Customer Reviews

Blue Heaven (Thorndike Basic)

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The plot is not overly complicated--not if you're used to reading mysteries with more depth that Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys. My book had excellent print quality, which leads me to believe the person with the badly printed book should have exchanged it for a good copy. I've read everything C.J. Box has published and though I love the Joe Pickett novels, I really liked this stand-alone and I hope Box writes more like this. The action is interspersed with times of thinking on the protagonists parts but when the whole story was done, everything came together in a logical way. It was an excellent read and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes mystery and action all in one novel.

is is the first time I have read anything by CJ Box and I was pleasantly surprised. When a cache of former LA cops enters the Idaho valley, nothing seems amiss at first glance. But then Annie and William witness a murder and things change dramatically. Nothing is as it seems, which not only poses problems for the children, but for everyone in the town. At this point, trust becomes an underlying theme at nearly every turn. Cleverly evading both the killers and subsequent town-wide search volunteers, the children happen upon a barn owned by Jess, a long-time rancher who is having problems of his own. From there the book is not so much a mystery as it is suspense, which CJ Box is able to maintain for the rest of the book. Remorse and retribution are added as elements of the human condition and the listener is further drawn into the plot asking "I wonder what I would have done?" The end is appropriately frustrating because not everyone rides off into the sunset happy. The battle of good versus evil doesn't end fairly although the reader wants it to end that way. Nevertheless, it's understood that the tale accurately mimics real life which is, in its own way, satisfying.

First, a disclaimer: "Blue Heaven" is the first of Mr. Box's novels that I have read, and I picked it up because it won an Edgar (I was hooked after reading the Kindle "free sample" first chapter, in which two children witness a murder and are pursued through the woods). This is a review of "Blue Heaven", not a polemic on the relative merits of book awards, but I will make a brief digression on the subject:

Reading award-winners is not a strategy I often follow, but I like the Edgar awards (and the Mystery Writers of America), because they seem relatively free of the pretension, vanity, and faddish-ness that pervades other literary awards. Therefore I at least try to peruse the fiction nominees and winners. There are so many books out there, and without the Edgars I would never have been aware of Mr. Box's novel. So thank you, MWA.

Now, back to "Blue Heaven". Other reviewers have perceptively noted that this is a modern Western, in ways both subtle and obvious. The obvious western touches include the setting--it takes place in the Mountain West (North Idaho)--and a hero who is, literally, a cowboy. The less-obvious Western hallmarks are found in the narrative structure. Much like a classic Western, the bad guys are known from the beginning (it is not a mystery in the classic sense). Furthermore, the novel builds to an inevitable showdown between the hero and the villains, a final, frenzied scene of violence that would not be out of place in a dusty, sun-bleached frontier town of the late 19th century.

Although the villains are revealed at the outset, Mr. Box takes more time to explain the motives for their crimes, but the "why" is never really important. Indeed, the back-story of the original crime that motivates the rest of the narrative is one of the book's weak points, but the novel is little affected by it. Mr. Box seems to understand the concept that Alfred Hitchcock famously labeled "the MacGuffin". That is, the motivating crime doesn't really matter if the characters are compelling and the action is well-written. Mr. Box succeeds admirably on both counts, and it's enough to know that these dudes did something bad, and they don't want anyone to know about it.

After slogging through another Lee Child book (my last, I assure you--I had read one before and did not like it much, and decided to give him another chance since he seems to be so popular...a complete waste of time), it was refreshing to pick up "Blue Heaven" and encounter such richly drawn characters. Whereas Mr. Child's Jack Reacher is inhuman and boring, Jess Rawlins is an immensely sympathetic hero who is also (GASP!) 63 years old, a cuckold, and on the verge of losing his ranch due to financial mismanagement. He is divorced and estranged from his only child. He is also a man out of touch with the times, cut from an older cloth of simplicity, duty and honor; he is at once pitiful and admirable. This ambivalence carries over to Mr. Box's other characters. The author does an admirable job of creating figures who inhabit a world of real emotion--of joy and sorrow, ambition and greed, success and failure, hope and disappointment, and of love, as well. They live lives in which decisions have consequences, often unanticipated and far-reaching.

