Publishers Weekly
★ 02/05/2018
In bestseller Box’s superlative 18th novel featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett (after 2017’s Vicious Circle), the state’s new governor, Colter Allen, orders Joe, who did many special investigations for the previous governor, to find out what happened to the CEO of a high-profile British advertising agency, Kate Shelford-Longden, who has gone missing after vacationing at the Silver Creek Ranch outside Saratoga. Given suspiciously few resources and very little time, Joe is happy to accept the help of both his 23-year-old daughter, Sheridan, who works as a wrangler at the ranch, and comrade Nate Romanowski, who predictably approaches the case from beyond the law’s boundaries. Meanwhile, the lethal Gaylen Kessel, the head security agent for the wind energy company that has taken over the region, makes trouble. In the end, Sheridan and Nate must deal out rough justice to the malefactors, while the book’s key environmental issue enhances the satisfying conclusion. Also welcome are Box’s underrated touches of wry humor, generally overlooked as one of his strengths. Series fans and newcomers alike will be rewarded. Author tour. Agent: Ann Rittenberg, Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Disappeared
"Joe Pickett, the conscientious game warden in these rugged novels... he shows the tough-and-tender qualities that make him such a great guy to have on your side."—New York Times
"...tightly crafted story with a sense of place. Box makes you smell that sawmill burner and feel the cold of a Wyoming blizzard as Pickett struggles through the snow to solve the mystery of Cowboy Kate."—Denver Post
"[A] slow-burn thriller ... one of the most deliberate and sure-footed in the series. In many ways it is a roots novel, a throwback to the earliest Pickett books, with its environmental themes and overlapping plot lines ... the threats are subtle, the mystery more compelling."—Arizona Republic
“It’s difficult to come up with new superlatives to describe C. J. Box’s Joe Pickett series, but his latest, The Disappeared, makes it a whole lot easier…thriller writing at its very best, as big and broad as the Wyoming landscape painted in shades mixed perfectly between dark and light.”—Providence Journal
"This page-turner leads you down one path before tossing you onto another...And just when you think the breathless action is over, Box bows out with a cliffhanger that leaves you with fingers clutching your book, “Arrrgh!” on your lips."— Daily Oklahoman
"Box has crafted another thriller with many surprising twists and turns...The Disappeared is a gripping thriller that should appeal to readers who love tales from the Wild West"— The Durango Herald
“The eighteenth installment of this hugely popular series delivers everything fans want: a compelling mystery, high-stakes action in a beautiful setting, and enjoyably humorous interaction between characters they’ve come to know and love. There’s a reason we keep coming back for more.”—Booklist
“Superlative...[T]he book’s key environmental issue enhances the satisfying conclusion. Also welcome are Box’s underrated touches of wry humor, generally overlooked as one of his strengths. Series fans and newcomers alike will be rewarded.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“It's a treat to see Joe's daughter pulled into working with her father; there's an unexpected role for his reptilian mother-in-law, the imperishable Missy Vankueren; a false lead he follows will have you whooping with laughter....The final pages find Box's hard-used hero both triumphantly successful and in deep trouble once again in perhaps the most finely balanced conclusion in this rewarding series.”—Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Vicious Circle
"A compelling tale that also rings with emotional resonance.”—Associated Press
“The unexpected, suspenseful turns will keep readers enthralled. Another winner for Box.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“Bracingly familiar pleasures expertly packaged...first-timers will be intrigued and fans amply rewarded.”—Kirkus Reviews
“This outing is the most suspenseful yet in this world-class series, setting a new standard for Box.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“We’ve noted previously how the fully fleshed family dynamic is one of this series’ enduring strengths, and that pays dividends here as we viscerally feel Joe’s fear for his loved ones and his powerlessness to protect them. Box masterfully tightens the suspense until we’re caught in a vicious circle of our own and unable to stop reading.”—Booklist
“C. J. Box is back and better than ever.”—Providence Journal
Library Journal
10/15/2017
Back after six top-five New York Times best sellers in a row, Wyoming game warden Joe Picket must find a high-profile female British executive who disappeared while visiting a fancy guest ranch.
Kirkus Reviews
2018-02-20
A new governor demanding special favors means a new assignment and new problems for Wyoming Fish and Game Warden Joe Pickett.It's not Gov. Colter Allen's fault that high-profile British ad-agency CEO Kate Shelford-Longden disappeared somewhere between Silver Creek Ranch, the ultra-posh dude ranch where she'd just spent a week been pampered within an inch of her life, and the Denver airport several months ago. But his wife and other folks are leaning on him, so he leans on Joe (Vicious Circle, 2017, etc.) to drive the 300 miles to Saratoga in the depth of a January freeze and get the answers that have eluded Carbon County Sheriff Ron Neal and the Wyoming Department of Criminal Investigation. Bullied by the governor, Joe agrees to look into the case. Luckily, he has an in: His daughter, Sheridan, who's been working at Silver Creek as a horse wrangler, got fairly close to the missing woman and knows all the ins and outs of the place. The staff at Silver Creek has been vetted more closely than most vice presidential candidates, but several contractors with access to the ranch seem suspicious enough to make likely suspects. Before Joe can make any real progress, though, the case notes he's been given by Connor Hanlon, the governor's dislikable chief of staff, are stolen, and his old friend Nate Romanowski, the "outlaw falconer" he's been specifically ordered to keep away from, drops in to ask Joe a serious, albeit apparently unrelated, favor. The case turns out, rather disappointingly, to be two cases. But it's a treat to see Joe's daughter pulled into working with her father; there's an unexpected role for his reptilian mother-in-law, the imperishable Missy Vankueren; a false lead he follows will have readers whooping with laughter; and both cases are wound up in highly satisfactory ways.Best of all, the final pages find Box's hard-used hero both triumphantly successful and in deep trouble once again in perhaps the most finely balanced conclusion in this rewarding series.
