A middling C.J. Box novel is better than the best efforts of most mystery/thriller authors, but this is a middling entry in the Joe Pickett series, full of great setups and wonderful suspense undermined by the sped-up wrapups of several plot threads, all executed with all the grimace-inducing squealing of a fast-forwarded tape. And that's only the ones that were resolved in this admirably ambitious but ultimately overstuffed novel.
Before the wheels come off, however, Box keeps things spinning with his usual superlative skill. A lot of mysterious new characters are introduced, and a handful of former ones make appearances. Somehow LONG RANGE makes room for a vengeful FBI agent, a Mexican cartel hitman, an eccentric film producer, an inscrutable sheriff, a Florida millionaire and a lawyer named Kink. And things always gent interesting when Joe's biggest nemesis — his mother-in-law — comes back to town to wreak more havoc in his family's life. And there's a number of other equally interesting characters. But most of them don't get satisfying character arcs — they feel more cauterized than tied off and up — and overall, LONG RANGE reads like a book that was meant to be about 150 pages longer but was hastily rewritten or edited down to a more conventional page count. Why else would the last several chapters — and several plot lines — get wrapped up at 78-rpm speed?
Box is good, and LONG RANGE is well worth the read, but he's better than what he delivered here, and I have no doubt he'll deliver it. Twenty book into the series, there's no sense that he's losing interest in Joe Pickett, Nate Romanowski and Co. — if anything, LONG RANGE indicates that he's so over-interested in them that he doesn't know how to deal with all his good ideas. If that's the case, someday I hope to read a "director's cut" of this book—if, as I suspect, a lot of pages were left on the cutting-room floor.
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Customer reviews
Review: Long Range: A Joe Picket Novel by C. J. Box
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2020
Humans and there ever advancing technology have always had an impact on the West. Often in unintended ways with major consequences. One of those who has noted those changes have been Author C. J. Box. He has done so in a variety of series, especially those that feature Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett. The same is true in his 21st book in this long running and evolving series, Long Range: A Joe Pickett Novel.As the book begins, Pickett is astride a borrowed horse and in the Teton Wilderness instead of his beloved Saddlestring District. One of three game wardens that make up the newly formed “Predator Attack Team” they are on the hunt for a grizzly bear that has killed a local hunting guide. That is if one can believe the out of state hunter, Julius Talbot. The story he tells is bizarre and does not describe typical bear behavior. Going with the client and sole witness back to the site of the attack, will allow the Game Wardens to recover what is left of the body and verify the story.That is the plan until the Director of The Wyoming Game and Fish Department calls on a satellite phone and orders Joe Pickett to board the arriving helicopter and get back to his district immediately. The legendary and notorious Judge Hewitt is enraged and calling in markers and favors. Someone took a shot at him, missed, and hit his wife, Sue Hewitt. She is now in the local hospital in critical condition. Judge Hewitt has demanded that all local law enforcement assemble for a meeting in his chambers. He is enraged, justifiably so, and wants to get all local law enforcement working the case his way.At the same time, Nate Romanowski is also about to be an enraged husband as well. He has been trying to live on the grid and follow all the rules after finally having numerous federal charges dropped. That past of his, working in and out of the shadows, is something that will again he used against him in the here and now.The latest in the long running series, Long Range: A Joe Pickett Novel picks up a few months after Wolf Pack. The events of that book play a significant role in this read. As has always been the case in this series, people age, relationships change, and for the Picketts, family is the center of everything. The marital dynamic between Joe and his wife, Marybeth, remains the heart and sole of this series that should be read in order.Simply put, Long Range: A Joe Picket Novel by C. J. Box is very good and well worth your time.My hardback large print reading copy came from the Kleberg-Rylie Branch of the Dallas Public Library System by way of the “Library to Go” curbside delivery at the Lochwood Library. Appreciate your libraries and librarians as they are all that stands between us and the twin demons of ignorance and hate.Kevin R. Tipple ©2020
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2020
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Kindle Customer
Consistently good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 4, 2020Maggie M
Well, you know me by now, the greatest Joe Pickett fan ever.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 5, 2020RonCarole
Another classic from CJ Box
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 18, 2020
