Near the start of bestseller Box's exhilarating 14th Joe Pickett novel (after 2013's Breaking Point), the Wyoming game warden receives a summons to the governor's office. Governor Rulon needs Joe to travel to Medicine Wheel County to investigate Wolfgang Templeton, a retired businessman who may be involved in a "high-end murder-for-hire business." Joe's assignment is to gather information on Templeton while assisting the area's game warden, without letting any of the locals know his true purpose or letting "things get western." Meanwhile, Joe's ward, April, is being courted by Dallas Cates, rodeo champion and possible rapist, and his eldest daughter, Sheridan, is getting "a really bad vibe" from a transfer student in her dorm at the University of Wyoming. Unlike your standard-issue action hero, the canny Joe uses his wits, taking time to assess the literal and figurative lay of the land. Box does a good job of working in the backstories of characters and situations, so even new readers should have no problem following along. Agent: Ann Rittenberg, Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

After he's reinstated as a game warden, Joe Pickett is sent to Wyoming's Black Hills to investigate a mysterious rancher-and local law enforcement, including the longtime warden. Wealthy Wolfgang Templeton is suspected of having mob connections and playing a role in a series of mysterious dis-appearances. An early blizzard sends Joe running at full speed to stay alive and locate the evidence he needs to put Templeton away. David Chandler, the voice of all of the Pickett books, reads with a style that embodies the modern West and makes every minute of this fast-paced mystery a pleasure. verdict Fans of mysteries, Westerns, and outdoor adventures will enjoy this latest Joe Pickett mystery (after Breaking Point). ["With each book, Box just gets better. Nonstop action, a twisty plot, and great characters make his latest a must-read for fans of this series," read the review of the Putnam hc, LJ 2/15/14.]-Janet Martin, Pinehurst, NC (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Joe Pickett's fantastical 14th pits him against a nest of assassins that just happens to include his old pal Nate Romanowski. Since Wyoming governor Spencer Rulon got Joe rehired at his old seniority level and with a new raise after he quit the Game and Fish Department after his last run-in with corrupt authority figures (Breaking Point, 2013), Joe's seriously in his debt. So when Rulon sends him undercover to remote Medicine Wheel County to check out rumors that billionaire hedge fund founder Wolfgang Templeton, who's retired to Sand Creek Ranch, is heading a murder-for-hire ring whose soldiers seem to include Nate, Joe agrees to go despite his reluctance to leave his family yet again. Nor is he crazy about the cover story that he's just bringing Medicine Wheel County Game and Fish Warden Jim Latta some pheasants to release into the wild and helping Latta get Templeton's permission to establish several public walk-in areas in Sand Creek. No sooner has Joe met Templeton and peddled his cover story than he realizes that Sheriff R. C. Mead, Judge Ethan Bartholomew and Latta himself are all protecting poachers like Bill Critchfield and Gene Smith. As the killers continue to take out richly deserving targets"Go do some good" is their mantraJoe effortlessly finds ways to get under Latta's and Templeton's skin and then struggles to reap the whirlwind. Meanwhile, Joe's ward, April, takes up with a possible rapist, and his older daughter Sheridan wonders if a creepy loner in her dorm is about to shoot up her campus. Suspenseful yet routine, with oversized bogeymen who seem more menacing than they really are, ethical dilemmas that dissolve under pressure and an ending that tests your tolerance for coincidence. Below average for this splendid yet checkered series.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Box's last Joe Pickett novel, Breaking Point (2013), left the reader wondering where the story could possibly go next, with Joe having quit his job in disgust at the government. Perhaps Box wondered the same thing: at any rate, the Wyoming game warden has his old job back and is once again on special assignment for Governor Rulon. A mysterious, moneyed landowner is buying up the northeast corner of the state, possibly engaged in murder for hire and Nate Romanowski, Joe's enigmatic best friend, just might be involved. After the supercharged fury of the last book, this marks a welcome return to the thing Box does best: putting family man Joe in a dicey situation where, despite his orders to merely observe, his own moral code means he can't help but light the fuse and see where it leads. Being in unfamiliar territory is familiar territory for Pickett, and corrupt-town scenarios are as old as the hills, but Box uses the ploys for maximum suspense, and readers won't mind one bit. It's good to see Pickett writing tickets again.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Box is a brand name, and readers would find his books even if they weren't heralded by a national tour and promotional blitz which, of course, this one is.--Graff, Keir Copyright 2014 Booklist