FREE FIRE
By C.J. Box

Publishers Weekly (starred review):

When four environmental activists employed by Yellowstone Park are murdered in an isolated area, the Wyoming governor sends outspoken Joe Pickett, fired in his last outing, In Plain Sight (2006), from the state’s game and fish department, to investigate in Anthony-winner Box’s absorbing seventh crime novel, his best yet. Helped by astute park ranger Judy Demming and his antisocial pal, falconer Nate Romanowski, Joe gradually connects the murders to competition for bio-mining rights in Yellowstone’s hot springs. Joe’s often harassed family is on the sidelines, except for a startling appearance by his long-estranged father. Box skillfully weaves ominous scientific phenomena and legal loopholes peculiar to Yellowstone into his story of corruption, greed and deception. The author vividly evokes Yellowstone’s natural beauty, but the book’s real power emanates from Pickett’s (and Box’s) passion for preserving the wilderness and stopping those who would cynically destroy it.

Library Journal (starred review) :

Although recently fired from his job as a Wyoming game warden, Joe Pickett (In Plain Sight) is asked by the governor to investigate an officially closed multiple murder case in Yellowstone National Park. Four campers were gunned down by a lawyer who escaped conviction via a loophole. Knowing full well that federal agents and the National Park Service will not want him poking around, Joe stirs up trouble nonetheless with Nate Romanowski, still wanted by the FBI for questioning in a number of unrelated crimes. Their surprise discoveries in Yellowstone quickly escalate into a dangerous situation. Box, winner of the Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe, and Barry Mystery awards, knows how to turn on the nail-biting suspense and violence until the cliff-hanger of an ending. Fans of outdoor action mysteries by such authors as Steve Hamilton and William Kent Krueger will snap this up. Highly recommended. Box lives outside Cheyenne, WY.

Booklist (starred review):

Box set the standards so high with his Joe Pickett series that, once in a while, he's had a hard time getting over the bar himself, as with In Plain Sight (2006), where he just tripped it with his toe. In Free Fire, however, he gets over cleanly. Pickett, having been fired as a game warden, is working as foreman of his father-in-law's ranch when Wyoming's loose-cannon governor, Spencer Rulon, reinstates him--not to work his old district but to investigate, without official support, a crime in Yellowstone National Park. A lawyer has found a legal loophole that allows him to kill four campers and walk away scot-free, enraging Rulon. (A remote, uninhabited part of the park, soon dubbed the "Zone of Death," has murky jurisdiction and no residents to form a jury.) But, sure as Pickett is hard on government vehicles, there's something even more sinister than a twisted legal mind behind the murders. Box is a master at working New West issues into his stories--here it's something called biomining--exploring pro and con arguments without missing a storytelling beat. And, mining series gold, he's forged a perfect alloy of familiar and fresh. Though Joe's far out in no-man's-land, as professionally on his own as he's ever been, the family man's moral compass is as strong as ever. And setting the action in the bubbling Yellowstone caldera--which could blow sky high any minute, we're told--is a masterstroke, lending both urgency and the long view to the proceedings. Once again, recommended for practically everybody.

The New York Times Books Review:

"...'When I think of crime committed out-of-doors, I think of Joe Pickett,' the governor says. So do we. And Joe doesn't let us down, leading us on an exhilarating tour of the park that covers every natural wonder, from showy Old Faithful to secret thermal springs spewing microbes, found nowhere else on earth."

Kirkus Reviews:

Fired from his job as Game and Fish Warden after wrapping up his colorful sixth case (In Plain Sight, 2006), Joe Pickett returns to nab the perpetrator of the perfect crime.

According to his own confession, small-time lawyer Clay McCann, feeling bullied and insulted by four campers he encountered in Yellowstone Park, shot them dead. A ingenious technicality he's discovered, however, prevents him from being tried and convicted. Wyoming Governor Spencer Rulon, a former prosecutor, can only slap McCann's wrist, but he's determined to figure out what Rick Hoening, one of the victims, meant by an email that hinted at secrets that could have a major impact on the state's financial health. So he asks Joe, now working as foreman at his father-in-law's ranch, to poke around the park while maintaining full deniability for the Governor. The situation stinks, but Joe's so eager to get away from his wife's poisonous mother and go back to his old job that he agrees, and in short order there's a spate of new killings to deal with—some committed by McCann, some not. As usual, there's little mystery about which of the sketchy suspects is behind the skullduggery. But, as usual, the central situation is so strong, the continuing characters so appealing and the spectacular landscape so lovingly evoked that it doesn't matter.

Middling for this fine series, which automatically makes it one of the season's highlights.

The Philadelphia Inquirer:

...As is the case with most long-running series, it is the protagonist of Box's stories that is the true heart and soul of the books. The mystery genre is filled with dysfunctional loners, alcoholics and psychotic killers. What it doesn't have many of is decent men who love their families and are faithful to their wives and good fathers to their children. That's the kind of man Joe Pickett is, and it's refreshing to read about him.

Another element of Box's work is his character's heartfelt passion for preserving the country's natural beauty and resources. Pickett isn't a fanatic; it's doubtful he would even call himself an environmentalist. Even so, he loves the wild, open spaces of the country and the animals that live there, and he feels a deep commitment to keeping them free from corruption.

It is clear from reading Free Fire that the author feels passionately about protecting that unspoiled beauty as well. He doesn't show this by hitting the reader over the head with it. Box doesn't make the mistake that Carl Hiaasen made in several of his recent books, becoming so consumed with his message that he forgets to tell a good story.

Instead Box lets the land speak for itself. By describing the beauty of the wilderness in simple, evocative language, and by letting his characters speak honestly and openly about what nature means to them, he is able to convey his message far more effectively than he could ever do with a more direct political tract.

Free Fire is, at its heart, a mystery with a message. But it is a message that the author never allows to interfere with his goal of telling a good story; a goal that he has well achieved.