Award-winning writer C. J. Box returns with a vengeance in this thrilling new novel featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett.
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Jul 15, 2008
Koeeoaddi
rated it: 
No one writes Wyoming like C.J. Box. Curling up with one of his books is like getting in out of the wind, he gets the people and the places just right and you can almost smell the sage as you turn the pages. So why only two stars?
1. We get it, Mr. Box. You. Don't. Like. Animal. Rights. Activists. Enough, already! Look, I laughed when the tree spiker wound up in the tree in the beginning of Out of Range, and for a book or two it was fun, but seriously, it's time to skip the needle o More...
1. We get it, Mr. Box. You. Don't. Like. Animal. Rights. Activists. Enough, already! Look, I laughed when the tree spiker wound up in the tree in the beginning of Out of Range, and for a book or two it was fun, but seriously, it's time to skip the needle o More...
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Jul 02, 2008
LJ
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BLOOD TRAIL (Licensed Invest-Joe Pickett-Wyoming-Cont) – G+
Box, C.J. – 9th in series
Putnam, 2008 – US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780399154881
First Sentence: I am a hunter, a bestower of dignity.
Joe Pickett, now working director for the Governor of Wyoming, is called to go to a murder scene where an elk hunter has been murdered and his body treated like the quarry he sought. This isn’t the first such killing.
The Governor puts Joe on the multi-agency in More...
Box, C.J. – 9th in series
Putnam, 2008 – US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780399154881
First Sentence: I am a hunter, a bestower of dignity.
Joe Pickett, now working director for the Governor of Wyoming, is called to go to a murder scene where an elk hunter has been murdered and his body treated like the quarry he sought. This isn’t the first such killing.
The Governor puts Joe on the multi-agency in More...
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Apr 20, 2010
Joyce
rated it: 
A serial killer is hunting down, murdering and butchering hunters in Wyoming s Big Horn Mountains. Joe Pickett, now special agent/game warden for the governor, is assigned to the hunt for the killer.[return][return]That s it--that s the plot. But in this, his 8th and best in the Joe Pickett series, C.J. Box delivers a very fine police procedural with a nice plot twist. Box always has some Western issue at the heart of his novels; this time, it s the ethics of hunting. As usual, he trie
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Jan 20, 2010
Tony
rated it:
One of my favorite Joe Pickett books. There is a serial killer on the loose in Wyoming. The killer is going after hunters and treating them like deer: Gutted, skinned, decapitated and hung up. Joe is asked by the Gov. to find out who is doing this. Joe is reunited with his old boss, Nate, and the regular cast of characters that we have come to enjoy over the years.
Box has really tightened up his story telling. I didn't find myself skipping pages only turning them as fast as I More...
Box has really tightened up his story telling. I didn't find myself skipping pages only turning them as fast as I More...
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Jul 26, 2009
J
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Jan 11, 2009
Jen
rated it:
Blood Trail is the eighth book in C. J. Box's Joe Pickett series. In this adventure, someone is hunting elk hunters in Wyoming. The first couple killings appear to be hunting accidents, but when a man is hung and gutted like prey, the police, the state game warden, even the governor take an active role in finding this human hunter. And their first step in solving the heinous crimes is to call in Joe Pickett.
The stakes are raised in the investigation when an anti-hunting advocate, Kla More...
The stakes are raised in the investigation when an anti-hunting advocate, Kla More...
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Jul 29, 2011
Catherine
rated it:
This is a series that Joel is much more fond of than I am, but as we try to read as much of what the other reads as is possible and still largely enjoyable (I make hime stretch more than he makes me, so it's impotant that I try!), and maybe it is just that I have read too many of these too close together, but the whole lawlessness in the service of revenge rubs me more the wrong way each time I read it. The villain does villainous things although that is really in the service of revenge as well
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Jun 25, 2008
Sarah
rated it:
Good as always. I really enjoy the taste of Wyoming and the West I get every time I read one of CJ's books. Like Nate, it makes me want to bury my face in a sagebrush and inhale the wonderful scent. I miss it!
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Sep 26, 2009
judy
rated it:
Great tale and marvelous descriptions. I always love being in the company of Joe Pickett/game warden, Marybeth and their wise-beyond-her-years teen daughter/apprentice falconer Sheridan. Of course there are the engrossing struggles between what Joe believes is morally and legally right and the renegade Nate who hates the law but loves justice. Lots of bodies here and a tad more meticulous detail than I needed. Let me put it this way, if I'd read this before the election, the fact that Sarah Pali
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Sep 06, 2011
Kurt
rated it:
A bit of a jump forward for our fair hero, Wyoming game Warden Joe Pickett. A homeowner for the first time, his eldest daughter he finds is suddenly 16 and after tramping around the state as the governor's personal game warden, he's thrown once again into a murder mystery in his hometown of Saddlestring.
