Open Season

I was so excited to begin reading this series but only got through the first chapter and stopped reading. I didn’t appreciate the language. I’ sure it would have been a great story but just couldn’t stomach the foul language. I won’t be purchasing any further books from this author.

I’ve heard CJ Box speak several times at the Tucson Festival of Books and I’ve always found him interesting and his books intriguing sounding but….. I’ve put off reading them because the series is so looong and knowing myself well, once I read one I want to read them all — in order! So I started with one I thought was a standalone, The Highway, just to discover it wasn’t exactly. But what can I say, I was hooked, so I started searching the used stores and yard sales and good deals online and here I am reading Joe Pickett and loving it.
I think CJ’s writing is clear and easy to follow, just enough detail to paint a clear and usually beautiful picture. I never once wanted to say, “C’mon, just get on with it!” I like that Joe loves his family, almost desperately, and wants the best for his girls (including his wife) and feels bad (maybe even inadequate) when he can’t give them all that he wants to. I like that he is a real human being with flaws and weaknesses. (Perfect people who do everything easily and correctly every time get tiresome in a hurry.)
So I think this love affair with CJ Box books is going to be long and lots of fun…..

Having read through several authors series(Lee Child-Jack Reacher, Robert Parker-Spencer, James Lee Burke-Robicheaux, Henning Mankill-Wallender) I have learned that you have to go to the first introduction of the character and sequentially learn the character. With all of these authors, the location seems to act like a third character, shaping the tone for the novels. Kurt Wallander would not fit in Wyoming, but Joe Pickett is brought to life in the rugged territory where he is a game warden. You need that vast landscape to really understand just how alone he is with a pickup, a badge and a pistol facing down whatever comes his way. Like all the other authors mentioned, this first book lays out the landscape and introduces the character who is indelibly human, but asked to walk in alone and face a murder suspect with no backup. The weather often shapes his world with blizzards, torrential rains and his landscape is often unchanged from what it was hundreds of years ago. The story introduces Joe Pickett, his family and a circle of other lawmen which form the foundation of the books to come. This story involves a dead outfitter, who he finds laid out on his woodpile. There is also a rumor of an endangered species, which is right in his jurisdiction. What follows is a fast paced read that takes you on horseback and mountain trails with the inevitable final gunfight you have in all westerns. I am just starting this series and it doesn’t take long to get hooked. (On book 3 now) I would recommend this series to anyone that enjoys outdoor sports such as hunting, fishing, riding, camping and pretty much anything you would love to do in Wyoming.

This was not my cup of tea. I am fairly old and enjoy the many books written by the creators of this genre. If not for the adult language this could have been a story written for preteen girls. Way too much time spent on girly feelings and very little time spent on the topic of the book. I stopped reading after the main character returned home and was reprimanded for being rude to his mother-in-law. He had been released from the hospital with a bullet wound in his face and had hurried home to be with his pregnant wife & daughters.

Box is one of those unimaginative writers who titillates the reader with little soft porn situations aimed at horny guys. He can’t keep your attention with a well written story so he throws in a few sexually explicit encounters with loose women and cheaters thinking that will make the reader turn the pages. Couldn’t make it through the first hour of this turd.

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