Publishers Weekly
Edgar-finalist Box's ninth novel to feature Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett begins with a bombshell: could Pickett's foster daughter, April, who apparently died six years earlier in a horrific conflagration when overzealous FBI agents confronted a group of dissident survivalists (see 2003's Winterkill), still be alive? Pickett's 17-year-old daughter, Sheridan, begins receiving disturbing text messages from someone claiming to be her dead sister, and Pickett's entire family is forced to relive the tragedy. Even worse, whoever is sending these messages is traveling cross-country with suspected serial killers targeting people whose carbon footprint is too high. Still struggling with the guilt of not protecting April from her nightmarish fate in Winterkill, Pickett vows to save her this time, no matter the cost. Powered by provocative themes of environmental activism, this relentlessly paced powder keg of a thriller could be Box's best to date. Author tour. (June)
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Library Journal
What would you do if a loved one began text messaging you after her death? Is someone playing a bizarre hoax on the Pickett family? Sheridan, Joe Pickett's older daughter, begins receiving text messages from someone saying she's April, the foster child killed in the Waco-style raid six years earlier (as recounted in Winterkill). "April" seems to be a hostage of a deranged ecoterrorist and his father, and they're headed straight for Wyoming. Once again, game warden Pickett plunges into the middle of a topical environmental issue, putting his and his girls' lives on the line. Wyoming's immense spaces make a fitting background for another tense thriller, with the iconic Devils Tower holding court over a frantic chase through the tangled back roads of the Black Hills. Box's series is the gold standard in the western mystery subgenre (Blood Trail), and his latest is just as addictive as the others. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ2/1/09.]
—Teresa L. Jacobsen
Kirkus Reviews
Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett (Blood Trail, 2008, etc.) is at it again. Six years ago, April Keeley, the abandoned girl the Pickett family had taken in, died in a fiery shootout with allies of her irresponsible, litigious mother. Or did she? Suddenly Sheridan Pickett is getting text messages from someone who claims she's April, full of family details only April could know. Initially as skeptical as his daughter, Joe becomes convinced that April is alive but in grave danger once more. He'd been even more frantic if he knew that after a long string of dead-end foster homes, the 14-year-old had been rescued from a Chicago brothel by David "Stenko" Stenson, a gangster determined to show some kindness before cancer killed him, and Stenko's son Robert, a rabid environmental activist obsessed with forcing citizen polluters to buy carbon offsets, often at gunpoint. Box spices Joe's pursuit of the fast-moving Stensons and their unwilling companion with Joe's obligatory tangles with the governor's office, the FBI and his much-married mother-in-law. Basically, though, the tale is a tug-of-war between two father-figures over a young woman who isn't the daughter of either one. Though one of Box's plot twists pays off in spades, most of them don't, and the latest round of Joe's unending domestic troubles reads like soap opera. Despite incidental pleasures, this is the weakest of Joe's nine cases to date.
From the Publisher
Praise for Below Zero
“Murder well done...[A] sturdy series with Joe Pickett, a stand-up Wyoming game warden and all-around good guy.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Pickett [is] one of the most appealing men in popular fiction, a laid-back, good-natured guy until he's riled, and then you'd better look out.”—Chicago Tribune
“Wyoming's immense spaces make a fitting background for another tense thriller, with the iconic Devils Tower holding court over a frantic chase through the tangled roads of the Black Hills. Box's series is the gold standard in the Western mystery subgenre.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“Tightly written...Keeps the reader off balance with a series of plot twists as startling as anything on TV's 24.”—Associated Press
More Praise for the C. J. Box and the Joe Pickett novels
“One of today’s solid-gold, A-list, must-read writers.”—Lee Child
“Picking up a new C. J. Box thriller is like spending quality time with family you love and have missed...It’s a rare thriller series that has characters grow and change. An exciting reading experience for both loyal fans as well as newcomers.”—Associated Press
“Box is a master.”—The Denver Post
“Box knows what readers expect and delivers it with a flourish.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett strides in big boots over the ruggedly gorgeous landscape of C.J. Box's outdoor mysteries.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Riveting...[A] skillfully crafted page-turner.”—People
“Will keep you on the edge of your seat.”—The Philadelphia Enquirer
FEBRUARY 2010 - AudioFile
In C.J. Box’s tenth novel in her Joe Pickett series, the game warden’s daughter hears a voice from the past in a message on her cell phone. It seems to be April, her stepsister, who has been presumed dead for six years. Narrator David Chandler keeps the story flowing smoothly as Pickett's search for April turns into an FBI manhunt. The plot expands when he discovers that the father and son who have made off with April are carrying out a mad green vendetta. Chandler's character transitions are slight and definitive; he’s most effective when juxtaposing a manic young murderer and a gravelly voiced environmentalist. With its myriad twists, Box's novel is kept vibrant by Chandler's well-paced narration. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