Good stuff, as always, but his familial relationships are downplayed a bit, in stead we get a heavier dose of work life: His boss is in town to take personal control of the investig More...
Good stuff, as always, but his familial relationships are downplayed a bit, in stead we get a heavier dose of work life: His boss is in town to take personal control of the investig More...
Oct 23, 2009
Quinn
rated it:
C.J. Box is the modern day Louis L'Amour. A "hunter" is hunting hunters in the Wyoming mountains and they are turning up dead. Joe Pickett, a Fish and Game officer must stop the "hunter" from killing again. What Joe discovers is that things are not always as they seem because there is a score to settle.
Although the writing is straight forward and the ending predictable, I found this book extremely interesting. I enjoy hunting and I thought the author did an ex More...
Although the writing is straight forward and the ending predictable, I found this book extremely interesting. I enjoy hunting and I thought the author did an ex More...
Oct 05, 2011
Eric_W
rated it:
Hunters are being hunted. Stalked, shot, and then mutilated, Joe Pickett is charged by the governor with tracking down the killer.
There are some lyrical descriptions of scenery and the woods. That’s where Box really shines. Some passages were worth reading a couple times just to enjoy the description (of nature, not the people.)
Not much suspense it’s pretty obvious who the killer is early on, although my credibility was strained by how easy it was for this guy to get aro More...
There are some lyrical descriptions of scenery and the woods. That’s where Box really shines. Some passages were worth reading a couple times just to enjoy the description (of nature, not the people.)
Not much suspense it’s pretty obvious who the killer is early on, although my credibility was strained by how easy it was for this guy to get aro More...
Nov 07, 2010
Brian
rated it:
This was my first encounter with CJ Box / Joe Pickett. I actually picked this up based on a recommendation from Orson Scott Card in one of his blogs.
This is a different take on the normal murder mystery, as the protagonist is a Wyoming game wardern researching the recent string of local hunters' deaths. What had previously been thought of as accidents are brought into a new light when the latest hunter is found field-dressed like the dead hunter's former elk prey. Things are furth More...
This is a different take on the normal murder mystery, as the protagonist is a Wyoming game wardern researching the recent string of local hunters' deaths. What had previously been thought of as accidents are brought into a new light when the latest hunter is found field-dressed like the dead hunter's former elk prey. Things are furth More...
Jul 06, 2009
L
rated it:
Box writes more violence than I care for, and I really can barely stand some of his characters (which tells you that I have a visceral reaction to them--means they're well written, no?), don't like the politics of Wyoming. And yet, there is something that draws me to these books.
Box does write a good mystery, to my way of thinking. And he gives the reader some of the flavor of Wyoming . . . a place beautiful, rugged, and populated with people I just never want to meet, a place I pla More...
Box does write a good mystery, to my way of thinking. And he gives the reader some of the flavor of Wyoming . . . a place beautiful, rugged, and populated with people I just never want to meet, a place I pla More...
Nov 30, 2011
I thought "blood Trail" was a very good book. It was a big mystery of who I thought was the killer in this book and as I thought I had it right it turned out to be another person that I didn't expect. It starts off a little slow with some action but when I really got into the book, about halfway through I just couldn't put it down. It was very suspenseful and all the detail and the ending notes that CJ Box put at the end of the chapters just wanted me to read more just to find out what
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Jan 05, 2009
Barbara
rated it:
The latest in the Joe Pickett murder mystery series. Joe is a Wyoming game warden who keeps getting caught up in murder mysteries. Box writes in a very straight-forward manner, suiting his hero's perspective. I didn't figure out whodunnit until right at the very end. The good characters are well drawn. But two of the bad characters (Joe's boss and an animal rights activist)are so simplistic and one-sided that they're more like carciatures. Overall, a suspenseful mystery with an interesting plot
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Dec 04, 2010
Rebecca
rated it:
Okay another Joe Pickett novel. This involves vengeance. The governor of WY has tapped Joe for a special mission. Someone is hunting the hunters and Joe needs to stop it quietly. Of course it's not quiet.
There's a bumbling local sheriff, beautiful scenery, and a rape that was not investigated years ago. I actually learned something about how Native Americans are living on the reservations. Anyway Joe discovers a connection and of course solves the case but not without some scars.
There's a bumbling local sheriff, beautiful scenery, and a rape that was not investigated years ago. I actually learned something about how Native Americans are living on the reservations. Anyway Joe discovers a connection and of course solves the case but not without some scars.
