LONG RANGE

4 stars out of 5

This is the 20th book featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett, and I've read them all. Over the years, I've watched his daughters grow up, his wife grow into a career woman in her own right, his nasty mother-in-law keep trying her best to break up his marriage and his good friend and falconer Nate Romanowski go from fugitive to business owner and law-abiding citizen (well, for the most part). The daughters don't make more than cameo appearances here - they've flown the nest, after all - but the others do more than their share to keep the story interesting.

As this one opens, Joe is out looking for a guide reportedly mauled by a grizzly bear, but he gets called back in when the wife of a prominent (and curmudgeonly) local judge is shot and in critical condition. Logically, everyone thinks the bullet was meant for the judge; but the reality is that it came from such a great distance that no one knows for sure - and wonders who on earth would be capable of making the shot. Complicating matters is that the relatively new sheriff suffers from severe incompetency, but he's such a hothead that no one dares call him on it (at least not to his face).

Nate, who is trying hard to remain on the straight and narrow now that he's got a wife and new baby, learns that someone from his past is out to get him. But he may have a better chance of avoiding getting shot than getting arrested; it doesn't take long before evidence suggests that Nate is the one who shot the judge's wife. Meanwhile, the real sniper isn't backing down, taking a shot at Joe while he's still on the loose. That's music to the ears of Missy, Joe's mother-in-law, who has shady dealings of her own on the line and doesn't want Joe to get in the way.

Another enjoyable story that held my attention - and for the most part kept me guessing - all the way through.

Long Range by C.J. Box (G.P. Putnam's Sons, March 2020); 367 pp.