Breaking Point

In this CJ Bos Joe Pickett book, Federal Bureaucrats descend on Saddlestring and the result is not pretty. The EPA decides, for some unknown reason, that the new homesite of a citizen of the town is on wetlands. The organization sends two armed agents to enforce their position and the result is tragic on more than one level. CJ Box mentions in the Epilogue that this book is based on an actual event in Idaho – what the EPA has done to the Sackett family. Like most of his books, this one has the same excellent story line that kept me interested from the start and the same excellent character development.

As a Midwesterner, I like getting the western perspective set through the eyes of Joe Pickett, a good and eminently reasonable man. Joe is still Joe, but the book has a caricature of a plot.

The story was apparently based on the real case of Sackett vs. EPA, which from what I could find on the web, did not involve an EPA administrator who was insane enough to commandeer a missile and shoot it into a mountain forest filled with dead wood. This is a book that will be loved by Alex Jones fans.

So much more could have been done. When I think of people who are staunchly anti fed land ownership and anti environmental regulation, I think of the Bundys, who to my mind, are thieves, vandals, and disrespectful of burial grounds. However, Im sure theres a lot more to the tension between Westerners and the federal government, and I wish this book had given the reader a something to chew on.

Worthy of the five stars and more. As always, I was impressed with the storylines and the character selection. Joe always finds a way to maintain my interest and Nate did shat Nate does best: Just being Nate. I can never express the anticipation I enjoy throughout this series of novels, as each one has its own individual standalone storyline.

As always, I can, without hesitation, recommend this entire series to anyone loving a great western mystery. There is romance, some espionage, a lot of gunplay, and the mysterious outcome isn’t full reconciled until the end of the story.

I don’t usually write book reviews. But since I’ve got money invested in 13 of these books, I’m going to write what I think of “Breaking Point.” First, I love the Joe Picket series. I love the regular characters. I love the wild and crazy outdoor adventures. I can swallow the author’s politics. I really don’t care because I read these books for the good writing of adventure and the outdoors in the mountains and I like the surprising twists and turns of the plots. However, the ending on this one stopped me. It was just too unreasonable. I recognize it’s fiction (and at times, outrageous fiction), but sometimes even fiction has to come to a logical ending. I won’t write about it in this review because I don’t want to be a spoiler. Let me just say I hope Box fixes this in a later book. I’m still a fan.

I really liked the story as a whole. What happens in the canyon is nerve wracking! However, the premise behind the story is flawed. The Corps of Engineers issues wetland permits and would normally give a landowner the chance to mitigate any wetland disturbance. I find this disingenuous in that they wouldn’t show up and start fining people without giving them the opportunity to make this right. That being said, I can see how a federal bureaucrat would abuse their authority to punish someone because I have personally seen this.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member