Sep 14, 2011
Wesley
rated it:
This was good. I think CJ Box is improving as his books go on as a writer. The diversity in the last few have just been outstanding. This had a twist at the end like none I've seen yet. I also think that Nate has to be one of my favorite characters in a novel yet. Especially this one, I did this on audiobook given the busy week and I'm totally glad. The narrator is absolutely outstanding, I wish I had did the first book via audio so I had the voices in my head as a I read. It may have helped som
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Apr 05, 2010
Drew
rated it:
I like novels about the outdoors, and C.J. Box provides plenty with his series about game warden Joe Pickett. I enjoy the characters, the settings and the plots. This last story line left some unanswered questions though. Will Joe extricate himself from all the legal problems he created? What happens to his friend and ex-con Nate? I'll assume the author will answer them in the next book rather than assume he wrote himself into a corner. But if he doesn't I'll be p-----.
Jan 02, 2011
Chris
rated it:
Entertaining. I read this while vacationing out east and it was the type of easy reading that made the end of the day something to look forward to. It's not a very complicated plot. I sort of figured it out about half way through the book. Work for a fish and game agency, the working relationships with hunters, Native Americans, the politicians and the overly ambitious bureaucrats is spot on and very entertaining to view through the eyes of C.J. Box.
May 04, 2009
Steve
rated it:
This is the second Joe Picket book I have read by Box. I thought it was better than the first I read which I think was Open Season. If you like hunting, the outdoors, and mystery this is a good book. It is based on hunters being hunted. I did not see how it might end for some time. I plan on going back to read other books in the series. There were some spoilers in this book for his prior books. You should probably start reading them in order.
Jul 30, 2011
I really am enjoying this author. This is the 3rd Joe Pickett novel I have read ( and I have checked out another) but I also read his stand-alone Blue Heaven. Joe Pickett is a game warden in Wyoming and he gets involved in some interesting murders. I have been reading them out of order which I do not recommend since he has a wife and kids and there are family dynamics that happen which get confusing if read "backwards", so to speak.
Nov 26, 2010
Elizabeth
rated it:
The only flaw in this book is that our hero Joe again solves a very important case that has buffaloed everyone else, but gets in trouble over it which seems to be the way all the Pickett books that I have read so far have ended, some thing I call the McCloud syndrome. You can never satisfy your boss and you never get the respect you deserve as was seen in the old TV series McCloud with Dennis Weaver. It gets tiresome.
Jun 03, 2008
Tim
rated it:
Wyoming Fish and Wildlife game warden Joe Pickett is on the trail of a killer. Someone is hunting the hunters, and leaving them for dead in the woods. Meanwhile, and anti-hunting protester has come to town, looking to make a statement. Trapped between scheming, manipulative bureaucrats and the clock ticking on more murders, Pickett must solve a multi-layered and complex crime. C.J. Box is a talented and thoughtful storyteller, and his Pickett series is one of the best in contemporary crime ficti
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Oct 03, 2011
Adrienne
rated it:
My husband likes these Joe Pickett mysteries & if you like tails of the new west (especially Wyoming), you'll like them too. I listened to this on audiotape with him on a recent car trip. The main character is a game warden who ends up solving murder cases. You have to be willing to suspend disbelief and go along with a little frontier justice, but its a perfectly enjoyable ride.
Sep 05, 2010
KarenC
rated it:
Disappointed that Joe would underestimate & misread the killer so badly and underestimate the need for revenge. Missed a couple of these so was surprised to find Joe as a "Special" and Nate in jail. Box's writing seems to generally improve with each book, but then one will leap out with a glaring weakness. Joe remains a likeable character, but there's just something . . .
Feb 16, 2009
Harry
rated it: 
Hunters are being hunted and killed like animals. Joe Pickett is sent by Gov. Rulon to investigate. Joes boss Pope doesnt interfer like normal. Anti hunting Klamath Moore become suspect. Joe finds a common thread between murdered hunters and suspects a personal vendetta. in the end it is Moore's wife Alisha seeking revenge for being raped by the group of hunters
Sep 09, 2009
Traci
rated it:
Yet another great novel by C.J. Box. One more and I'll be caught up on the Joe Pickett series. I must admit, I have grown very attached to Joe and Marybeth Pickett and Nate Romanowski...and some very satisfying things happened in this novel that will eventually (I hope?) make the lives of my favorite characters a little easier (though I doubt it!). Can't wait to start "Below Zero"!
Jul 13, 2009
I bought this for $5 at our local grocery/drug store not expecting much, but was I ever surprised. I loved the character of Joe Pickett - I guess this is the 8th book he's appeared in so I'm going to need to back pedal. The plot was well crafted and left me wondering who did it until the last few pages. C.J. Box just might be my new favorite author.
Oct 11, 2011
Laura
rated it:
Book #8 in the series of game warden Joe Pickett. An elk hunter is found dead and dressed out like an elk and Joe is brought in to investigate. His only clues are a poker chip & a cartridge. There are several men who have been killed and left like this and it's not an anti-hunting advocate doing it, it's someone who is out for revenge.
