BLUE HEAVEN
By C.J. Box

June 2008 Book Sense Notable

Booklist (starred review):

Taking a break from his terrific Joe Pickett series (Free Fire, 2007), Box offers a stand-alone thriller set in north Idaho, a region called Blue Heaven by the many California cops who have retired there. When two kids witness a campground execution, they have no way of knowing th killers are ex-cops—they just know they have to get away. But when the first man who offers them help turns out to be another bad guy, the kids decide they can’t trust anyone. Their disappearance triggers a manhunt, and when the killers volunteer their services to the beleaguered local sheriff, he puts them in charge. Box deftly juggles a compressed time line and a large cast of characters that includes a good ex-cop who has followed the killers from California, the kids’ single mom, a banker with a bad conscience, and a grizzled rancher who becomes the kids’ protector. In some ways, this isn’t that different from a Pickett novel: set against a New West issue (rampant development), it features likably flawed good guys (the good cop grapples with fear) and springs the noble western archetypes at just the right moment to have us cheering (you just knew the rancher would saddle up his horse). So does this stand-alone stand on its own two feet? Hell, yes. If it’s a bit less introspective than a Pickett, it’s a bit more of a page-turner. And Box builds suspense so brilliantly that Blue Heaven could serve as a textbook of how to do it.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review):

All hell breaks loose in Kootenai Bay, Idaho, after two children on a fishing trip witness an execution in this stand-alone from the chronicler of Game Warden Joe Pickett (Free Fire, 2007, etc.).

"Blue Heaven" is what members of the LAPD call North Idaho when they retire here. The place has spectacular natural beauty and a tight community full of concerned neighbors who come running when Monica Taylor's son and daughter disappear. As ex-detective Eduardo Villatoro realizes, the place also has in circulation a suspicious number of $100 bills from a robbery at the Santa Anita Racetrack that left an armored car driver dead eight years ago. Even though he's retired, Villatoro can't let go of the case. But his arrival coincides with the massive hunt that's been staged for Annie and William Taylor, and he can't get anywhere with ineffectual Sheriff Ed Carey, who's farmed out the search to four retired L.A. cops. Even worse, these cops, the last people in the world who should be guarding the henhouse, have framed an innocent man for kidnapping the children and all but imprisoned Monica in her own home. The family's only hope is an aging rancher who can barely hold onto his spread and the banker who refuses to foreclose on him.

...Box alternates violence with surprising tenderness in a suspenseful tour de force.

The Boston Globe:

The new year gets off to an auspicious start with C. J. Box's "Blue Heaven," a thriller set in ranch-country northern Idaho, where retired Los Angeles Police Department officers have found retirement nirvana. They live lavishly, isolated from their neighbors, hoping their pasts won't catch up with them.

The book opens with a pair of smart, scrappy kids - 12-year-old Annie Taylor and her brother, 10-year-old William - tracing Sand Creek, "angry and swollen with runoff," looking for a place to fish. They witness an execution-style killing. Before they can hide, the killers see them. The children race for safety while the villains try to catch them before they can talk about what they've seen. Meanwhile, retired LAPD Detective Eduardo Villatoro arrives in town, following up a lead and determined to crack a robbery-and-murder case whose solution has eluded him for more than a decade.

The ranch setting, combined with a rich, complex story, gives the novel the flavor of a Western saga. Cliffhanger scene shifts, a ticking clock, and escalating danger lend it all the trappings of a suspense novel, but with characters that make the reader care. The children's lonely mother, Monica, is a heartbreaker with a disastrous weakness for the wrong men. Crusty, struggling, solitary Jess Rawlins, with whom Annie and William find refuge, feels like a rancher version of Shane. The villains are served up with delicious nastiness, from town gossip Fiona Pritzle, who snoops through the mail before she delivers it, to a quartet of ruthless, retired police-detective bully boys.

