C.J. Box, Out of Range

C.J. Box, Out of Range - 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's 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 with whom people can identify, 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.

Putnam, May 2005, $24.95, 320 pp.

ISBN 0399152911

Harriet Klausner