Below Zero (A Joe Pickett Novel)

BELOW ZERO is one of Box's weaker efforts, ultimately, but with a thriller writer this fine, a weak effort still is going to deserve at least three stars. The prose here is still spare but evocative, and Box excels as always at conjuring up the majesty of the Wyoming wilds. Joe Pickett remains a charmingly vulnerable and conflicted protagonist. The problem here is the the ridiculousness of the main villain. While I don't have any problem with the general idea of an environmentalist being a cold killer (some of the ELF and Earth First crowd are a little scary), this cardboard-thin creation doesn't convince me for one moment. A whining, callow creature like Robert would never be able to summon the energy to murder polluters, especially given the utterly weak motivation Box gives him (hell, they're not even polluters--just people who consume a lot of energy). Robert is always viewed from far outside--filtered through the perceptions of the girl or the father--in such a way that it feels as though even the author is having a hard time believing in him. He doesn't take you into Robert's head because he isn't at all sure what's in there. C.J. Box, like many thriller-writers, is drafting steadily rightward politically as he gets older, and I notice corporate types are getting more sympathetic in his books as environmentalists are getting less so. That's all well and good, but if he wants to convince me that the people who want to preserve his beloved wild country are the real villains, he's going to have to work a lot harder at it than he did here.

I LOVE C J Box books, especially Joe Pickett! Box is very descriptive, particularly the outdoor scenes, One can close his or her eyes and see the magnificent mountains, trees, rivers and wildlife. His stories are incredible; they take you from start to finish with "nary a pause". You can't put a C J Box book down!

again CJ has pulled it off. critics say each novel gets a little darker,I disagree. I love a book you cannot put down,even if it means neglecting what you should be doing. C J keeps you there until the end. Then is nice to carry on in the next book His wonderfulhas characters with substance,purpose. I love his environmentalist view of our world.

This is the ninth "JOE PICKETT" novel... and following an extremely well written stand-alone novel "THREE WEEKS TO SAY GOODBYE"... this book is enormously disappointing. The plot revolves around a terminally ill Chicago gangster named David Stenson who is known as "Stenko" to his friends. Stenko is dying from cancer and is trying to reconcile with Robert his environmentalist crazed son. Since Stenko owns casinos... large amounts of real estate in Chicago... and probably doesn't use energy efficient light bulbs... according to Robert... "STENKO'S LIFESTYLE IS SUCH THAT YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT JUST KEEPS GROWING." So in a last gasp attempt... to recapture his son's love before he dies... he must successfully adhere to his son's demands that he reduce the astronomic lifetime total of his "CARBON FOOTPRINT". And what better way to do that than to go across the country murdering people who also have large carbon footprints? The Stenson's murder an innocent family that happens to drive a very large RV... they murder a newly married couple who come from families that own wildly successful industrial companies... and so on. All the while Robert is constantly keying in figures to his portable computer calculating every imaginable environmentally related statistic to justify the current and future murders... along with calculating Stenko's current carbon "total"... with a handy formula that subtracts the murdered person's carbon footprint from the "imagined" lifetime balance that Dad has accumulated. I think it's very easy to see that this premise comes off as quite cartoonish.

In the midst of this scenario Pickett's seventeen-year-old daughter Sheridan gets a phone call message from April... a former foster child of the Pickett's that was believed to have been murdered in a big government shootout years ago... that Joe still feels guilty about. As the Stenko environmental death/murder march continues... Sheridan starts getting text messages from April... but April was killed and buried years ago. Could it really be April? Oh my! As the Stenson rampage continues... it seems the text messages... now being traced by the FBI... are coincidentally in sync with the movements of the Stenson murder brigade. Mixed into the previously mentioned mayhem... is the "MAD ARCHER"... a cruel, drunk and drugged... soulless creature from Oklahoma who is poaching and maiming all types of wildlife ranging from elk... to antelope... to deer... to a wounded eagle with an arrow through it. Joe has to arrest him twice while still involved in the bigger hard to believe picture. The one endearing part of this hard to digest story is when Sheridan has to accompany her Dad in the pursuit of the crazed environmentalist vigilante's... since... if that "is" April with the Stenson's... she'll only communicate with Sheridan... and Joe doesn't speak in the language of a teenage "texter" so he can't pretend to be her. Along with the FBI Joe enlists the aid of perhaps the most interesting character in this episode... the "on-the-lam" Nate Romanowski who carries around a cannon disguised as a pistol... and he even hides out at *HOLE-IN-THE-WALL* Wyoming... just like Butch and Sundance did.

There is no other way I can summarize this review other than stating: *THIS WOULD BE A DECENT STORY... IF IT WASN'T FOR THE PLOT!*

I enjoy Joe Pickett novels. Box has stayed within the continuing parameters of relationships among family, friends, colleagues and sometimes, adversaries. Each novel has a situation that is different from the others, but the reader builds on past history. However, each novel stands on its own.

Box does a very good job of character development, the first thing that grabbed me when I began reading the Joe Pickett series. Also, the descriptions of nature, critters, weather, etc., puts the reader right there.

Below Zero ends with Joe needing a new job. Should be interesting.

Every one from Wyoming must read CJ Box books. I have everyone of the Joe Pickett books (about a Game Worden) in Wyoming. We are Camp Ground Hosts in the summer and I read them out in the country and I feel like I am right there with the book. I have been to most places CJ box writes about in Wyoming. I enjoy the excitement and fun. I'm waiting for the next Joe Pickett book.

CJ Box has developed Joe Pickett into a great character that we love. After living in Wyoming for 40 years it's interesting to read about how many different situations a game warden can get himself into.