Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In January, Box branched out from his popular Joe Pickett series with a stand-alone thriller, Blue Heaven (2008). His publisher for that book seems to be pushing him toward a broader audience even ditching his familiar black Stetson in the author photo. Longtime fans might have wondered whether Pickett would soon be an also-ran. But there's no need to worry just yet. Although Blood Trail is a mite slimmer than its predecessors (two books a year will do that to a writer), Box is clearly still comfortable in the saddle. And his game warden now a special agent reporting directly to the governor is still as dogged on the trail as he is hard on government-issued vehicles. There's a little less family time for Joe, but there are some interesting developments in his friendship with the enigmatic Nate Romanowski. Joe needs Nate's help and some luck besides, because it's elk season, and someone is hunting elk hunters. And with a flamboyant anti-hunting activist coming to town with his supporters, it's looking like another classic standoff: implacable ideologues on both sides and a pondering Pickett caught in the middle. Box always addresses a New West issue, but there's something great about the way he's waited until the eighth installment to tackle the one that would seem most obvious, given his hero's occupation. We prefer Box with the cowboy hat, but whether hatted or bareheaded, he continues to be red hot and now there's twice as much of him to go around.--Graff, Keir Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
When an elk hunter is shot and gruesomely gutted in Box's solid eighth Joe Pickett novel (after 2007's Free Fire), Wyoming governor Spencer Rulon assigns Joe to the investigative team headed by Joe's nemesis, game and fish director Randy Pope. The authorities suspect a group led by antihunting activist Klamath Moore, but Joe thinks an enigmatic clue near the body points to a serial killer. As usual, Joe stands alone against official protocol, placing his career and life in peril by following his hunches. He persuades Rulon to release his pal, iconoclast Nate Romanowski, who's awaiting trial on spurious charges, to help him on the case. Writing beautifully about the mountain West and its people, Box takes care to present both sides of the controversial issue of hunting. The narrative alternates between the searchers and the killer, whose identity will keep readers guessing up to the surprising climax. Author tour. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
When a hunter is butchered in Wyoming, game warden Joe Pickett and his boss, Randy Pope, set off to investigate. Soon, it becomes clear that someone is systematically killing hunters. Caught between the people who hunt and those who are opposed to hunting, not to mention facing one of the most dangerous cases of his career, Pickett must find a way to bring the killer to justice before more deaths occur. Award-winning mystery writer Box ratchets up the suspense in this tightly plotted example of his writing genius, his eighth thriller to feature Pickett. His sense of place and talent for character development are on a par with those of James Lee Burke. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 1/08.] (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Wyoming Game and Fish Warden Joe Pickett (Free Fire, 2007, etc.), once again at the governor's behest, stalks the wraithlike figure who's targeting elk hunters for death. Frank Urman was taken down by a single rifle shot, field-dressed, beheaded and hung upside-down to bleed out. (You won't believe where his head eventually turns up.) The poker chip found near his body confirms that he's the third victim of the Wolverine, a killer whose animus against hunters is evidently being whipped up by anti-hunting activist Klamath Moore. The potential effects on the state's hunting revenues are so calamitous that Governor Spencer Rulon pulls out all the stops, and Pickett is forced to work directly with Wyoming Game and Fish Director Randy Pope, the boss who fired him from his regular job in Saddlestring District. Three more victims will die in rapid succession before Joe is given a more congenial colleague: Nate Romanowski, the outlaw falconer who pledged to protect Joe's family before he was taken into federal custody. As usual in this acclaimed series, the mystery is slight and its solution eminently guessable long before it's confirmed by testimony from an unlikely source. But the people and scenes and enduring conflicts that lead up to that solution will stick with you for a long time. More of a western than a mystery, like most of Joe's adventures, and all the better for the open physical clashes that periodically release the tension between the scheming adversaries. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
