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Free Fire (Joe Pickett #7)

4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 · rating details · 1,503 ratings · 146 reviews

Joe Pickett investigates the mass murder of a group of campers in a back-country corner of Yellowstone National Park. But not only has the killer gleefully confessed, he's gotten off free. The reason is an absolute shocker-and absolutely believable.

ebook, 352 pages

Published May 6th 2008 by Berkley (first published January 1st 2007)

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Apr 20, 2010 Joyce Lagow rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

7th in the Joe Pickett series.[return][return]With this installment, Box returns to form with a fascinating novel that takes place in Yellowstone National Park. The � mystery� part of the plot is good though nothing unusual� typical good workmanship on Box� s part. But crucial to the story are several unique aspects about Yellowstone, one geological and the other legal. [return][return]The legal oddity is that in the strip of the park that is within Idaho� s boundaries, no felony can be prosecut...more 7th in the Joe Pickett series.[return][return]With this installment, Box returns to form with a fascinating novel that takes place in Yellowstone National Park. The � mystery� part of the plot is good though nothing unusual� typical good workmanship on Box� s part. But crucial to the story are several unique aspects about Yellowstone, one geological and the other legal. [return][return]The legal oddity is that in the strip of the park that is within Idaho� s boundaries, no felony can be prosecuted. Therefore, you can literally get away with murder in what is called the Zone of Death, thanks to the weirdness of constitutional law that requires that a jury be drawn from the district in which the felony takes place. Since no one lives in that particular district, there can be no jury trial and therefore no prosecution.[return][return]The other aspect is Yellowstone� s unique geology; the Earth� s crust is the thinnest in the Yellowstone caldera, the origin of the many geysers and other geothermal features� and the potential exists for a massive volcanic explosion that would wipe out all life within a 200 mile radius. These have occurred, and there is evidence that a) the next one is overdue and b) pressure is building up for one now� the crust in the caldera has risen 5� over the past 10 years.[return][return]In all but one of his previous books, Box has worked in New West issues. He returns to that in this book, exploring the issue of licenses for bio-mining of thermophiles within Yellowstone, allowing companies to � mine� various types of microbes for huge commercial profit. [return][return]Another bonus is that Box� s writing continues to improve. He also has a great one-time character in this book, who adds enormously to the interest. Nate Romanowski is back again with his unique concept of justice (a good deal like Win Lockwood of Harlan Coben� s Myron Bolitar series although less entertaining than Win).[return][return]But where Box excels in his loving descriptions of the West in general and the high mountain landscapes in particular. He has the ability to evoke the exact sense of a cold, clear night and the refreshing beauty of early morning against the backdrop of some of the loveliest scenery on earth. he continues to do so in this novel, with the extra added attraction of having historical buildings in Yellowstone such as Mammoth Lodge be an necessary part of the plot, giving him a great excuse to describe them, employing them with ingenuity. Box also does an excellent job of portraying the tensions between the Park Service and the employees of the concessionaire that runs the park services, such as the lodges.[return][return]Unfortunately, Box continues to use danger to Joe� s family as a plot device, and that� s getting very, very old. However, it� s clear that Box is well acquainted with teen and pre-teen girls� Joe� s daughters ring true.[return][return]Interestingly enough, since the book was written, steps have been taken to deal with the legal anomaly of he western section of the park, and with the issue of licenses within the National Park system.[return][return]Highly recommended, if only for the information about Yellowstone.(less)

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Apr 26, 2013 Cat Case rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, read-in-2013

Free Fire is definitely my favorite of the series so far, surpassing Blood Trail, which could of been a five-star book for me, but wasn't for reasons I'll explain in that review. Back to Free Fire! Excellent concept that really pulled me into the plot and the plot made sense! All the way through, which is sort of amazing. I enjoyed the change of scenery to Yellowstone, where I've never been but I've wanted to visit. Box did an excellent job with his descriptions of setting and really making the...more

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Sep 13, 2009 Sherri rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Joe Picket comes back to his fans in this 7th CJ Box novel, and turns Yellowstone National Park upsidedown.

