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

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