Blood Trail
C. J. Box
Reviewed by Roberta Isleib
I don’t like books that begin with italicized prologues from a mysterious killer’s point of view. And I really don’t like gore, violence, and hunting. So why a glowing review for C.J. Box’s ninth novel, BLOOD TRAIL?
I have a thing for Box’s series protagonist, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett.
BLOOD TRAIL opens with the killing and flaying of a hunter. Stakes are raised as the body count rises and the media catch hold of a frightening trend that could mean the end of hunting in Wyoming. In order to avoid a public relations nightmare and a visit from Klamath Moore, radical spokesman for an anti-hunting group, the Wyoming governor brings in Joe Pickett as a special consultant on the case.
Dogged and principled almost but not quite to the point of priggishness, Joe is not the kind of state employee willing to bend rules, relax morals, or overlook wrong-doing. These are traits that resulted in a series of disastrous run-ins with superiors in previous books, leaving him without an official post as a game warden. They are also the traits that force him to take terrible chances and solve the case.
Pickett’s opening salvo with his next-door neighbor highlights his discomfort with living in suburbia and his desire to return to the Wyoming wilderness. Box shines at bringing the wilderness to life through his lyrical writing, and his character’s love for the wild open spaces and yearning to be back on the job are burnished to a glow.
Joe Pickett’s relationships with his outlaw falconer friend, his wife, and his daughters ring painfully true. This time, Pickett is tormented by a growing distance from his older daughter, now a teenager. These astonishingly bittersweet moments in his family life are juxtaposed against some fearful violence in the world outside. At least, as in other Box novels, the violent forces almost always pay their due.
Box definitely does not suffer from series stagnation — I will be waiting eagerly for my next outing with Joe Pickett.
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About the Reviewer:
Roberta Isleib is a clinical psychologist and the author of DEADLY ADVICE, PREACHING TO THE CORPSE, and ASKING FOR MURDER, starring a Connecticut psychologist and advice columnist. She says the work of the detective in a mystery has quite a bit in common with long-term psychotherapy: Start with a problem, follow the threads looking for clues, and gradually fill in the big picture. So this career move turned out to be a natural progression!
Roberta is the national president of Sisters in Crime. Her books and stories have been short-listed for Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. Visit her online at www.robertaisleib.com.
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Read an Excerpt from ASKING FOR MURDER