Touted as being the best CJ Box novel so far, we watch as Joe is fired from his job as Wyoming game warden and is called by the governor to work secretly for him. Joe's been working in his game warden leave-of-absence on his father-in-law's ranch. Governor Rulon is asking for Joe's help in figuring out some murders by Clay McCann, an attorney who is slaughtering people in campgrounds and ge...more

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Feb 02, 2009 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: male-author, mystery

Free Fire is the seventh book in C.J. Box's Joe Pickett series. In this installment, Joe is working on his father-in-law's ranch when the Governor of Wyoming offers him a job back with the game wardens. Only this time he won't have an assigned district to cover, he'll be going to Yellowstone National Park to investigate a multiple homicide case that was committed in the "Zone of Death." A lawyer figured out that a small strip of land overlapped jurisdictions, the free fire zone, and therefore no...more

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Dec 04, 2010 Rebecca rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is so far my favorite Joe Pickett novel. This takes place in Yellowstone Natl Park. The images of the scenery makes me want to go WY.

A lawyer walks into a ranger station and states he has killed four people. The lawyer gets off due to a loophole in the laws that govern the national park system which is called "zone of death" I didn't know that. The lawyer is released and the governor once again turns to Joe to investigate the situation. He turns up a connection to bio-engineering firms, th...more

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Nov 30, 2012 Linda rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If one were to read only C.J. Box and Nevada Barr novels, they'd never want to vacation in any national park or wilderness area for all the illegal activity and murders they depict as happening there. Thankfully, this is just fiction (right?). In this novel, Joe Pickett, a recently fired park ranger, is enlisted by the Wyoming govenor to go back to work for the state (albeit kind of undercover and with no support from anyone) to find out what really happened when a local small time lawyer killed...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Shannon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As I believe I've read elsewhere, Box's writing is getting better. This storyline takes place in Yellowstone (and how I am so looking forward to visiting there again!) and Box's writing about the area and people feels like you are there. Joe takes a "job" for the Governor and goes to Yellowstone to follow up on a murder of four people for no apparent reason other than a lawyer who pulled the trigger could get away with it based on a technicality. Bad lawyers, rangers, businessmen and maybe the G...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, mystery, thriller, wyoming, idaho

Box is in fine form in this 7th out of 14 in this series of mystery/thrillers featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. In this one, Joe gets tapped by the new governor to investigate the �solved� murder of four campers at Yellowstone. The murderer, a small-time lawyer confesses to killing the off-duty contractor support staff at the park, but gets released due to the inability of the system to supply his constitutional right a jury from the residentially empty state district on federal land. A...more

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May 11, 2013 Andrew rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-montana-wyoming, audio-book

A professional colleague told me a couple of years ago that his nephew wrote a legal brief that ended up being the basis of a novel by C. J. Box. This was the book - what happens if you kill someone in the Idaho portion of Yellowstone National Park, where no one lives and as such you cannot gather a jury of peers??

Yes, Free Fire is that novel. BUT that legal question is actually a small part of the story - the "why" is the real mystery in C. J. Box's novel.

There were a lot of things I didn't lik...more

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May 17, 2012 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-fiction

C J Box box writes a decent crime novel around a the character of Joe Pickett, a game warden in Wyoming. The series is interesting in that it paints a picture of Wyoming and big game hunting that most of us have never been exposed to.

Box's stories are what I call "Republican formulaic" in that organized law enforcement is always inept or corrupt, or both, and Pickett is the 'every man' succeeding from pure tenacity, luck and righteousness. Pickett's innocence requires being saved in each episod...more

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Jul 14, 2009 CT rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, five-star-favorites

Excellent mystery set in Yellowstone Park. The book worked on many levels: the intro to Yellowstone, story of how Joe Pickett’s past intersects with the present, the free fire zone, and the jurisdictional nightmare that is Yellowstone.

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Nov 13, 2009 Quinn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-books, action, mystery-thriller

There is a small stretch of land on the southwest edge of Yellowstone Park where Idaho and Wyoming meet called the "Zone of Death", where there is no real law because of bureaucratic B.S. A place where Idaho law and Wyoming law have no jurisdiction because it is on National Park Land. A man kills three people and has to be set free because no one is allowed to prosecute. Joe Pickett is sent to investigate the killings and what he discovers is a twisted web of cover ups and conspiracy that goes a...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Dean W rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Free Fire" is an exciting book full of action and adventure. The main character Joe Pickett is a former Wyoming park ranger who is investigating a murder that will shock the whole county and you when you learn how Clay McCann did it. Honestly it is a little creepy when you think about how a murderer could be set free with no charges even after he turned himself in. How you ask? You will have to read to find that out. As I read the book I realized how the title is one of the most clever titles o...more

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Oct 27, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-wyoming

Two very interesting plot lines intersect in this page turner. Joe is visited by the governor and offered his job back working on special projects for the governor like something out of Mission Impossible-he's getting paid by the state but if something goes wrong they will not acknowledge him. He's dispatched to Yellowstone Park to investigate the murders of four people. The killer confessed but can't be charged because the crimes committed were in a legal zone where laws don't apply due to a lo...more

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Nov 03, 2010 Tyler Genty added it · review of another edition

#1

I think the book is getting better than the last couple of weeks that I have read this book. I'm on page 59 and I have found out that Joe Pickett the main character has been given his job as a game warden back. I was happy to hear that because when I read that he had been fired I though that the book was going to start to get bad. I'm going to read this book the whole way to see how good it's going to be ending.