Mr. Box balances his cast of characters throughout the story, frequently changing perspectives as the narrative progresses through an extremely busy weekend. Juggling all of these points of view while sustaining coherence and momentum is no mean feat, and Mr. Box largely succeeds. There are a few miscues. For example, (spoiler alert) it's never entirely clear why an apparent samaritan who turns out to be one of the villains fails to hand the witnesses over to his co-conspirators. But overall, the plot development is engaging and exciting.

As I mentioned above, I am not familiar with Mr. Box's other work. Upon reading this book, I was left impressed by his plotting and characterizations, and somewhat disappointed by his style. He has a knack for evoking personal detail and drawing compelling sketches of his characters, and he writes action sequences with the brisk, simple style that befits them. But throughout the novel I encountered wince-inducing turns of phrase that should have been weeded out by a good editor. "Blue Heaven" is riddled with amateurish writing, which is why I was surprised when I discovered that Mr. Box had so many other, prior books. I repeatedly found myself taken in by the story, only to be jolted by some very poor writing choices. It's unfortunate, because it mars what is an otherwise entertaining and ambitious book.

It could have been great, but I'll settle for very, very good.

THE SETUP
Retired police detective Villatoros travels to Kootenai Bay, Idaho (known as "Blue Heaven" because of the large concentration of retired LA police officers) investigating the robbery at the Santa Anita (California) racetrack several years previously. About the same time Annie (about 12) and her younger brother William witness a murder in the woods. The children are seen, but escape, and find their way to Jess Rawlin's ranch, where he takes them in. That's the setup.

CAVEATS may contain spoilers
At least for the first 36 hours or so after the kids come to him, it is obvious that there are many solutions available to Rawlings. For example: he can can easily take the kids to a police station in the nearest large town or just phone the State Police or FBI. Instead, he just "messes around". Rawlings drives into town and back, leaving the kids alone (even though the "bad guys" know where they are). Ultimately, he drives into town, essentially kidnaps the kids' mother, and nearly killing a deputized retired cop in the process. Does any of that sound well though-out or plausible to you?

Conversely, for a period of two days, the "bad guys", who are searching for the kids, murdering anyone who crossed their paths, and knowing where the kids are, make no attempt to get at the kids. In the last few hours, with FBI helicopters theoretically on their way--we learn that the "bad guys'" new strategy is to wait for Rawlins to leave the ranch and kill him at the gate, and then kill all the others. Speaking of which, Rawlings had the time and manpower to convert the ranch house into a fortress, but does nothing.

Another plot element, crucial to the bad guys' strategy turns on the fact that 4 adults (and 2 kids) at the Rawlings Ranch have no working cell phones among them--but the bad guys have no way of actually knowing that.

Moreover, while the ranch is, de facto, under siege for a couple of days, Rawlings never bothers to post a watch. Finally 5 minutes before the choppers land, the bad guys launch an assault. Both Rawlings and Villatoros begin shooting while the bad guys are still outside and had not fired a shot. In most States, both would have been judged guilty of murder---particularly since the "bad guys" were deputized and actually did follow police procedures, knocking on the front door and demanding that Rawlings surrender himself.

THE VERDICT
In summary, "Blue Heaven" is an entertaining page turner, with well developed characters. Several "western" themes add interest. The plot however requires excessive "suspension of disbelief". "Suspension of disbelief" is like a rubber band, stretch it too far, and it just breaks, as it does in this case. From that point on, all the reader can see is the implausibilities, and can no longer enjoy the story. Finally, the ending of the story is unsatisfying. The novel is a good read, but not exceptional. C.J. Box makes it to my "good authors" list, but not to my "gotta read anything this guy writes" list.

When I need a good book to read, there's no better place to start than looking at book award winners, especially the genre awards such as the Edgars, the Hugos, and the Nebulas. These contests seem to know exactly what their fanbase wants and expects.

So when I saw that C. J. Box won this year's Edgar Awards, I quickly checked it out from my local library.

That was yesterday. Today, I finished the last page of an immensely satisfying book. BLUE HEAVEN is a story about two children who witness a murder, the old rancher who vows to protect them, and a conspiracy of retired LA police officers who want to shut them up.

Each chapter propels the story along from one of several different characters' perspective, and though some of these characters make mistakes, we find ourselves rooting for almost all of them.

Plus, the novel slowly reveals the nature and depth of conspiracy over the course of the book that's very rewarding. C. J. Box shows us how that conspiracy has ensnared the small Idaho community BLUE HEAVEN is set in.

And, like many modern Westerns such as TRUE GRIT or UNFORGIVEN, BLUE HEAVEN paints a picture of a small-town lifestyle that is modern suburban development and big box stores are eating up "like a snack".

Box writes in clean, economical prose that captures the setting, characters, and tension in the plot almost perfectly. Very highly recommended.

The children Annie and William head out alone to go fishing. They hitchhiked to the stream and followed its shores in search of still waters. Hidden behind the reeds, Annie and William witnessed an execution-style murder. They flee the scene, but not before the retired police officers with the guns saw them.

The newly elected sheriff had little experience. When Sloan and several other retired police officers offered to head up the search for the missing children, the Sheriff readily agreed. He didn't know they wanted to find the children and silence them.

Jess Rawlins was a local rancher. His wife was gone and he lives alone. Jess stumbled across Annie and William hiding in his barn, he listened to their story with growing concern. Were the children mistaken? He had to learn the truth before turning them over to the sheriff.

This is the first book I have listened to of C J Box. I listen to so many mysteries I rarely give a 5 star. So many run along the similiar story lines. But this story is different. I listened to this on my ipod. Everything time i put the ipod down I was thinking about the story and the children will they be caught and killed? How do you get around ex police officers covering every base and there is noone else to trust? This is a gripping story.

Be forewarned that one scene in particular is gruesome with descriptive detail (nothing to do with the children)

I highly recommend this story and I want to listen to more or C J Box's stories now!!!!!

This was one of those books that started out with the biggest bang. I just knew this was going to be the best book of the year. I even had to remind myself to breath and then kapoowee. It did pick up in spots, but dry in others.

Another complaint is the believability, especially with the ending. Oh sure, it was a tear-jerker, heavy on the emotions. It still lacked in the believability department. I do think this is a good time to add, I'm a minority in my thinking. Most readers raved and raved about it.

Blue Heaven. Kootenai Bay, the place in Idaho where retired LAPD cops go to retire. Two local kids, Annie and William, decide to go fishing, taking the gear of their mom's boyfriend to a local stream. On route, they witness a cold-blooded murder, and in one fateful moment, one of the shooters sees them. The chase is on. The kids manage to evade their pursuers, and a local rancher, whose own family fell apart years ago, becomes their protector.

Blue Heaven resurrects many of America's cinematic icons, among them John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. Rancher Jess Rawlins, wants to do what's right, and he wants to figure out what that might be on his own. He's assisted, unknowingly, along the way by detective Villatoro from Santa Anita, CA, who can't bring himself to retire until he discovers who committed a brilliant robbery at his town's race track. Separately, Villatoro and Rawlins zero in on the truth, coming from two very disparate directions, and the fate of the two children hangs in the balance from start to finish.

What follows is a riveting, suspense filled, cat and mouse game, in which the antagonists have the upper hand right through the final chapters. The countryside is dark and the bad guys lethal, and the 400 pages of this novel fly by, its conclusion never foregone.

This was my first experience in a C.J. Box mystery. Set in Idaho, small town rural setting - good story line - I wonder how a "readers digest version" would read. There were parts that I "skimmed over" because they seemed to extend the novel unnecessarily. I do like a story filled in, but I sometimes wonder if the writer thinks he is getting paid by the word. I don't judge a writer by just one book, so I will definitely try another.

Blue Heaven is a rare and wonderful blend of suspense and deep characterization. Every person is a fully rounded human being. Even the bad guys (and they are BAD) have reasons for what they are doing and C.J. Box brings you far enough into each persons mind to let you see and understand those reasons. All the while, the action and suspense never stops. I read until 2 a.m. My alarm clock went off at 5:30. It was worth the short night.

I picked this up expecting another Joe Pickett novel. I can always count on Joe Pickett for a good read. But this was better - a notch up. I'm so glad C.J. Box is moving into stand alone novels.