Off the Grid

Starred review from January 11, 2016
Bestseller Box’s 16th Joe Pickett adventure (after 2015’s Endangered) opens with some of the sweetest words any true fan of the series could hope to see: “Nate Romanowski knew trouble was on the way when he saw the falcon’s wings suddenly flare in the distance.” The best Joe Pickett novels are those that prominently feature Nate, the original off-the-grid freeman, and Nate dominates at least half of this yarn, while Joe’s equally fine alternating chapters lead to their inevitable crossing of paths late in the story. The action involves elements as disparate as a killer grizzly bear, noxious government agents with nearly limitless power, a Julian Assange–type activist with a messiah complex, Wyoming’s irrepressible Governor Rulon, and one of the most brutal bands of terrorists you would never want to find on American soil. A master at managing multiple plot lines, Box brings them all together for a nerve-wracking climax that rivals The Wild Bunch for utter havoc. With this exceptional entry, Box solidifies his place at the upper level of the crime fiction pantheon. Author tour. Agent: Ann Rittenberg, Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency.

January 1, 2016
Terrorists, libertarians, and wild cards duke it out in game warden Joe Pickett's Wyoming. Nate Romanowski, who doesn't like being called a homicidal libertarian folk hero even though the shoe fits like a glove, has been minding his own business, miles from civilization, when a phone call between his lover, Olivia Brannan, and her mother, who's dying in Louisiana, reveals his whereabouts to a pair of clean-cut sharpies calling themselves Brian Tyrell and Keith Volk. Unless Nate wants to stand trial along with Olivia for a gaggle of felonies he's accumulated over previous installments (Endangered, 2015, etc.), they tell him, he'd better sign on with the Wolverines, a group of disaffected government freelancers sick of federal rules and regulations, to make contact with a terrorist who's landed in the Red Desert. They hope the target, Muhammad Ibraaheem, will open up to Nate, who shares his anti-government idealism and his love of falconry. No sooner has Nate taken off to track down Ibby than outgoing Wyoming Gov. Spencer Rulon, apprised of his disappearance, persuades Nate's old friend, game warden Joe Pickett, to go hunting for him. Despite the obstacles, ranging from a highly irritated grizzly bear to the obligatory involvement of Joe's family--this time his daughter Sheridan, a college senior who decides to go camping at the worst possible time and place--Nate soon locates and befriends Ibby, and Joe eventually finds Nate. Nothing else goes according to plan, mainly because Ibby's plans are more apocalyptic than Nate can imagine, and other parties turn out to be interested in the high-octane proceedings. Even though you just know Box isn't going to put an end to his highly successful franchise by blowing his lead characters to kingdom come, you can't help turning the pages and holding your breath until you find out where this scary, all-too-plausible caravan is heading.

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February 1, 2016
In the sixteenth Joe Pickett novel, the game warden's renegade friend Nate Romanowski is coerced by a shadow government into tracking down a fellow falconer, the son of a Saudi ambassador, who's suspected of terrorist activity. Muhammad Ibraaheem has gone off the grid, not in the shifting sands of the Middle East but rather in south-central Wyoming's Red Desert. When outgoing governor Rulon gets wind of the operation in his territory, he sends Joe in for one last case as his Range Rider. What is the Americanized Ibby really up to? Nate is impresseduntil events force him and the late-arriving Joe to protect Joe's daughter, Sheridan, and a bunch of other college students who've become involved, before making their own desperate last stand. Add a killer grizzly bear, and you have a terrorist thriller with a uniquely western flair. Aside from a few overlong stretches of exposition, and the fact that Sheridan's presence feels like a stretch, this is a breakneck story that Pickett fans will want to read in one sitting.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The print run for this one wasn't available, but there's a good reason the author's name is the biggest thing on the cover. Expect a strong promotional campaign and equally strong reader demand.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2015

This 16th entry in multiple award winner Box's "Joe Pickett" series has Joe helping off-the-grid buddy Nate Romanowski, who's been approached by a cryptic organization offering to blot out his criminal record if he helps destroy a domestic terror cell in Wyoming's Red Desert. Note that a Joe Pickett television series is being developed by Robert Redford.

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