Open Season
by C.J. Box
Series: Joe Pickett #1
Series Rating:
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on May 31, 2016
Genres: Crime Thriller
Pages: 316
Format: Kindle
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon, Books-A-Million
Don't miss the Spectrum Originals series JOE PICKETT!
The first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series featuring Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett--the book that launched one of the biggest, most reliable, and fastest growing franchises in commercial fiction!
Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts and the game warden--especially one like Joe who won't take bribes or look the other way--is far from popular. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind his state-owned home, he takes it personally. Even after the discovery of two more bodies, and the resolution of the case by local police, Joe continues to investigate.
As Joe digs deeper into the murders, he soon discovers that the outfitter brought more than death to his backdoor: he brought Joe an endangered species, thought to be extinct, which is now living in his woodpile. But if word of this rare species gets out, it will destroy any chance of InterWest, a multi-national natural gas company, building an oil pipeline through the mountains and forests of Twelve Sleep. The closer Joe comes to the truth behind the outfitter murders, the endangered species, and InterWest, the closer he comes to losing everything he holds dear.
Open Season by C.J. Box shows how far a Wyoming Game Warden goes to protect his family.
Can Joe bring back the peaceful aura around his home again?
Joe Pickett
Joe Pickett is the new Game Warden for Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, and he has a family. Marybeth is his wife and is pregnant with their third child. Sheridan is their oldest child, the apple of Joe’s eye. Then they have Lucy, who is their youngest. This small family has been through a lot before coming to this small peaceful town. Well, as peaceful as one can get when it’s full of hunters and people who are used to their game warden being a certain way.
Once a guy is found dead on his woodpile behind his home, it gets personal for Joe. His home is his sanctuary, especially with two young kids and a baby on the way. Even more, for his family’s sake, Joe wants to bring back the peacefulness they feel at their home, like it’s a place that will protect them from harm despite being far from town.
The Mystery
Sheridan saw the monster, aka a man, that was dying by her window and saw him stumble to the woodpile—not thinking anything about it, except as a nightmare, and telling her sister about it in the morning with her dad in the room. Joe finds the dead body on his wood pile and calls the sheriff’s department. The sheriff investigates as well as he can and thinks he has solved it when they find two more dead bodies and an easy suspect to pin it on. Joe doesn’t think it’s that easy and decides to investigate it himself. I admit I watched the first season of Joe Pickett on Paramount+ before reading this book, but even I was still surprised at how Joe solved it. The book is definitely different from the show.
Five Stars
I am giving Open Season by C.J. Box five stars and only recommend it to people who are 18 or older. Mr. Box has written an excellent book that is definitely a crime thriller and should only be read by people that can stomach its contents.
Joe Pickett Series
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Open Season by C.J. Box.
Until the next time,
Happy Reading!
About C.J. Box
C. J. Box is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 30 novels including the Joe Pickett series. He won the Edgar Alan Poe Award for Best Novel (Blue Heaven, 2009) as well as the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, two Barry Awards, and the 2010 Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Award for fiction. He was recently awarded the 2016 Western Heritage Award for Literature by the National Cowboy Museum as well as the Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel by the Western Writers of America in 2017. Over ten million copies of his books have been sold in the U.S. and abroad and they’ve been translated into 27 languages. Two television series based on his novels are in production (BIG SKY on ABC and JOE PICKETT on Spectrum Originals and Paramount+). He is an Executive Producer for both series.
Shadows Reel, the 22nd Joe Pickett novel, was published in March of 2021 and debuted at #2 on the New York Times Bestseller list and #1 on the Wall Street Journal Bestseller list.
Box is a Wyoming native and has worked as a ranch hand, surveyor, fishing guide, a small town newspaper reporter and editor, and he owned an international tourism marketing firm with his wife Laurie. In 2008, Box was awarded the “BIG WYO” Award from the state tourism industry. An avid outdoorsman, Box has hunted, fished, hiked, ridden, and skied throughout Wyoming and the Mountain West. He served on the Board of Directors for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo and currently serves on the Wyoming Office of Tourism Board. They have three daughters and two grandchildren. He and his wife Laurie live on their ranch in Wyoming.
The Joe Pickett Novels: Open Season (2001), Savage Run (2002), Winterkill (2003), Trophy Hunt (2004), Out of Range (2005), In Plain Sight (2006), Free Fire (2007), Blood Trail (2008), Below Zero (2009), Nowhere to Run (2010), Cold Wind (2011), Force of Nature (2012), Breaking Point (2013), Stone Cold(2014), Endangered (2015), Off The Grid (2016), Vicious Circle (2017), The Disappeared (2018), Wolf Pack (2019), Long Range (2020), Dark Sky (2021), and Shadows Reel (2022).
The Cody Hoyt/Cassie Dewell and Stand Alone Novels: Blue Heaven (2008), Three Weeks to Say Goodbye (2009), Back of Beyond(2011), The Highway (2013), Badlands (2015), Paradise Valley (2017), The Bitterroots (2019), and Treasure State (2022).
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2023 Beachcombers Mystery RC
- 2023 Cloak and Dagger
- 2023 Goodreads RC
- 2023 Medical Examiner RC
- 2023 Six Shooter
