Customer Reviews

Out of Range (A Joe Pickett Novel)

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You really have to wonder why C. J. Box isn't selling more books. He is clearly a talented writer with a gifted imagination. He has been recognized by critics and organizations responsible for literary awards, and yet his books are hard to find, even at the largest big box bookstores. I am hoping that with his latest book, Out of Range, the momentum he needs to move to the next level of recognition, will begin to build.

Out of Range is C.J's 5th Joe Pickett novel. For anyone new to the series, Joe Pickett is a Game Warden working for the state of Wyoming. You might not think there would be a lot happening in the life of a Wyoming Game Warden, but in Joe Pickett's Wyoming there sure as heck is! Seems this state has an over abundance of killings, deadly animals, and incredibly beautiful but dangerous landscapes, and Joe Pickett is a magnet that seems to attract all the various forms of trouble.

This book begins when Joe learns about the death/suicide of a good friend and fellow Game Warden and the man responsible for the highly visible Jackson Hole district. Joe is selected from a short list of Game Wardens to take over his friend's former district. As you might expect, Joe sees all kinds of reasons to doubt the "official" findings behind his friend's death, and it doesn't take Joe long to make enemies of the same people that apparently weren't getting along with the former Warden. Added to the problems in Jackson Hole, Joe is also having marital problems with the wife he temporally left behind when he had to relocate to the new district, and if that weren't enough, she is also experiencing her own form of grave danger.

While the conclusion is fairly predictable, the story builds suspense and anticipation throughout, and you will enjoy how Box pulls it all together at the end. This is a well written book, easy to read, and unlike so many similarly styled books, Box spends enough time introducing all the characters so that they are easy to keep track of and remember.

Highly Recommended!

Game Warden Joe Pickett who is based in Saddlestring, Twelve Sleep County in Wyoming is shocked when he hears that fellow game warden Will Jensen committed suicide. Joe's supervisor asks him to temporally take over Will's territory Jackson in Teton County; although it is not a good time to leave his wife and two daughters. He agrees to the temporary assignment in the hopes that he will obtain a better position and more income.

Before he leaves, he asks his friend Nate Romanaski to watch his family because they are getting some strange calls that could prove dangerous. A spark ignites between Joe's wife and Nate one that they both try to ignore. Meanwhile, in Jackson, Joe is trying to deal with an ambitious supervisor ,an outfitter who doesn't adhere to the law and a developer who needs Joe approval to get his project off the ground. In an ominous turn of events Joe is exhibiting the same symptoms that Will experienced before he committed suicide and he begins to suspect that he and Will were set up by a dangerous and ruthless enemy.

C.J. Box has written some pretty spectacular books over the years but OUT OF RANGE is by far his best work to date. This literary and lyrical thriller is memorable and will be considered a classic. The protagonist is an everyman that people can identify with him even when he finds himself attracted to another woman but like his wife chooses to ignore it. The plot is Byzantine, dark, gritty, almost gothic in tone and will appeal not just to mystery fans but to anyone who loves a good book.

Harriet Klausner

Box excels at sense of place and creating interesting characters. This book has the classic elements of drama and suspense. But there is much more to it than that. This is a book about conflict on many different levels. It's intriguing, dark, honorable and made me think. It is, I believe, Box's best book so far.

C. J. Box just keeps getting better. Plot details have been covered amply by others. What I will add is this: Joe Pickett and the other characters are becoming fuller and more complex. And the tension between protecting wildlife and the environment versus "development" and the realities of bureaucracies are better drawn. I really liked Out of Range and can't wait for the next book in the series!

C.J. Box's Joe Pickett adventures seem to very in style with each novel. The initial Open Season was a surreal not quite but almost Carl Hiaasen type novel, then Savage Run turned the series into a more traditional thriller type of adventure. Trophy Hunt introduced a very far fetched paranormal element into the series and I am glad to say that Out of Range has none of that and is a return to the traditional believable realistic type thriller. In fact I would have to say this is my favourite of the Joe Pickett adventures. However I would strongly suggest reading these books in order, starting with Open Season as parts of previous novels are given away in subsequent ones and Out of Range is certainly no exception to that.

In Out of Range the game warden in the larger neighbourly district Jackson, Wyoming is found dead with everyone including Joe in disbelief that he would kill himself. Since the hunting season starts earlier there Joe is ordered to temporarily take over that district and since his daughters are in school he decides to leave his family behind in Saddlestring. In Jackson Joe encounters much resistance to his presence there from everyone from the local police to the Parks Department financial officer who points out at every opportunity how much Joe's career is costing the department. With his wife getting more and more upset with him, not realising he doesn't have the opportunities or time to ring her as often as she'd like both are tempted by opportunities from the opposite sex. It soon becomes apparent to Joe he is leading former game warden Will's life in more ways than one, and there is substantial danger to his in doing so.

Another blockbuster by CJ! I can hardly wait for the next one. I stayed up all night and read Out of Range and couldn't put it down. For not being a game warden ( I am), Box has a very good grasp on the work. Not only do you have new villians to hate, you have a new Sheriff and new territory (Jackson, WY) to deal with and all the set of problems that brings. Box just keeps getting better with each new novel.

I love C.J. Box. He is an exceptional author. With so many books and writers out there today finding anything fresh and intriguing can be difficult, but Box fits the bill. And Out of Range might be his best yet. The characters are tightly drawn and memorable. Each feels as though you have met them in life outside the book. Joe Pickett is the most compelling hero in fiction today. Pickett strives to do the right thing, but he is not perfect. He struggles with moral dilemmas as a Game Warden, as a husband, as a father, as a man. Pickett struggles with the same things we all do. It is very easy to relate to, and to root for Joe. Furthermore, Box's lean muscular style keeps the plot moving. Everything about this book, the characters, plot, descriptions, they all ring true. Out of Range is authentic and it is great.

