The Bitterroots - C. J. Box - 4 Stars

[Olivermagnus]

After the events in Cassie Dewell's last book, "Paradise Valley, she's decided to take her mother and teenage son, Ben, and move back to Montana. She has a new job as an investigator for attorney, Rachel Mitchell.

Rachel asks her to work on her latest case. Blake Kleinsasser is accused of raping his fifteen-year-old niece, Franny Porché, and the Rachel wants Cassie to look at the evidence. Cassie has spent her career trying to put criminals in jail and has no interest in trying to save a rapist and child molester. Rachel assures her that the case against him, including witness statements and DNA evidence, appears solid. She just needs Cassie to make sure and then she'll convince her client to take a plea deal.

She reluctantly heads to Lochsa County in Montanna's Bitteroot Mountains where she meets the Kleinsassers, a wealthy dysfunctional family prone to violence and misogyny. She is met with hostility and intimidation by nearly everyone in town, including a sheriff controlled by the family. We know that they will probably underestimate Cassie, as criminals often do. She's feisty and professional and once she gets her teeth into the case, she refuses to back down. After several attempts are made on her life, she's even more determined to dig in harder to uncover the truth.

Box has developed Cassie Dewell brilliantly over the course of four novels, turning her into one of the best female protagonists in the genre. He is incredibly talented at injecting his narrative with a sense of place. When he writes about roads, vistas, mountains, and towns it's easy to visualize. I loved the first three Cassie Dewell books with its Lizard King story arc. I thought this wasn't quite as good but was still a solid, page-turning thriller. Treasure State, the next book in the series is out now I will definitely read it.