I think by now you will have realised
that I am a huge fan of 'Joe Pickett' and indeed the Pickett family and of course
Nate Romanowski as written about by Mr Box and I really haven't a bad thing to
say about any of his books as I work my way through them, this is number 7 in
the reading order of 12 and still I have nothing bad to say, even
although for the first time in all seven books I found two errors, one of which
was a stupid hyphen in dan-gerous WTF!
Setting aside that, and I have marked it down in my editing for
Kindle (Harsh but what can one do), what about the story.Well, you may recall
that by the end of, 'In Plain Site' Joe has been sacked
from his job as Game Warden and in Free Fire we find him working as Ranch
Foreman on his Father-in-laws ranch while Marybeth's accounting business is
expanding.
Out of the blue the new Governor turns up in Saddlestring and
offers Joe his job back but with strings attached.
A multiple murder has taken place in Yellowstone Park and it looks as if, for the first time ever, anywhere in the world, 'It is the perfect murder'. They know who did it, he even handed himself in immediately after killing 4 people, but they had to let him go!
Yellowstone Park might be in the state, in fact it is in three US states, and therefore comes under Federal law because of its status as a National Park. The Governor thinks the Federal authorities are not doing enough and tells Joe that he wants him to visit the park and find out what the hell's going on, even although he will have no jurisdiction.
After discussing it with Marybeth Joe takes the job, knew he would, and is reinstated as a Game Warden with no loss of service. Director Pope who we don't miss from the story still manages to stick the knife in, by making sure Joe doe's not get his original badge number back which would show him as a senior Warden, instead sending him Badge no 54, reserved for rookies!
Joe sets off for Yellowstone in a brand new truck, you just know what's gonna happen to that, just as Joe can't hit a barn door if he was standing in front of it with his gun, you just know what's gonna happen to that truck (oh, it's deliciously funny) followed by Nate Romanowski as back up.
Soon he is in the thick of it, more murders are committed, and just to mix things up we learn of events from Joe's past, about his brother, how he died and where he is buried. His parents break up and why Joe has hated his father and always avoids discussing him and ghosts from that past become real in Yellowstone all lead to complications in the investigation.
A thrilling climax to the book ends with the FBI and an old adversary from that organisation double crossing Joe and Nate but this after Joe in his usual stumbling way, solves the crime.
This really was /is as good as the previous six books and Mr Box just keeps getting better and better. The Perfect Murder scenario was a master stroke in finding it and building a story around it and it worked well, I wonder if that little loophole has now been closed in reality (hope so, wont be in a hurry to visit that corner of Yellowstone Park until I know it has been!)?
Book 1 - Open Season
√
Book 2 – Savage Run
√
Book 3 – Winterkill √
Book 4 – Trophy Hunt √
Book 5 – Out of Range √
Book 6 – In Plain Sight √
Book 7 – Free Fire √
Book 3 – Winterkill √
Book 4 – Trophy Hunt √
Book 5 – Out of Range √
Book 6 – In Plain Sight √
Book 7 – Free Fire √
Book 8 – Blood Trail
Book 9 – Below Zero
Book 10 – Nowhere to
Run
Book 11 – Cold Wind
Book 12 – Force of
Nature
Editing for Kindle /iPad: 4 out of 5
Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5
Page length on kindle /iPad: 380
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5
Page length on kindle /iPad: 380
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