Joe Pickett is out of his element in this outing, which finds him temporarily transferred to Jackson, Wyoming, after fellow warden and friend Will Jensen commits suicide. Meanwhile, back in Saddlestring, Pickett's loving wife Marybeth struggles to keep her family together while running her business. Joe finds that some of the circumstances leading to Jensen's death don't add up and he begins investigating his friend's death with the help of a married woman, Stella Ennis, whose husband is attempting to build Beargrass Village near Jackson: a large development where animals will be hunted at the whims of the homeowners. There are a lot of subplots in this story, including the attempted capture of a grizzly by Joe and Trey Crumb; Joe's attraction to the married Stella as well as Marybeth's asking Nate Romanowski for help; an extremist environmentalist group's involvement (led by the oddly named Pi Stevenson) with Beargrass Village and, of course, Joe's butting heads with the local politicians.

Box writes wonderfully: you can visualize Jackson and the Tetons by his descriptions alone. Only in America is there a mountain range called the Grand Tetons which, translated in French, is 'large breasts.' His male characters show depth, especially Joe. Randy Pope is more a one-note bureaucrat. Marybeth is somewhat layered but his other female characters are gold-digging shrews (Joe's mother in law, Missy, whom I hope gets eaten by a bear in his next book) or flirty (Stella Ennis) or abrasive (Pi Stevenson). Like the other reviewers, Box's novels don't get enough love and this surprises me. I'm recommending this series to all my mystery-loving friends.

If you aren't familiar with the name "C. J. Box" you're missing out on something, and someone, special. Box has written a series of novels featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett; nominally mysteries --- Box has picked up a slew of awards and an additional bunch of nominations from just about every mystery organization you can name --- they also could be classified as modern westerns, or just straight-up drama fiction. While there is something in these novels for fans of James Lee Burke or Tony Hillerman, Box also evokes the spirit, if not the style, of Elmore Leonard and even John Cheever, without sacrificing his own, unique voice.

Pickett is that rare civil servant who actually likes his work, finding a niche that permits him to do a good job with some measure of independence. The lesson that it is easier to obtain forgiveness than permission has not been lost on Pickett, and it works well in his professional life, if not his personal one. So it is that in OUT OF RANGE, Box's latest effort, Pickett finds himself trying to adapt to a new position while making a long distance effort to keep the home fires under control, with mixed results on both fronts.

OUT OF RANGE begins with the suicide of Will Jensen. Jensen, like Pickett, is a Wyoming game warden and Pickett's good friend. When Pickett is asked to temporarily run Jensen's gaming district, he jumps at the chance, hoping that it will result in some long-term job advancement. Pickett soon finds, however, that he is in over his head. Jackson, Wyoming, the location of Pickett's new duty station, is ground zero for the war between developers and environmental extremists, and Pickett is sorely unprepared when he finds himself caught in the middle of the fray.

But Pickett is even more disturbed when he finds himself slowly coming to the conclusion that his old friend may have been driven to take his life by outside forces. As he closes in on the true reason behind Jensen's death, he begins experiencing unpredictable episodes of blackouts and mood swings, similar to what Jensen experienced shortly before he died. To make matters worse, Pickett's wife, already struggling to keep their home together, is beset upon from an unexpected source, which it appears she must face, and resolve, on her own.

Box exhibits a subtle and quiet narrative style that speaks with a voice of experience and somber grace, whether he is describing a sunset on a mountain range or an early morning in a budget hotel. When building suspense, Box slowly, almost casually, assembles his elements, slowly ratcheting things up by degrees so that the reader's pulse is racing long before they're even aware of it. Read OUT OF RANGE, and become a believer.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

This was my third Joe Pickett novel. Pickett is the Wyoming game warden introduced by author C.J. Box. Joe Pickett is a committed lawman, an observer of wildlife and people, and a human being with his own set of flaws. In Out Of Range, Pickett is temporarily relocated to Jackson to replace one of his game warden mentors, Will Jensen. Jensen ended a year of increasingly strange behaviors with a strange suicide. Since Jensen was a legend in Jackson, the urbanized, liberal corner of Wyoming, Pickett had mighty big shoes to fill.

But was Jensen's death really suicide?

C.J. Box continues his witty and astute observations of people, places, and wildlife:

On bears - "The sad thing is that [cabin crashing bear number 304] lived in these mountains for six or seven years without incident. One of the cabin owners left dog food out on his porch. 304 learned that he liked dog food and kept coming back. Pretty soon, the bear figured out that if he busted INTO the cabin he could find all kinds of things to eat. But it started with the dog food, and you know what they say," [said game warden supervisor Trey].

"A fed bear is a dead bear," Joe said.

"Yes, goddammit" (p. 35).

C.J. Box got this right! Sadly, this is a real truism known by every bear biologist in the world, and not considered relevant to many cabin owners.

Joe Pickett runs into a "PETA"-type character, and is told, "'You have so much to learn,' she said. 'But I don't hate you because you're ignorant. Have you ever heard the saying 'An insect is a cat is a dog is a boy?'" (p. 73).

Ingrid Newkirk, founder of PETA, famously said, "A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy." It's interesting that Box felt he had to modify this statement. Is the original trademarked or something?

And this quote really characterizes Joe Pickett and this story:

"'A wise man once told me that real nature is complicated and messy.' {Joe] enjoyed saying that, but tried not to smile.

'Who was that'? Illoway asked; he looked offended by the thought.

'Smoke Van Horn,' Joe said, 'the night before I shot him'" (p. 267).

Enjoy this chapter in the life of Joe Pickett!