Free Fire (Joe Pickett Series #7)

Booklist

Box is a master at working New West issues into his stories-here it's something called biomining-exploring pro and con arguments without missing a storytelling beat.... Once again, recommended for practically everybody.

Publishers Weekly

When four environmental activists employed by Yellowstone Park are murdered in an isolated area, the Wyoming governor sends outspoken Joe Pickett, fired in his last outing, In Plain Sight(2006), from the state's game and fish department, to investigate in Anthony-winner Box's absorbing seventh crime novel, his best yet. Helped by astute park ranger Judy Demming and his antisocial pal, falconer Nate Romanowski, Joe gradually connects the murders to competition for bio-mining rights in Yellowstone's hot springs. Joe's often harassed family is on the sidelines, except for a startling appearance by his long-estranged father. Box skillfully weaves ominous scientific phenomena and legal loopholes peculiar to Yellowstone into his story of corruption, greed and deception. The author vividly evokes Yellowstone's natural beauty, but the book's real power emanates from Pickett's (and Box's) passion for preserving the wilderness and stopping those who would cynically destroy it. (May)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Library Journal

Although recently fired from his job as a Wyoming game warden, Joe Pickett (In Plain Sight) is asked by the governor to investigate an officially closed multiple murder case in Yellowstone National Park. Four campers were gunned down by a lawyer who escaped conviction via a loophole. Knowing full well that federal agents and the National Park Service will not want him poking around, Joe stirs up trouble nonetheless with Nate Romanowski, still wanted by the FBI for questioning in a number of unrelated crimes. Their surprise discoveries in Yellowstone quickly escalate into a dangerous situation. Box, winner of the Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe, and Barry Mystery awards, knows how to turn on the nail-biting suspense and violence until the cliff-hanger of an ending. Fans of outdoor action mysteries by such authors as Steve Hamilton and William Kent Krueger will snap this up. Highly recommended. Box lives outside Cheyenne, WY. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ1/07.]

—Jo Ann Vicarel

Kirkus Reviews

Fired from his job as Game and Fish Warden after wrapping up his colorful sixth case (In Plain Sight, 2006), Joe Pickett returns to nab the perpetrator of the perfect crime. According to his own confession, small-time lawyer Clay McCann, feeling bullied and insulted by four campers he encountered in Yellowstone Park, shot them dead. A ingenious technicality he's discovered, however, prevents him from being tried and convicted. Wyoming Governor Spencer Rulon, a former prosecutor, can only slap McCann's wrist, but he's determined to figure out what Rick Hoening, one of the victims, meant by an email that hinted at secrets that could have a major impact on the state's financial health. So he asks Joe, now working as foreman at his father-in-law's ranch, to poke around the park while maintaining full deniability for the Governor. The situation stinks, but Joe's so eager to get away from his wife's poisonous mother and go back to his old job that he agrees, and in short order there's a spate of new killings to deal with-some committed by McCann, some not. As usual, there's little mystery about which of the sketchy suspects is behind the skullduggery. But, as usual, the central situation is so strong, the continuing characters so appealing and the spectacular landscape so lovingly evoked that it doesn't matter. Middling for this fine series, which automatically makes it one of the season's highlights. Agent: Ann Rittenberg/Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency