Whenever I talk about Dick Francis either here on the blog or in the real world someone usually comments that they don’t read Francis because they’re not interested in horses/racing. I always feel sorry for those people because they’re missing out on some great story telling through being unable (or unwilling) to get past a mental road block. For that reason I’ve always tried not to make that kind of judgement about any writer or series which is why I grabbed a book featuring a game warden as its protagonist when I saw it at the library. What I know (or care) about hunting, fishing etc could be written in large font on the back of a shopping docket but I had enough faith in author C J Box (and frequent recommender Maxine) to give it a go. Happily for me Box’s character development and storytelling skills shone through and I found it didn’t much matter that a subject this city girl isn’t terribly interested in was at the heart of the novel.

The story revolves around Joe Pickett, newly promoted to the position of game warden for the town of Twelve Sleep Wyoming and its surrounding environment. Joe is a young-ish man, married with two kids and another on the way who adores his job but worries about its ability to support his family. The job doesn’t pay very well and the accommodation it provides is basic to say the least. But Joe, unlike his mentor and predecessor, is not open to any of the opportunities for corruption that a man in his position might be tempted by. He just wants to look after his family and the environment that has been placed in his care and it would be a hard-hearted reader who didn’t find Joe a likable and sympathetic character.

As the novel opens Joe has an altercation over a hunting permit with an outfitter* named Ote Keely which doesn’t go Joe’s way. A short time later Keeley’s body is found in the woodpile in Joe’s backyard and Joe, another warden and a state trooper have to trek deep into the woods to follow a lead. This is where things start to go a little pear-shaped for Joe, as he is the lone voice caring that all is not as it seems. The story then takes a twist to involve the potential identification and subsequent need to protect an endangered species which showcases another of Box’s excellent talents. Rather than hitting readers over the head with any kind of message regarding this theme Box presents all sides of the argument in an engaging and thought-provoking way, while still managing to show his deep love of the countryside and environment of his native state. A lot of other authors could take lessons from Box’s ‘showing not telling’ skills.

There are some other fine characters in the book, on both sides of the law, with the character of Joe’s eldest daughter Sheridan a real highlight for me. Writing children into stories credibly is not easy but Box has captured the fears and wilfulness of her age perfectly. I remember good juvenile characters in one of Box’s standalones, Blue Heaven, so this is clearly a strength for him.

I did think the story grew a little predictable in parts but my only real gripe was the ending which fell into the category that in my head is classed as ‘American’. It’s the action-packed, violence-filled, everyone-in-peril kind of ending that I find spoils a lot of good books, though I assume I am in the minority because the same endings keep getting written, regardless of how little they fit with the rest of the tale. Overall though I thought Open Season was a great read and I am keen to read more of the series (in fact I have another early title awaiting me on my eReader).

*I’ve still only got a very vague idea what this is…not a term in common use here in Oz.

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It was the review of Open Season at Petrona that prompted me to grab the book in the first place.

I have reviewed C J Box’s two standalone novels, Blue Heaven (one of my top 10 books for 2008) and Three Weeks to Say Goodbye

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My rating 3.5/5
Author website
http://www.cjbox.net/

Publisher GP Putnam’s Sons [2001]
ISBN 0399147489
Length 293 pages
Format hard cover
Book Series #1 in the Joe Pickett series
Source Borrowed it from the library

I have not read any of C J Box’s long-running Joe Pickett series (primarily because I just don’t have the energy to launch into yet another series where I might be compelled to start at the beginning) but I am fast becoming a fan of his standalone thrillers. This one has a very good hook and kept me gripped right to the end. Jack and Melissa McGuane receive the worst news possible: their adopted daughter’s biological father, Garrett Moreland, never officially relinquished his parental rights and he, or at least his father, wants nine-month old Angelina.  Garrett’s father is a well-respected Judge in Denver and has the law, money and considerable influence on his side. On their side the McGuanes have two old friends, Cody who is a detective with the Denver police and Brian a wealthy property developer, along with a fierce love for the daughter they have raised. Judge Moreland, claiming a desire to ensure his tearaway son accepts his responsibilities, offers the McGuanes a final three weeks to spend with Angelina before taking the baby into his own family. The mystery component to the story surrounds the McGuane’s growing belief that there is a more sinister reason for Judge Moreland’s demand to have Angelina.

