Winterkill

[b:Winterkill 244100 Winterkill (Joe Pickett, #3) C.J. Box https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1427388697s/244100.jpg 236494] is [a:C.J. Box 314195 C.J. Box https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1294305640p2/314195.jpg]'s third book about Joe Pickett, game warden and reluctant detective. In this book, Joe Pickett has to deal with multiple problems. First he finds a murdered U.S. Forest Service official. Then two government employees who arrive to investigate his death prove to be a bit nuts – or as some would put it, “they don't have all their dogs barking”. An anti-government group further complicates things by taking up residence on federal land. And then to top all that off, Joe's foster daughter April gets kidnapped. Local law enforcement proves to be pretty useless and things get desperate for Joe Pickett. Box weaves these elements together to make a good, suspenseful tale. As usual with C.J. Box, there is a nice twist at the end.Box gives us some changes in this book. Having had some hard times, Pickett has started to loose his somewhat Pollyannaish attitude. He still expects people to do the right thing but is no longer surprised when they don't. Also Box introduces a new character that I rather like named Nate Romanowski – a former special forces operative and falcon hunter living alone in the mountains. I hope he continues in the series as he would make a great side-kick for Joe Pickett (sort of like Hawk to Spencer).Good book.