Rating: 
Summary: A Dark Fantastic
Review: I hated this book! Or maybe I was just rooting for C.J. to get his stuff together in the third book and have Joe Pickett ready to fly for another twenty years. It's what I expected anyhow. Didn't happen.
The first Joe Pickett story seemed a little tall and convoluted, but the yarn was spun tightly and with dexterity and wit. I couldn't put it down. You knew that C.J. Box and Joe Pickett would be around for a long while. The second book had me looking forward to more Joe Pickett yarns in spite of exploding cows. An audience was building. Word was getting around that C.J. Box could keep you interested. It was time for Pickett to settle down a bit, ease off the fantastics, and start a long career. Then he fell off the mountain.
WINTERKILL opens with a humiliating and extremely unlikely scene of a Forest Supervisor's "nervous breakdown" that contributes nothing substantial to the story. From there, it traverses a litany of extremes. Our humble, heroic game warden in remote Wyoming is forced down a gauntlet of sociopathology, psychopathology, political aberrations, weather extremes, bureaucratic obstruction and cover-up, and the killing of a carefully developed sympathetic character. Then, incredibly, staight-arrow Joe Picket becomes complicit in a felony that will never be discovered.
C.J. Box is a clever, compelling writer, but I don't see how Joe Pickett will ever recover from this dark detour.
Rating: 
Summary: Spectacular in every way!
Review: C.J. Box's third Joe Pickett novel, "Winterkill" is simply magnificent.Joe, a Wyoming game warden is good at his job, a loyal family man, a good guy with flaws and doubts who does not suffer incompetents. The murder of a Forest Service supervisor brings in federal bureaucrats led by the spiteful, psychotic and underhanded Melinda Strickland. She immediately and incorrectly railroads Nate Romanowski, a local loner with a mysterious past. When the government hating survivalists, the Sovereign Citizens camp on nearby federal land, Strickland recognizes a high profile opportunity. She is willing to orchestrate a bloody conflict to further her career. Pickett understands the potential disaster, and with Nate attempts to uncover the true murderer before the showdown commences. In the end, Joe must bend the law to insure justice---an act that deepens the character. Filled with bright characters, the severe beauty of a Wyoming winter and incredible suspense, "Winterkill" is a present-day take on the old fashioned western. Outstanding!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Series Continues: Winterkill
Review: Following up on his debut novel "Open Season" and his second novel "Savage Run" C. J. Box brings Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett back for another intense adventure. Showing the same sense of style and ability to weave a complex entertaining tale as he did in his first two books, this novel builds further on the deep characters involved and culminates in a shocking and disturbing conclusion for fans of this series. As the novel opens, an early winter storm is bearing down on Battle Mountain in 12 Sheep County, Wyoming. Game Warden Joe Picket is on the mountain on patrol. He has recently seen a truck in the area and knows that at least one hunter is up on the mountain somewhere with him and most likely seeking an elk before the pending storm hits. Warden Pickett earlier had seen an elk herd also in the vicinity so the hunter may be in luck. Then as the sky darkens and the snow begins, Warden Pickett hears gunfire. Gunfire that seems to continue long after one elk should have been hit which means the hunter might actually be a poacher. Warden Pickett soon finds that the herd he saw earlier has been massacred. Bodies of elk, dead or dying are strewn in a small meadow and the shooter is Lamar Gardiner, head of the United Sates Forest Service for the area. When Gardiner is confronted, he seems not to realize what he has done and is erratic in his responses. Warden Pickett takes him into custody and as they begin the multi hour journey back down the mountain out of the blizzard, Gardiner becomes increasingly deranged in word and actions. Somehow, he manages to escape leaving Warden Picket to go after him in the snowstorm. Eventually, Warden Picket finds Gardiner, dying, and pinned to a tree after being shot through by two arrows. The loss of his suspect and subsequent murder once again make Joe the laughing stick of the local Sheriff's Department. But in a parallel story line, Warden Pickett has more pressing personal matters to attend to. While he wants to figure out why Gardiner did what he did and who killed him, he faces the loss of his foster daughter, April. April's mother who abandoned her three years ago leaving her alone and taken in by Warden Pickett and his family suddenly returns to Saddlestring. The adoption hasn't been finalized and now her mother is back and wants April back. Even though her mother is part of a group of anti federal extremists camping in the local forest, they are powerless to stop her mother from taking her back because she has a court order. Warden Pickett, a member of law enforcement is torn apart as he watches the system he is sworn to uphold disintegrate in his face because he can't protect April and a killer roams free. Along with his usual intense writing, complicated characters, strong sense of pacing and another great mystery, the author once again weaves in numerous details of how the public lands are being protected or not as the case may be by those sworn to protect the nation's fragile resource. As always, C. J. Box brings the beauty of the Wyoming Mountains alive for his readers along with his characters. This third book is another in what seems to be building into a great series. As such they should be read in order from the beginning as noted and those that do will get more out of the intense and shocking ending of this novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Winterkill
Review: I am a avid reader,but as a senior with a fixed income I can only afford to buy paperback books, this book like many I want to read have to small of print to read comfortable. They are losing out on a lot of sales just to save printing a few more pages.