The story is told in the first person from Jack’s point of view. This is a good voice for such an emotional story as it allows the raw frustration and impotence that Jack feels at not being able to save his family to really shine through. I’m sure the temptation would have been to tell this kind of story from the mother’s point of view but I think it was probably stronger for being told from the father’s perspective. The downside of using a first person narrative is, as always, that there are times when action is taking place that Jack can know nothing about and as a reader you do feel that at a couple of points that Jack is mulling over his situation again while the real plot is advancing elsewhere.

While the bad guys in this novel were pretty much rotten to the core the good guys offered more depth. The character of Cody for example was used to good effect to depict an ever-present tension between following the letter of the law and achieving justice which, as most of us probably believe, are not always the same thing. The slow disintegration of both Melissa and Jack in terms of their willingness to consider increasingly risky and illegal behaviour is also interesting if not always entirely believable in Jack’s case.

I did find the ending of the story a bit over the top and the very last chapter lost the book half a point on my personal rating scale for being just too cute and ‘preachy’ but overall I was entertained by the novel and was definitely rooting for the McGuanes. I am a bit weary of the crime and thriller genres being so dominated by series books so am pleased to have found another author who, at least every other year, is prepared to offer a story that can be read within the confines of a single book.

What about the audio book?

This is the first book I have listened to by John Bedford Lloyd but it won’t be my last as he is a terrific reader which is not surprising given his long career as a character actor in the US. I’ve already added several more of his narrations to my audible wishlist (there are dozens more unavailable to people in my geographic location but I shan’t turn this review into another gripe on that issue). At the end of the book there is a short interview with the author CJ Box which is not particularly hard-hitting but does offer a few snippets of information about the process he uses to create his novels and his inspiration for this particular story.

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Three Weeks to say Goodbye has been reviewed at Material Witness and Petrona.

CJ Box’s other standalone thriller, Blue Heaven, was among my top ten reads for 2008.

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My rating 3/5
Narrator John Bedford Lloyd
Publisher Macmillan Audio [2009]
ISBN N/A (downloaded from audible.com)
Length 9 hours 43 minutes
Format audio (mp3)
Source I bought it

Title: Blue Heaven
Author: C J Box
Publisher: St Martin’s Minotaur (2007)
ISBN: 978-0-312-36570-7

When 12-year-old Annie Taylor takes her younger brother fishing in the woods of North Idaho the children witness the murder of ‘a wavy-haired man’ and are soon running, literally, for their lives. They manage to flag down a car belonging to an old boyfriend of their mother’s and just as they think themselves safe things take another bad turn. At the same time a retired police officer comes to town because there might be a link to an old case he investigated but never solved. Slowly people start to wonder if there’s any connection between all these events and the fact that retired Californian cops have moved almost en masse to the area.

In this standalone novel Box has created a ripping yarn. It grabbed my attention immediately with a combination of beautifully described places and fast-paced action sequences. I’ve never been to North Idaho but I almost feel like I’ve seen it thanks to the beauty of Box’s words. On the very first page as he sets the scene where the two children will encounter the murderers he writes:

When the grey-black fists of storm clouds pushed across the sun, the light muted in the forest and erased the defining edges of the shadows, and the forest plunged into a dispiriting murk. The ground was black, spongy in the forest and sloppy on the trail. Their shoes made sucking sounds as they slogged upstream

I felt like I was right there watching the kids trudge through the mud and, if anything, the writing gets better as the book progresses.

There’s a cast of memorable, credible characters too and the book doesn’t really rely on a single protagonist. Jess Rawlins, an ageing ranch owner struggling to keep his land in a changing world is certainly a key character but there are other interesting people too. Eduardo Villatorro, the retired cop on the trail of the most bothersome case of his career and Monica Taylor, the children’s mother, both learn a lot about themselves as events unfold. And the bad guys too are well-rounded, believable people.

I’ve not heard of C J Box before and therefore have not read any of the Joe Pickett series for which he is well known. However, I can thoroughly recommend this standalone story which is perfectly encapsulated between two covers: an increasingly rare treat from this reader’s perspective.

My rating 4.5/5