Off the Grid--C.J. Box (4 stars)

[Michael]

I love this series for its outdoor Wyoming setting for the action and its game warden hero, Joe Pickett, who is a wholesome family man with a quirky sense of humor. Though he is a bit of bore with his Boy Scout morality, he is subject to human lust, frustrations with bureaucracy, and bending regulations when needed to achieve justice for his adversaries. As Spenser has his Hawk, Robicheaux his Clete, and Elvis Cole his Joe Pike, Pickett has Nate Romanowski to keep his hands clean when illegal actions to fight evil are required.

We start this one with Nate living well “off the grid” as part of a deal to avoid federal prosecution for using his special-ops skills to kill bad guys in past episodes. Some shadowy feds find him and dragoon him into investigating a Saudi royal scion hiding out suspiciously in the Red Desert. Nate’s tradition of falconry is a perfect angle to get close to this charismatic prince (he keeps a variety of hawks, but hawking doesn’t seem the right word). Meanwhile Governor Rulon dragoons Pickett to check out possible terrorist plans afoot in the desert, as signaled by some unusual hijackings of trucks and equipment. Pickett is to use a real case of a killer bear on the run as a ruse similar to past exploits:

“Look”, Rulon said, “remember when I sent you up to Medicine Wheel County to poke around for me? How we figured a game warden wouldn’t be suspicious in a county filled with paranoid lunatics who didn’t have the sense to vote for me either time I ran? Well, we know it didn’t work worth shit, but you still got the job done in the end. You possess special skills. Your talent for bumbling around until the situation explodes into a bloodbath or a debacle is uncanny. I don’t know how you manage it.
Me either, Joe said, flushing red.
“I need you to do it again”.

The terrorist plot they end up trying to foil is fairly plausible, and generalized Arab bashing is thankfully avoided. As usual, one of Pickett’s daughters ends up in the dangerous mix, in this case 20-year old Sheridan, who is drawn against her better judgment into working as a volunteer with “trust-fund anarchists” concerned with defense of the Fourth Amendment. That is my only clue to avoid spoilers. Country boys (and girls) can survive. And save the day without blowing everything up. But always Pickett gets his truck destroyed, forever getting him in trouble with the bean counters and bosses who have little clue about his undercover work.

More of my Goodreads friends should try the series out, as they are missing some special fun. A handful tried the first couple, which even for me were 3-star reads. I recommend jumping in the middle somewhere, when Box got his game (e.g. #5 “Out of Range” or #7 “Free Fire).

[Book Concierge]

Love Joe Picket ... I think I'm only up to book # 4 in the series, though.

[Michael]

Book Concierge wrote: "Love Joe Picket ... I think I'm only up to book # 4 in the series, though."

You and Mike French are my only GR friends who went that far. They do get better. The affinity with Nevada Barr's wonderful park ranger is clear, and a Maine writer, Paul Doiron, has a series of four so far with another game warden hero that shows promise. William Krueger, Craig Johnson, and Sandford with his Virgil Flowers series also get you outdoors in rural settings.