Against a backdrop of wilderness, rich with the scent of pine and cattle, there are strong elements of classic tragedy here as well, as yearning propels all of the characters, good and bad, into mortal peril. "Blue Heaven" is my favorite kind of thriller - one with a heart.

Charlotte Observer:

There is an area in North Idaho known by some as Blue Heaven. It is a beautiful, rugged and mountainous area to which many police officers from the Los Angeles area have chosen to retire. But not all cops are good guys.

Twelve-year-old Annie Taylor is decidedly unhappy when Tom, her mom's latest boyfriend, joins her and her younger brother, William, at the breakfast table, smiling and full of himself. After Tom fails to pick them up from school as promised that Friday, Annie seeks revenge by taking William on an unannounced fishing trip.

As the brother and sister are on the banks of Sand Creek, they witness an execution-style murder in a clearing on the other side of the water. When one of the killers looks up and locks eyes with Annie, the nightmare kicks into overdrive.

C.J. Box has stepped outside the world of Joe Pickett, the star of his highly acclaimed mystery series, to pen a stand-alone thriller that will grab you on page one. I suggest you make sure you have time to finish this one before you need much sleep again.

In this novel, you are rarely sure just whom to trust. Box proves again that he is a master storyteller who can use suspense to deal with such issues as greed, corruption and the clash between the modern world and traditional values.

By the way, I have it on good authority that he's not done with Joe Pickett.

Toronto Sun:

North Idaho, as its inhabitants prefer to call it, is the rugged setting for this gripping new thriller from bestselling writer C. J. Box. In a small mountain town rapidly being re-settled by retirees, many of them ex-LAPD cops (which is why the locals call it 'Blue Heaven') two young people go missing in the forest. They had unwittingly witnessed a cold-blooded murder and fled from the scene, only to be hunted by the killers, a small group of ex-LAPD cops who have a secret to protect. The killers join the town-wide search for the children and the frightened pair find a hideout with a local rancher who has to try and save them from a ruthless law enforcement brotherhood whose corruption and greed knows no bounds. Hard to put down.

The Australian:

The master of the regional western thriller, C.J. Box departs from his irresistible Wyoming game warden series in this new stand-alone novel. And it's as classy, elegiac and as affecting as any of those wonderful Joe Pickett stories. Two children witness a murder in North Idaho at an idyllic place called Blue Heaven, named by certain Los Angeles cops
because so many of them have retired there. Sixty-three-year-old rancher Jesse Rawlins, divorced and battling to hang on to his property but still the conscience of the valley, is their unexpected saviour. Heartbreak and redemption in a gorgeous western setting.

Omaha World-Herald:

Two children making their way through the woods to go fishing stumble on something no one was meant to see. In a clearing, three men execute a fourth. The men realize there are witnesses, and the hunt is on.

So begins the exciting "Blue Heaven" (St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95) by C.J. Box, best known for his excellent mystery series featuring game warden Joe Pickett.

In this stand-alone thriller, Box moves the action from Wyoming to chilly northern Idaho. He employs the same atmospheric writing style and gives us more well-drawn characters to either root for or despise. The action rarely lets up as Box leads readers to his explosive conclusion.

You can't help but love the kids. Resourceful 12-year-old Annie learns quickly whom to distrust or trust, and keeps her little brother, William, one step ahead of the bad guys.

As the story progresses, an L.A. investigator turns up to add to the tension, an aging horse rancher becomes a hero, men turn on each other with lightning quickness and the children's mother discovers she's stronger than she knew. It all combines to make a first-rate, edge-of-your seat read.

The Billings Gazette:

Wyoming author C.J. Box knows the people, the geography, the issues of the mountain West.

He has won lots of praise and fans for his Joe Pickett mystery series starring a fictional Wyoming game warden.

Now, Box leaves Pickett behind and travels north to set a suspense novel in Idaho's wilds.

The area has become a retirement paradise for former policemen - "boys in blue" - especially from California. As the novel's name implies, the area of North Idaho is turning into a "Blue Heaven."

But two youngsters, their mother and other longtime residents learn that living among so many former lawmen is no assurance of safety.

