Three Weeks to Say Goodbye [Mass Market Paperback]

C.J. Box (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 3, 2009

Jack and Melissa McGuane have spent years trying to have a baby. Finally their dream has come true with the adoption of their daughter, Angelina. But nine months after bringing her home, they receive a devastating phone call…

Angelina’s birth father, a teenager, never signed away his parental rights—and he wants her back. Worse, his father, a powerful Denver judge, will use every trick in the book to make sure it happens. The McGuanes attempt to meet face-to-face with the father and son…but soon it becomes clear that there’s something sinister about their motivations—and that love for Angelina is not one of them.

A horrifying game of intimidation and double crosses begins that quickly becomes a death spiral where everyone is suspect and no one is safe. Now Jack and Melissa will stop at nothing to protect their child—even though time is running out…

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Bestseller Box (Blue Heaven) explores an adoptive parents worst nightmare in this compelling stand-alone thriller. Jack McGuane, an employee of Denvers convention and visitors bureau, and his wife suddenly discover that demonic Garrett Morland, the birth father of their dearly loved nine-month-old daughter, Angelina, didnt sign away his parental rights. Garrett and his powerful father, a sitting federal judge, give the McGuanes three weeks to return Angelina. In this bleak scenario, Box eschews facile sentimentality and meticulously builds pitch-perfect characterizations, notably that of McGuane, who grew up with uneducated but hard-working parents on a series of Montana ranches. Boxs equally convincing villains—gangsters, murderers, child pornographers—each provide a different face of evil, and each individual has to decide how best to get at the truth. As usual, Box blessedly reasserts that whatever the cost, such truth exists, and ordinary folk have the strength to find it. Author tour. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Skilled pacing and well-developed suspense…a vigilante revenge story.”—People

“Compelling and convincing.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Gut-wrenching…packs the kind of punch few thrillers, or novels of any kind, ever do.”
—Providence Journal

“Frightening...Box understands the West and Westerners like no other writer.”—Rocky Mountain News

 “A terrifying…suspense-filled thriller.”—Toronto Globe and Mail

“Impossible to put down.”—Bookreporter.com

“Box has built a reputation for writing knife-edge suspense while incorporating solid social issues. And he does so again here…Tight writing, dead-on characterizations, and fierce action come together in the wrenching Three Weeks to Say Goodbye.”—Billings Gazette

“Three Weeks to Say Goodbye has all of the same ingredients that made [his other popular novels] hits.”—South Jersey News

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (November 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031236573X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312365738
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #333,318 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

C. J. Box is the author of the award-winning Joe Pickett series of novels, including Open Season (2001), Savage Run (2002), Winterkill (2003), Trophy Hunt (2004), Out of Range (2005) and the upcoming In Plain Sight (May, 2006). He's the winner of the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 Award (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, the Barry Award, and an Edgar Award and L.A. Times Book Prize finalist. Open Season was a New York Times Notable Book and three of the novels have been Booksense 76 picks.


The novels have been national bestsellers and have been translated into 12 languages.


Box is a Wyoming native and has worked as a ranch hand, surveyor, fishing guide, a small town newspaper reporter and editor, and he co-owns an international tourism marketing firm with his wife, Laurie. An avid outdoorsman, Box has hunted, fished, hiked, ridden, and skied throughout Wyoming and the Mountain West. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.


Box lives with his family outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great thriller, January 15, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Three Weeks to Say Goodbye (Hardcover)

In Denver Jack and Melissa McGuane were euphoric when the adoption was finally approved and baby Angelina made their family complete. They love their infant daughter, but nine months later the thirty something couple is shocked and dismayed. Julie Perala of the adoption agency informs them that Angelina's eighteen year old biological father Garrett, a Cherry Creek High School student, wants his daughter; he never signed the documents waiving his rights to her. His father is powerful Federal Judge John Moreland who demands his son raise his granddaughter.

Jack and Melissa love Angelina and want to do what is best for her. Thus they agree to meet father and son, but at the session, the McGuane's realize neither of their adopted infant's paternal side is interested in her welfare. They have a personal grudge agenda and little Angelina is the kickball. Worse the Judge uses his vast power, legal and otherwise, to wreck havoc on the McGuane's trying force them to surrender. However, the scenario is not as straightforward as the Moreland father and son insist; child porn, and murder turn the three weeks from that initial horrifying phone call into hell in Colorado and Montana where Jack's parents reside.

Leaving Wyoming and Joe Pickett with a breather, C.J. Box provides his fans with a great thriller starting with the premise of losing an adopted child to the biological parent. The story line is fast-paced from that opening phone call and never slows down as events spiral out of control. Fans will root for the "David" like couple to defeat the Goliath judge who has weapons on both sides of the law and uses them. With a strong support cast in both states and fully developed lead characters on both sides of the custody debate, readers will appreciate this terrific tale of suspense at its best.

Harriet Klausner

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read, January 18, 2009

By 

Reacher (Mechanicsville, Virginia USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Three Weeks to Say Goodbye (Hardcover)

This is, quite simply, one of those books that you read books for.
I have appreciated the author's earlier works, but he just outdid himself on this one.
The basic lean, yet full plot, the characters, the flow of this book is just... on point. There isn't a false move, or a reason to pause, in the entire novel.
A straightforward, decent man is put into a situation with his wife and child he can't escape from. He does what he has to,with more than a little help from his friends.
I read quite a few books. Many tend to disappoint, just filling in what is expected from the author by his publisher that year.
Not the case here.
Enjoy.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "THEY LEFT THE LAND OF THE INNOCENT & WILLINGLY ENTERED THE UNDERWORLD!", January 12, 2009

By 

Rick Shaq Goldstein "*SHAQ*" (Danville, Ca, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Three Weeks to Say Goodbye (Hardcover)

Jack and Melissa McGuane were both thirty-four-years-old and were happily married. There was only one thing missing in their life... and that was a baby. After years of unsuccessfully trying to conceive a baby the old fashioned way... they went through a costly and complicated adoption process... but it seemed to be all worthwhile... with the arrival... of "their" gorgeous, precocious, daughter, Angelina. Little Angelina was the missing flower that made their personal love bouquet complete. Angelina was now nine-months-old... and Jack and Melissa's entire life orbited around sweet... gurgling... Angelina. Then the world as they knew it... came to an abrupt end. Out of nowhere... the adoption agency notified them that the teenage biological father didn't... and wouldn't... sign away the parental custody papers. The signing of this document was... per the adoption agency representatives... a foregone conclusion. A literal slam-dunk... not even worth mentioning as a possible problem. But it became more than a problem... it became a nuclear explosion... and that's where this gifted author spreads his literary wings... and takes the reader on a non-stop... heartfelt... journey... that starts in Denver and stretches all the way to Germany... Montana and back.

What is so spellbinding about this story, is that unlike so many other novels, where the protagonist is in law enforcement... the military... advertising... journalism... etc. Jack merely works for the Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau... and Melissa quit her job to be a fulltime Mother. They can barely meet their bills... so if Jack can't work for even a short period of time... they'd lose their house and their ability to survive economically. As with any nuclear explosion... there is additional damage after the initial shock. The teenage boy... Garrett Moreland... not only wants his child back... but he is a certified sociopath as well... with ties to the Mexican Mafia. If that isn't enough... Garrett's Father is Federal Judge John Moreland... and the Judge makes it clear from the get-go... that Jack and Melissa have no choice but to give the baby back... and give her back in three weeks.

What follows is Jack and Melissa doing everything in their power to try to figure out a way to stop this nightmare... and keep their dream baby with them. Joining them in this near hopeless task are two of Jack's childhood friends from Montana... Cody Hoyt a hard drinking Denver cop... who is in the midst of being embarrassed by the same Judge Moreland in a giant pedophile court case... and Brian Eastman... a gay, successful real estate man... who bandies about in all of Denver's high society events. As the story unfolds the reader gets to know about their rural upbringing... and any reader who is a typical hard working family person... can't help but identify with Jack and Melissa's plight... even as dead bodies start to mount. In the midst of gang-banger intimidation... killing of pets... and help from a wild-shotgun-armed Uncle from Montana... the author never allows the violence to seem cartoonish. I can truly say... you won't be able to put this book down. Though the author has a number of previously released books... this is the first one that I've read. I was so impressed that I have already ordered his next book, which is scheduled for release in June... even though I don't know what it's about.