#2

I think the book this time around is boring it has no action in it right now. All...more

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Apr 13, 2009 Kevin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thrillers

For weeks, the headlines have been abuzz with the story of Clay McCann, a lawyer who slaughtered four campers in cold blood in a far-off corner of Yellowstone National Park. After the murders, McCann immediately turned himself in at the nearest park ranger station. It seemed like a slam-dunk case for law enforcement-except that the crimes were committed in a thin sliver of land with zero residents and overlapping jurisdiction, the so-called free-fire zone. McCann had taken advantage of a loophol...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: c-j-box, series

Box, C.J. – 7th in series
Putnam, 2007, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780399154270
First Sentence: A half-hour after Clay McCann walked into the backwoods ranger station and turned over his still-warm weapons, after he’d announced to the startled seasonal ranger behind the desk that he’d just slaughtered four campers near Robinson Lake, the nervous ranger said, “Law enforcement will be here any minute. Do you want to call a lawyer?”
*** Joe Picket has been fired from being a game warden and is chafing at w...more

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Jul 21, 2010 Lance rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

maybe i am too easy on books..maybe i just find great books. cj box is NOT a household name, but i have read 3 of his Joe Pickett books, and really have found them....good. this one focused on a murder mystery and investigation, set in yellowstone park. there is plenty of national park love, and the game warden (pickett) is a likable guy. The book/story turns out to more complex and intriguing than a heretofore unknown author might be considered; and, as one of my friends described another autho...more

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Aug 01, 2010 Jim Thomsen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of my favorites in the Joe Pickett series. It's set in Yellowstone National Park, where I worked for a year in 1997, and so I felt more connected to the setting than a Washingtonian normally world to a series that takes place exclusively in Wyoming.

But beyond that, it's just got a great plot, great characters and great tensions. Some highlights:

— The legal ambiguity surrounding Yellowstone's tiny "Zone Of Death," where a person can kill anyone inside without fear of prosecution, is...more This is one of my favorites in the Joe Pickett series. It's set in Yellowstone National Park, where I worked for a year in 1997, and so I felt more connected to the setting than a Washingtonian normally world to a series that takes place exclusively in Wyoming.

But beyond that, it's just got a great plot, great characters and great tensions. Some highlights:

— The legal ambiguity surrounding Yellowstone's tiny "Zone Of Death," where a person can kill anyone inside without fear of prosecution, is fascinating because it is rooted in fact. (The legal loophole has since been closed.)

— Lawyer Clay McCann is one of author C.J. Box's more fascinating villains, because he's both evil and a victim. By turns, he's stupid, arrogant, shrewd, sad, a step ahead and a step way behind. And he's not even the worst of the bad guys in this movie.

— Pickett's relationship with park ranger Judy Demming (and, to some extent, her husband Lars) is a refreshing dynamic — colleagues with a healthy mutual respect forged by mutually shared values, and that certain surprising, scary, sexy something extra. Box shows the characters and the readers alike refreshing respect by treating us all like adults and not forcing the action in a predictable direction.

— Box's story usually include a fascinating history or environmental lesson, and bio-mining — the lesson of the day in "Free Fire" — is especially compelling. Could those rare and precious hot springs contain biological properties that might help cure disease and prevent poor health? It's a mind-boggling possibility that feels tantalizingly real.

— The culture of opposing workers and year-rounders at Yellowstone is interesting, for their uneasy alliances and deeply held suspicions. And yet the reader senses a shared love amid the hatred for this one-of-a-kind place on earth. It's a strange and absorbing tension.