In his usual style, Box moves to the heart of action in the first sentence:

"If twelve-year-old Annie Taylor had not chosen to take her little brother William fishing on that particular Friday afternoon ... she never would have seen the execution or looked straight into the eyes of the executioners."

And the killers never would have realized that their brutal slaying had been witnessed or raced to capture the children who could betray the adults' crime.

The youngsters' heart-pounding flight to escape quickly reminds readers of Box's knowledge of the terrain of the Western wilds and how those familiar with it can use it to their advantage.

Annie and William already had felt betrayed by their mom because of her boyfriend, Their escape from the killers only sets them up for new betrayal and growing uncertainty of who can be trusted and whether they can survive.

When the children don't return home, official response is slow. Then former L.A. cops volunteer to help in the hunt, which they quickly control.

Box tells the tale across 48 hours as a mother's concern over kids late coming home from school becomes a search for kidnappers that draws national media attention.

The author mixes in issues of concern to residents of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and similar areas where folks from outside the area are buying up land for mini-ranches while longtime residents can barely hold on. Values, lifestyles and economics all are pressured.

Longtime rancher Jess Rawlins already is battling to keep his land, but he has a new fight on his hands after the kids vanish.

Box expertly handles stories that have lots of twists and turns. And does so in "Blue Heaven" as a local banker is caught up in trying to save Rawlins' ranch, questionable dealings with some of the retired cops and the arrival of yet another retired cop in search of answers about a California heist and killings.

The story moves from the police station to the children's home, Rawlins' ranch to the woods and more as human concerns play against the suspense storyline.

At times, Box shocks with revelations of just how far humans will go to protect their own interests. But it's offset with the sacrifices that some people will make for others.

Normal activities of life, such as tending cows giving birth on the ranch or eating breakfast, go on even while a flood of evil washes through the small Idaho town.

Box excels in capturing the personalities and lifestyles of the inland Northwest. He also masterfully peels away the layers of lives to reveal secrets that influence folks' decisions across decades.

Fans of Joe Pickett will find the tortured good-guy values in Rawlins, too. And the added focus of the children struggling just to get home and erase the dangers makes the stakes higher.

It's four days of high tension and high action. And Box delivers surprises until the final page.

Rocky Mountain News:

Here's some perfect reading for the National Western Stock Show: Wyoming writer Box has quickly established himself as one of the top U.S. mystery authors, a terrific new voice who lives just up the road near Cheyenne. It doesn't hurt a bit that he's a good-lookin' cowboy, either (see for yourself when he makes an appearance at noon, Jan. 26,
at Murder By The Book, 1574 S. Pearl St.).

In Blue Heaven, he departs from his six-book series featuring beloved game warden Joe Pickett to pen a stand-alone thriller about two children who witness a murder in North Idaho. In a world of betrayals, it's the old-fashioned ranching West, personified by struggling rancher Jess Rawlins, that saves them.

Each of Box's books highlights Western issues: In Blue Heaven, he delineates the tensions between eager newcomers and established residents, the New and Old Wests, in a desirable retirement area.

Final word: If you've somehow missed reading Box, don't miss Blue Heaven.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer:

C.J. Box deserves the loyal fans he has created with his mysteries featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. Now Box is trying something new with Blue Heaven (St. Martin's, 344 pp., $24.95) a stand-alone thriller. "Blue heaven" is what certain Los Angeles cops call North Idaho because so many of them retire there. When two children out in the woods witness a killing, they know enough to be scared for their lives. What they don't know is that it will turn into a nightmare involving corrupt police and people with secrets to protect at any cost. Longtime rancher Jess Rawlins, trying to hold on to his property and his values, gets pulled into the very heart of the mess. The result is a page-turning, suspense-ratcheting success.

