Trophy Hunt (Joe Pickett Series #4)

It's an idyllic late-summer day in Saddlestring, Wyoming, and game warden Joe Pickett is fly-fishing with his two daughters when he stumbles upon the mutilated body of a moose. Whatever - or whoever - attacked the animal was ruthless: half the animal's face has been sliced away, the skin peeled back from the flesh. Shaken by the sight, Joe starts to investigate what he hopes in an isolated incident." "Days later, after the discovery of a small herd of mutilated cattle, Joe realizes this something much more terrifying than he could have imagined. Local authorities are quick to label the attacks the work of a grizzly bear, but Joe knows otherwise. The cuts on the moose and the cattle were too clean, too precise, to have been made by jagged teeth. Are the animals only practice for a killer about to move on to another, more challenging prey?" Soon afterward, Joe's worst fears are confirmed. The bodies of two men are found within hours of each other, in separate locations, their wounds eerily similar to those found on the moose and cattle. There's a vicious killer, a modern-day Jack the Ripper, on the loose in Saddlestring - and it appears his rampage is just beginning.

Local authorities are quick to label a rash of animal mutilations the work of a grizzly bear, but Joe Pickett suspects that something far more sinister is afoot. And when the bodies of two men are found disfigured in the same way, his worst fears are confirmed: a modern-day Jack the Ripper is on the loose—and the killings have just begun.

Publishers Weekly

Box's riveting fourth Joe Pickett adventure (after 2003's Winterkill) opens on a disturbing note, with the Wyoming game warden's chance discovery of the oddly mutilated body of a moose near his favorite fishing hole. When several mangled cows and two grisly human corpses are added to the macabre menagerie, Joe reluctantly joins a task force to investigate. Bud Barnum, the corrupt sheriff of Twelve Sleep County, attributes the mutilations to birds or a notorious grizzly bear from Joe's jurisdiction, but Joe isn't convinced. Enter paranormal expert Cleve Garrett, who zealously follows mutilation and alien sightings in his recreational vehicle laboratory. Despite ridicule from the task force, Joe interviews Garrett, who supplies little fresh information but gives off creepy vibes. The clues that the quietly heroic Joe gathers from many disparate witnesses, including his own young daughters and a mentally incapacitated fisherman, may point to the otherworldly, but readers will be well satisfied with the all-too-earthly solution to the bizarre crimes. With its credible and sensitively drawn characters, loads of interesting tidbits about the natural world and timely plot, this skillfully crafted page-turner should have wide appeal. Agent, Ann Rittenberg. Author tour. (July 1) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

C. J. Box is the author of thirteen Joe Pickett novels and three stand-alones, and has won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe, and Barry Awards, as well as the French Prix Calibre .38. His most recent Joe Pickett novel, Force of Nature, debuted at #3 on the New York Times bestseller list. He lives outside Cheyenne, Wyoming, with his family.