Trophy Hunt: A Joe Pickett Novel | C. J. Box

Trophy Hunt: A Joe Pickett Novel | C. J. Box | A bit different, but still enjoyable

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Trophy Hunt: A Joe...

	Trophy Hunt: A Joe Pickett Novel C. J. Box Amazon Remainders Account - 323 pages average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett faces his most dangerous adversary yet in award-winning author C. J. Box's thrilling new novel.

It's an idyllic late summer day in Saddlestring, Wyoming, and game warden Joe Pickett is fly-fishing with his two daughters when he stumbles upon the mutilated body of a moose. Whatever-or whoever-attacked the animal was ruthless: Half the animal's face has been sliced away, the skin peeled back from the flesh. Shaken by the assault, Pickett begins to investigate what he hopes is an isolated incident.

Days later, after the discovery of a small herd of mutilated cattle, Pickett realizes this is something much bigger. Local authorities are quick to label the attacks the work of a grizzly bear, but Joe knows otherwise. The cuts on the moose and the cattle were too clean, too precise to have been made by jagged teeth. Are the animals only practice for a killer about to move on to a different, more challenging prey?

Joe's worst fears are realized when the bodies of two men are discovered within days of each other, their wounds eerily similar to those found on the moose and cattle. There's a vicious killer, a modern-day Jack the Ripper, on the loose in Saddle-string-and it appears his rampage is just beginning.

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From reading Trophy Hunt

C.J. Box has again delivered an attention getting story with enough convoulution to make it extremely interesting and keep one's attention.

A bit different, but still enjoyable

Slightly different approach than his other stories, but it kept things interesting. As the editorial says, Box touches on issues that affect the region, but he does it in a subtle way that adds to the storyline without hitting you across the head with a message of social justice that too many other authors seem to include in their writing.

I started the Picket novels on recommendation from Amazon after buying the Alex McNight series by Steve Hamilton. Both book series are easy reads that will draw you in before you know it. Not as complex as someone like Ludlum, but very enjoyable for a tired mind after a busy week of work. A good escape from the day to day routine.

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Not up to the first 3

I agree with the previous reviewers. I have really enjoyed the first 3 books in the series, but this one veers off the tracks after the first half. I really had to slog through to finish it, as things kept getting either more absurd or more inexplicable. It's ok to have some mystery in a mystery, but some of the mysteries in this book (e.g. what causes the feelings of uneasiness in Joe and his daughters when they find the mutilated moose, why did Deena send Joe pornographic pictures of herself-and who took them, what was the sheriff's connection to the bad guys?) seem central to the story and are never picked up on at the end to at least offer some hint of the answers. I'm not giving up on Joe Pickett, but he needs a strong comeback next time around.

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Exciting page turner, dumb ending

This was my first Joe Pickett book. I found a lot of things to like about this book. The detailed, you-are-there veracity of the setting reminded me of the best of Tony Hillerman. I also loved the characters. Joe Pickett and his family seemed so real I felt I could reach out and touch them.

The central mystery here has to do with cattle mutilations which horrifically make their way to humans. While the subject was gruesome, C.J. Box structured the mystery in an exciting way that kept me turning the pages. I did solve the mystery before Joe did, which disappointed me a little. It's not something I try to do when I read a mystery, and I like to be surprised.

The resolution of this story was also very disappointing and felt rushed and ill-considered. While the identities of the killer(s) were telegraphed well before the ending, the solution was laden with loose ends, which were then explained by a combination of supernatural phenomena, New Age mysticism, and a dollop of corny old "Tales of the Unexpected" melodrama.

This wasn't at all what I had expected from the wry, realistic, and interesting first half of the book. From reading the reviews here, I think I will give C.J. Box and Joe Pickett another chance. It appears that "Trophy Hunt" was a misfire, but there are better books in which to follow more adventures of Joe Pickett, his families, and life on the Wyoming range.

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A Little Too Dry

I won't review the plot here or try to capture it's essence. But I will mention a point I don't see touched on in the reviews that preceded this -- and that's how Pickett, in this story, seems like a ball bouncing around a pinball machine. He doesn't really seem to take control of the investigation. Yes, he's only on a task force and yes, he has "issues" with some of the other task force members -- but he never seems that concerned about the whole situation until things start really getting out of control at the end. The scene where he confronts a man who he thinks might be behind the weirdness is very touching and shows Pickett's terrific humanity but once the end came rolling around I felt a bit cheated. In the end, I wanted more effort and passion and outrage. This left me feeling just a bit dry ... not CJ's best. Readers who enjoy CJ Box, however, might also enjoy an outdoor adventure in a neighboring state: Antler Dust

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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