Bookreporter.com:

I had read only three pages of BLUE HEAVEN by C. J. Box when life got in the way and I had to set it aside. It was a couple of days before I could pick it back up, but those parts stayed with me --- heck, haunted me --- throughout the intervening period. They introduced me to 12-year-old Annie Taylor and her little brother William, who go fishing alone in an act of offspring rebellion and set off a chain reaction of events. When I was able to resume reading the book, I consumed it in one extended, unbroken visual feast, tasting of heartbreak and violence, of tragedy and promise.

Box has written seven Joe Pickett novels that have garnered well-deserved critical acclaim. BLUE HEAVEN stands on its own; if you haven’t read the previous installments yet, this latest offering will give you plenty of reason to begin, as it incorporates a number of the elements of that series --- rural western settings, integrity, redemption and, oh yes, crime --- but in a very different way.

The book is set in North Idaho --- nicknamed “Blue Heaven” due to the number of retired police officers who have moved there --- and is in the throes of change. When Annie and William go fishing, the history of the area collides violently with the present when they witness an execution-style murder committed by three men, all of whom are retired Los Angeles police officers. Annie and William flee into the woods, setting off a missing persons search. The local sheriff, understaffed and under-experienced, gladly accepts the help of the former police officers in looking for the children, even as they turn the manhunt to their own unspeakable motive: the kids, of course, cannot remain alive.

Jess Rawlins, a local rancher whose land has belonged to his family for generations, becomes Annie and William’s only ally. Rawlins is an unlikely savior; his property is on the cusp of foreclosure, he has lost his wife and son to the whims of fate and circumstance, and the area that he loves is barely recognizable --- and not for the better. Over the span of a little more than two days, Rawlins will meet these two children, who tell a confusing, almost unbelievable, tale, and then stand against apparently insurmountable odds in a last-ditch effort to save them.

Rawlins does not stand alone. He is aided by two people: one is a man he barely knows, an outsider at the end of an eight-year pursuit of a truth that has haunted him; the other is someone who Rawlins has known practically all his life and whose errors and omissions have led indirectly to the occurrences that are shaking the idyllic existence of Blue Heaven to its core. By the last page, everything, for good and for bad, will be changed.

From its haunting cover to its poetic, bittersweet last paragraph, BLUE HEAVEN is an unforgettable, powerful tale.

Madison County Herald:

For maximum enjoyment, Blue Heaven should be read over a weekend. It's a crime to put this superb real-time adventure down, if only to grab a warming tea or a bite of sustenance. Every page screams: MOVIE!

...It's gonna be a long night in Blue Heaven, with a rugged western shootout reminiscent of a Sam Peckinpah film. C.J. Box treats readers to real heroes who keep fighting even when they're down and villains who blend right in to the scenery. Visit the picturesque wilds of Blue Heaven, but be sure to bone up on your survival instincts.

Harlan Coben:

BLUE HEAVEN is a non-stop thrill ride - a provocative suspense novel that has you rooting for the characters every step of the way. C.J. Box knows how to craft a story that grips you and haunts you.

George Pelecanos:

The strengths of novelist C.J. Box--lyrical descriptions of the natural world, big moral choices by fallible human beings, and high-level suspense--are in full effect in BLUE HEAVEN. An unusual, intelligent thriller that resonates long after the last page is turned.

Robert Crais:

BLUE HEAVEN is a relentless thriller. C.J. Box sucked me in with good cops, bad cops, and missing money, then blind-sided me with unexpected twists and surprises in this novel of clashing cultures and dark secrets. Box delivers the goods!

Tess Gerritsen:

I can't remember the last time a book made my hands sweat and my heart pound this hard. BLUE HEAVEN is one of the best thrillers of the year, and it kept me up most of the night, the way few books have ever done. C.J. Box owes me a night's sleep!

T. Jefferson Parker:

BLUE HEAVEN is a first-rate thriller, peopled by complex characters and unpredictable action. I heard every tick of the clock as I read it, praying that the good guys would prevail. I love Chuck Box's vision of an idyllic small town in the clutches of a spiraling evil that threatens to ruin everyone. Don't miss it.