  

The stakes are high - we've got federal agents, high level government personnel, and foreign powers all in the mix along with more local concerns such as illegal antler collecting, and yet there is so little actually happening beyond information gathering and a sudden resolution.  The appearance of a former governor is almost a deus ex machina mechanism to resolve the problem suddenly and swiftly.

As an action/thriller, this is a no.  As a modern western, this is a hesitant maybe (the antler stealing is an interesting storyline). As a mystery, this is a shrug of the shoulder, "Eh." Basically, if this wasn't a book by C. J. Box and part of a bestselling series, this would have absolutely no traction.

Looking for a good book? Storm Watch is the 23rd book in the Joe Pickett series by C. J. Box.  It is formulaic - which, under the right circumstance could work really well, but this one happens to go through the paces routinely and dully.  Recommended only for ardent C.J. Box/Joe Pickett fans.  I'd rather read Box's next Cassie Dewell book.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

* * * * * *

Storm Watch

author: C. J. Box

series: Joe Pickett #23

publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons

ISBN: 0593331303

hardcover, 368 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MURDLE VOLUME 1 - G. T. Karber

Image
 I enjoy puzzles of many different varieties. I had not heard of 'Murdle' before this but essentially this is a combination of the game of Clue and a Sherlock Holmes micro story. With suspects, possible murder weapons, potential locations, and/or motives plus some very brief hints, readers are meant to combine the logic of what's know with deductive reasoning to identify the killer (or killers?) in 100 different mystery word puzzles. I will admit right off the bat that I did not do all 100.  I didn't even do half of these, but I did so some random sampling through all the categories (Elementary, Occult Medium, Hard Boiled, and Impossible). I did not get any correct in the Impossible category (of course not ... they were impossible!) and only one correct in the Hard Boiled (of five). The Elementary puzzles were, as expected, pretty easy and the Hard Boiled only a little bit more difficult. Each mini mystery comes with a grid printed in the book to help the reader-detecti
Read more

THE YOUNGER GODS - Michael R. Underwood

Image
 Jacob Greene is a child of cultists - extremists with a deep connection to powerful gods.  To stay in good favor and receive great powers from these gods Jacob's family (both biological family and cult group family) must occasion a sacrifice now then. Jacob doesn't seem to question this (it's how he's been raised, after all) until the time he brings his best friend home to be brutally sacrificed. Jacob believes that his friend is a willing participant, honored to be chosen, informed of what was about to take place by Jacob's father.   Of course nothing could be further from the truth and the friend does NOT go willingly. This shatters Jacob's belief and has him question his faith and he leaves his family and cult in order to think things through. But it's not easy to escape powerful gods, and despite being in the city of New York, all signs point to the fact that the gods know where he is and that something big is about to go down. Although the description
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - wherein he acq
Read more