Free Fire (Joe Pickett series Book 7) Kindle Edition

The seventh book in the Joe Pickett series is another fine read from the author with good characters and a nice plot with humour as always .Recommended to the fans and thriller lovers .

An atmospheric book. Lovely settings. Fast paced. Writing is superb. M.Vincent Selva Pandyan.

I think this is my favourite in the Joe Pickett series so far, largely because of the fascinating setting of Yellowstone National Park, the scientific elements of the story and, of course, more dirty dealing at Federal level for Joe to untangle, this time as a newly rehired Game Warden (his nemesis Randy Pope fired Joe in the last book), working on a special project for Governor Rulon. I just love the way CJ Box interweaves the natural world and environmental issues that really exist and that I am able to learn more about both from the book and it leading me to further research, with a story line that never lacks pace, intrigue, action, murder and mayhem, great characterisation and excellent writing (despite the odd typo that I have noticed in all the books). Joe Pickett is a wonderful hero, flaws and all, as is his buddy Nate. So far, this is the best series of books I have read for a long time.

I picked up Free Fire after reading an article on Yellowstone's 'Zone of Death' and becoming intrigued by the subject. It mentioned the book, and the rest as they say, is history. Despite being the 7th in the series, I found it easy to pick up some of the back story, and to get to know the characters.Joe Pickett is a former, perhaps even disgraced game warden, working on his father-in-law's ranch, when he receive's a call out of the blue from the governor of Wyoming. He is offered the chance of redemption, and to put back on the badge he took so much pride in. He accepts his 'secret mission' and heads to Yellowstone Park, to investigate a horrendous murder of five people. But he doesn't need to fine the murderer. They already know who he is, and had to set him free. The murders took place in the National park's 'Zone of Death', where park and state boundaries mean there is no law. His gut instinct tells him he's going to need backup, and he recruits a former special-forces agent and friend to follow him up. As he uncovers corruption, missing persons, and finds his life and those of his family threatened, he finds out he was right. Learning that Yellowstone's time is running out, so is his own, to discover the real motives for the killings, and whether or not he can bring the people behind them to justice.This was an impressive, fast-paced thriller with well-rounded characters and an interesting plot. It reads very similar to the Jack Reacher novels, another aspect which attracted me. At times. I found the main character a little too 'Marlborough man' for my liking, and his friend Nate can at best be described as morally ambiguous, but overall, they suit the story and the setting. Another gripe would be that female characters seem to only show up to wag their finger, look like idiotic hippies, get put in danger, or to try and marry rich guys...but again, it isn't out of keeping with the story.Pretty much every chapter ends on a cliff-hanger, encouraging you to read further and keep going. I certainly would be interested in picking the series up at Book 1 and going on more adventures with Joe Pickett.

As a newly converted C J Box fan I was roped in even further by this book. The book was interesting with a unique story line that will keep you entralled until the end.Joe Picket starts the book as a ranch foreman having lost his game warden job. This is a massive blow to his self esteem and he is delighted to be reinstated by the Govenor of the state. He is then brought to Yellowstone park (which after the description I am tempted to visit) where he investigates a series of multiple murders where the murderer escaped through a loophole in the law. The storyline is excellent as unlike many books we start off knowing who the killer was but the hunt to bring him to justice is a difficult one. C J Box weaves a fantastic story bringing in many features of the local wildlife and surrounds. These books are defintely something new and different from the norm.The book is fantastic and the minute I finished I was off to find the next one in the series to see what happens our intrepid hero next.

I think by now you will have realised that I am a huge fan of 'Joe Pickett' and indeed the Pickett family and of course Nate Romanowski as written about by Mr Box and I really haven't a bad thing to say about any of his books as I work my way through them, this is number 7 in the reading order of 12 and still I have nothing bad to say, even although for the first time in all seven books I found two errors, one of which was a stupid hyphen in dan-gerous WTF!Setting aside that, and I have marked it down in my editing for Kindle (Harsh but what can one do), what about the story.Well, you may recall that by the end of, 'In Plain Site' Joe has been sacked from his job as Game Warden and in Free Fire we find him working as Ranch Foreman on his Father-in-laws ranch while Marybeth's accounting business is expanding.Out of the blue the new Governor turns up in Saddlestring and offers Joe his job back but with strings attached.A multiple murder has taken place in Yellowstone Park and it looks as if, for the first time ever, anywhere in the world, 'It is the perfect murder'. They know who did it, he even handed himself in immediately after killing 4 people, but they had to let him go!Yellowstone Park might be in the state, in fact it is in three US states, and therefore comes under Federal law because of its status as a National Park. The Governor thinks the Federal authorities are not doing enough and tells Joe that he wants him to visit the park and find out what the hell's going on, even although he will have no jurisdiction.After discussing it with Marybeth Joe takes the job, knew he would, and is reinstated as a Game Warden with no loss of service. Director Pope who we don't miss from the story still manages to stick the knife in, by making sure Joe doe's not get his original badge number back which would show him as a senior Warden, instead sending him Badge no 54, reserved for rookies!Joe sets off for Yellowstone in a brand new truck, you just know what's gonna happen to that, just as Joe can't hit a barn door if he was standing in front of it with his gun, you just know what's gonna happen to that truck (oh, it's deliciously funny) followed by Nate Romanowski as back up.Soon he is in the thick of it, more murders are committed, and just to mix things up we learn of events from Joe's past, about his brother, how he died and where he is buried. His parents break up and why Joe has hated his father and always avoids discussing him and ghosts from that past become real in Yellowstone all lead to complications in the investigation.A thrilling climax to the book ends with the FBI and an old adversary from that organisation double crossing Joe and Nate but this after Joe in his usual stumbling way, solves the crime.This really was /is as good as the previous six books and Mr Box just keeps getting better and better. The Perfect Murder scenario was a master stroke in finding it and building a story around it and it worked well, I wonder if that little loophole has now been closed in reality (hope so, wont be in a hurry to visit that corner of Yellowstone Park until I know it has been!)?Book 1 - Open Season 'Book 2 - Savage Run 'Book 3 - Winterkill 'Book 4 - Trophy Hunt 'Book 5 - Out of Range 'Book 6 - In Plain Sight 'Book 7 - Free Fire 'Book 8 - Blood TrailBook 9 - Below ZeroBook 10 - Nowhere to RunBook 11 - Cold WindBook 12 - Force of NatureEditing for Kindle /iPad: 4 out of 5Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5Page length on kindle /iPad: 380Plot: 5 out of 5Overall Rating: 5 out of 5You can purchase Free Fire At Amazon UK here or at Amazon US hereCJ Box can be found here

Before I start, I should say that I haven't read any of Box's books before this one and I'm English.I only mention my nationality because there's only really one thing I could find to complain about with this book. That's the way that nouns are used by the author as verbs by adding "ize" on the end of them. "weaponize" being one of a few examples. This appears common now in the USA, so really, I suppose, who am I to complain?With that out of the way, I really did enjoy this book. It's evident that this isn't the first outing for these characters, but re-hashing the previous isn't a problem here. There are a few references to the past where needed but this novel excels as a stand-alone story. Box characterizes (see, I'm getting into the swing now) very well and the story is believable. It also develops nicely, grabbing and keeping your interest. The only real deviations are where he waxes lyically about the setting of the story, Yellowstone Park and it's surroundings. If you're going to have a story break, you could do a lot worse. It doesn't come across as a travel advert for Yellowstone, but you do develop a yearning to go there. Perhaps I'll add it to the list of things to do before I die.To summarise, an excellent book. Wish I'd read the previous one. In fact I think I'll look for more of his work.