Rating:
Summary: CJ Box, you're on my list!
Review: I had picked up CJ Box's first book, "Open Season" about 2 years ago without knowing anything about it. It looked like a nice light read. I was very impressed by Box as a first time author, and thought the book was much better than the marketing implied (it seemed like a pulpy, survivalist-out-for-revenge book at the time). Then came "Savage Run" and I was pleased that Box had avoided the sophomore curse. Clearly not a one-hit-wonder, this Box guy. So, when "Winterkill" appeared for pre-order on Amazon[.com], I knew it would be worth the money. I had no idea what was to come. In this, the 3rd Joe Pickett book, Box has shown that, as a writer, he is just getting warmed up. Rather than being more-of-the-same, as many of these recurring character series are, "Winterkill" breaks the rules and delivers a few surprises that I defy anyone to predict. At a point in the series when his main characters risk becoming predictable and 2-dimensional, Box has instead raised the bar, giving them depth, conflict and soul. Clearly the best of the 3 novels so far, Box has given much more insight into his cast, especially Joe. And he's laid enough groundwork to continue a few story lines for several more books. The surprises and twists in this one are nothing short of courageous for a writer this early in his career. Box pulls off plot developments that many a seasoned writer would avoid like the plague. This guy is one to watch. CJ Box, you're on my list of writers who's books I will buy sight-unseen. I don't need to know anything about the plot or even the title. Just tell me it's a new CJ Box book and I'm grabbing my wallet!
Rating:
Summary: Another Powerful Entry in the Joe Pickett Saga
Review: I too found the government officals a little to "evil". But, I realize giving a small person a little power can, and often does, create a monster. As happens in this story.
So, having said that the author again has drawn his main characters so well, they can become part of your life, and become "friends" that visits once a year. So, if you haven't yet discovered C.J. Box you are in for a treat. If you have here's another outstanding story for you to enjoy. P.S. For those who find Nate Romanowski and interesting character rumor has it that he will appear in later Pickett novels and may be the center piece of his own.
Rating:
Summary: Winterkill
Review: Once in awhile I run across a book that causes me to forget to do the laundry, to burn the dinner, and to ignore the husband when he is talking. Winterkill is one of those books--I couldn't put it down.
Rating: 
Summary: A winter's night entertainment.
Review: One villain is a cartoon, but the author has nevertheless created a page turner. Joe has the help of a new character- to do what Joe cannot, be vengeful and murderous. A series that is getting better all the time.
Rating:
Summary: Another Homerun for CJ Box
Review: The third installment of the Joe Pickett series keeps up the pace set in books one and two. Box gives us a look into his character's heart, and we see that Pickett is a man struggling like all of us to separate good from evil and make the right choices. Box refuses to get caught up in a simple polly-anna approach with Pickett. We see the good and the not so good in his character. But what is wrong with that? Box has created a character right out of the old west. Someone who loves his family and wants to do the right thing in the face of a growing opposition. In WInterkill, we see more of Pickett and his family, and much of the evil that exists in the real world. Joe Pickett isn't superman, nor is he Sherriff Andy. He is a man with passion, pride and conviction who is working in real situations. In Winterkill, Box brings us closer to Pickett than before. If you are looking for a real hero, not a TV, politically correct model, then Joe Pickett is your man. If honest, most readers would admit that they have a lot of Joe Pickett inside. Thanks CJ for giving us a realistic character to which we can relate! Write on!
Rating:
Summary: Emotional
Review: This is a much more emotional story than we usually find
in the mystery field. Most readers will at one time or another
practically shout out, "leave the guy alone." The author
so fully developes his characters that you feel for all of them
as hero Joe Pickett works on multiple problems in his job as
a Wyoming game warden, and he tries to balance demands of
that job with his awesome responsibilities as a husband and father.
Plus, the writer has such descriptive powers that most readers
will be able to feel that cold Wyoming wind, and we can almost
feel ourselves sinking into those deep snowdrifts as we trudge
through the winter country, seeking answers to those multiple
problems.
The problems start when Pickett finds a USFS manager killing
multiple elk, for no apparent reason, and shortly after an arrest is
made, that government employee is chillingly murdered in bizarre
circumstances, and Pickett is left with more questons than answers. Then a BLM employee is lured into a truck mishap
and left to die in the cold.
But the problems really blow up when an inexperienced "task
force" leader shows up, and she bulls her way into the investigation with threats and bombast, and her ego-driven
"leadership" causes the whole mess to expand and start to spin
out of control.
We can only hope the US Forest Service hasn't declined as much
as the author suggests in this story, but that may be wishful thinking, because there is ample evidence that the great federal
land-management agencies have been taken over by issue-driven
bureaucrats, whose agendas don't include much consideration for
the people who actually use the resources they purportedly manage for the benefit of the many.
But Box apparently knows his subject matter, because the whole
story, with all the side issues, rings true. He writes in a way that
we can, and do, believe in the personality clashes and resource
mis-management he describes.
He is a very capable writer, and this story is both gripping and
full of truths we can understand and relate to.
Get yourself into this story and see how difficult it is to put down
before the finish.
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