I do not like them, Sam I am: Cliffhangers, I mean. Not even when they happen in a favorite series and, Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, I have every intention of reading the next one. But that aside, I quite enjoyed this one (as I expected I would).
As I've mentioned in other reviews, my interest in the series originated way back when because I share the surname of the central character, Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden. From that point on, though, I've kept reading simply because the books are so good - and this one's no exception despite the no-ending ending.
In recent previous books (for the record, this is the 18th), Joe served as a sort of covert investigator at the pleasure of the governor. But now, there's a new gov in town, and when he, too, asks for help - this time in finding a high-flying British company owner who's disappeared months ago from an upscale vacation ranch - Joe can't help but wonder if there's more to the story than meets his ears. When Joe learns that his eldest daughter, Sheridan, works at the ranch, though, he figures she might have some inside information and agrees to take on the assignment (not that he really had a choice in the matter). Compounding the issue is that the game warden for the territory in which the ranch is located has gone missing as well.
As if all that weren't enough, Joe is contacted by his old friend, top-notch falconer Nate Romanowski, who for the most part has shed his ne'er-do-well activities of the past and is playing nice with the powers-that-be. But Nate still doesn't trust the feds - he's especially wary of an enormous, government-subsidized wind turbine farm that's under construction not far from the ranch. For the moment, though, he's looking for Joe's help with lifting a ban on falconers who have permits to hunt with eagles but are not allowed to do so. Something untoward is going on, Nate insists, and he wants Joe to find out what it is and who's behind it.
Joe gets a hearty welcome from local law enforcement, but from others, not so much; almost immediately, he has a run-in with a couple of shady characters, and not long thereafter, his hotel room is ransacked and the file on the missing British woman does a disappearing act. Joe's curiosity is further piqued when he notices missing files at the former game warden's cabin; who would have taken them and why?
Everything that's happening is puzzling, and Joe is grateful for help from his back-home wife, Marybeth; she's a librarian and handles research tasks with ease. Daughter Sheridan also proves her mettle, earning newfound respect from dear old dad. One of the strengths of this series for me, in fact, has been watching the changes in the family as the daughters grow up and move out.
As the complexity and possible connections among the various cases increase, Joe has his work cut out for him. Whether or not he's up to the task I'll leave to other readers to learn for themselves; but I will note that staying warm in the sub-zero temperatures of the Wyoming winter in far from the least of Joe's problems. To that end, perhaps he should pull a page from the books of other characters, who I suspect may be getting retainers (and maybe a new jacket every year or so) from outdoor apparel manufacturer Carhartt. If they're not, they should; the brand got mentioned no less than eight times throughout the book.
The Disappeared by C.J. Box (G.P. Putnam's Sons, March 2018); 398 pp.
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