What else can I say? All of the above is wrapped up in an compelling and fast-paced tale that somehow makes plenty of room for rich character development and longing lingering on the unique scenery along the way. Throw in a few shocking twists, a crazy finale that somehow manages not to run away with itself and Box's usual three-notches-above-the genre-norm prose, and "Free Fire" is a mystery that satisfies on all levels ... by being much more than a mystery.(less)

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Aug 08, 2007 LJ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: licensed_investigator, mystery, contemporary_post_1945, wyoming, male_author

FREE FIRE (Licensed Investigator-Joe Pickett-Wyoming-Cont) – Ex
Box, C.J. – 7th in series
Putnam, 2007, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780399154270
First Sentence: A half-hour after Clay McCann walked into the backwoods ranger station and turned over his still-warm weapons, after he’d announced to the startled seasonal ranger behind the desk that he’d just slaughtered four campers near Robinson Lake, the nervous ranger said, “Law enforcement will be here any minute. Do you want to call a lawyer?”
*** Joe Pic...more

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Aug 08, 2011 Kurt Young rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Our favorite game warden hero, fired by a bureaucrat as a result of his last adventure, is rehired as the governor's personal investigator and leaves Saddlestring to muck around in a messy killing in Yellowstone. Continue to enjoy the portrayal of Pickett's kids, and home life, especially the mother-in-law from Hell. Box also brings the environment to life better then most other writers. One bothersome thing: The book ends in a bit of a cliffhanger, with Pickett's sidekick arrested by the FBI.

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Feb 15, 2012 Karon Ormond rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Could not resist a book set in Yellowstone as we've just been and are going back. My favorite place on the planet; and game warden Joe describes it in vivid detail while he's on a mission for the governor to find out why people were killed in Yellowstone's dead zone. He gets involved with a smart female ranger and the two of them get deeper and deeper into a mystery that leads to more deaths and involves something growing in the park that doesn't exitst anywhere else.

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Jan 05, 2009 L rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

How to balance the excess violence (bad) & worship of the "outside the rules" approach to police work with the joy of reading about Yellowstone National Park and a kid who gives her father a hard time about his gas-guzzling vehicle? Really this should be 3-1/2 stars, I suppose. I rounded up because I know I'll go look for more C. J. Box. I do like Pickett and could find myself sort of liking Wyoming.

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Nov 22, 2011 Larry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Story takes place in Yellowstone Park. Some wonderful descriptions of the park in more detail than you can imagine. This story starts off slowly, but builds to a very dramatic climax. Another outstanding C.J. Box book. If you have not read any of the Joe Pickett series by C.J. Box start with the first novel, Open Season and go through the books in order to enjoy the saga of Joe Pickett and his family.

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Feb 02, 2012 Gina Williams rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, favorites, law-enforcement, mystery, series

I would go 3.5. Not one of the better ones in the series. Seemed too much of a stilted plot to introduce and then excuse Joe's past, no resolutions. Well written, with a great sense of location, and lots of research to back up the story. Unfortunately a science lesson isn't always the most entertaining premise. Still look forward to see how the next book reads.

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Sep 04, 2012 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Joe Pickett series is a great set of books. CJ Box is a very talented writer and the stories build on each other so I would recommend that you read them in order. Each book seems to outdo the last and Joe Pickett is a very likable character. Box has also developed the cliff hanger ending so each book picks up where the previous one finished.

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Mar 04, 2012 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really like C.J. Box's Joe Pickett series. This book explores a legal situation in Yellowstone where due to a little-known loophole a person can literally get away with murder. Each Joe Pickett book explores a dilemma facing residents in the West. The setting, action and new and old characters make this a very entertaining and enlightening tale.

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May 06, 2009 Rhonda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the first book I've read by this author and I will definitely read more of them. This particular one is placed in Yellowstone Park (we are heading there in July) and I got a lot of info about the Park. In addition, the story is fast-paced and really, really interesting. It has a novel concept and is very thought-provoking.

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Oct 30, 2009 Anthony rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, mystery

One of my favorite books of the Joe Pickett series. I read this book in record time. The research about Yellowstone and the issues around it or involving it was fascinating. I would love to buy C.J. a beer and talk to him just about the issues surrounding this book. Leaves you with another cliffhanger. A great read.

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Sep 15, 2009 Melissa McClintock rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 50-books-in-a-year-2009, books-that-were-a-waste-of-time

Was dissapointed by this one. Lots of emotional storyline but up to 1/2 way through, no suspense. It dragged. Lots of material on Yellowstone. He's one of my fav authors but I just couldn't get into this one. First there was no suspense, but by half way through the motive of the killer is obvious. That was supposed to be the big mystery. I kept waiting for something to happen.

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About C.J. Box

Edgar Award-winning author C.J. Box is the author of eleven novels including the Joe Pickett series. He's also won the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, and the Barry Award. His short stories have been featured in America's Best Mystery Stories of 2006 and limited-edition printings. 2008 novel BLOOD TRAIL was nominated for the International IMPAC Dubli...more

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Free Fire (Joe Pickett #7)

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