The Joe Pickett series written by CJ Box, began in 2001 with Open Season and is still going strong 20 years later with book number 22 due out next year. And I have read every single one.
Box’s unlikely hero is a game warden named Joe Pickett. Joe is a decent family man who lives paycheck to paycheck. His wife and three daughters are at the centre of all he does. He is remarkable because he is an honest man in a deeply corrupt system. It’s that honesty that makes him extremely unpopular in certain circles! However, he also has outstanding survival skills, courage and judgement.
This series of murder/mystery books follow Joe, newly appointed in Book 1 to the town of Twelve Sleep in Wyoming, with the responsibility of policing 5,000 square miles of territory where almost everyone hunts. Game wardens as armed law enforcement officers are employed to enforce state fish and wildlife laws. On the surface this sounds like a peaceful vocation but almost everyone they interact with is armed and, in Joe’s case, an alarming number of them are extremely dangerous. Joe has a rare talent for coming up against the most dangerous and just about making it through.
Over the years, he has found himself up against rogue federal land managers, animal mutilators, crazed cowboy hitmen, environmental terrorists, corrupt bureaucrats, homicidal animal rights advocates, and violent dysfunctional families of survivalists with a few grizzly bears thrown into the mix. He has had to navigate an ever-changing political landscape, working closely with the Governor as a trusted trouble-shooter, until a change of boss sees him temporarily fired. But that’s another story (book 6 to be exact).
He's become a standing joke for wrecking more vehicles than any other game warden in history, including snow ploughs and snow mobiles (many of the books are set in the harsh Rocky Mountains winters). Another thing Joe is known for is being a terrible shot who couldn’t aim straight if his life depended on it… which it frequently does. Luckily for Joe, he has a fiercely loyal guardian angel, Nate Romanowski, ex-Special Forces, fugitive from the law, master falconer, precision killer, who has saved Joe’s skin on several occasions, often showing up out of nowhere exactly when he’s needed. Nate hates rules and never follows them by choice whereas Joe insists on doing everything by the rule book. Although as the series progresses and history keeps repeating itself, he himself commits questionable acts to save his family that will haunt him forever.
These books are best read in order. Although the stories are stand-alone, they have consistent themes flowing throughout which can lead to characters re-appearing years later to continue where a past story, or an old grudge, left off. Having started reading the series in 2001, I’ve aged on the same timeline as Joe and his family. His oldest daughter starts the series aged seven and she and her sisters have grown into adults, seeing far more than their fair share of danger along the way.
The character development is one of the things that has kept me reading the books, along with getting a real feel for the outdoors and vivid descriptions of the Wyoming landscape and wildlife. The series also interplays with key issues in American politics looking at different sides of the debate over gun laws, fracking, the struggle between traditional primary industries and renewable energy, state versus federal rights and in the latest books we see the rise of populism with survivalists struggling to preserve their traditional way of life and bring down the state.
I am looking forward to book 22!
In case you’re interested, here is the Booktopia abstract of Book 1: Open Season
There's nothing unusual about the sound of a gunshot in Twelve Sleep. Here in remotest Wyoming, where elk roam the pine forests and cougars prowl the mountains, everyone owns a gun. But when Joe Pickett hears two sharp cracks ring out months before hunting season, it's his job to investigate.
As game warden in Twelve Sleep, Joe Pickett is not only badly paid and poorly housed, but deeply unpopular. So when the source of the shots - a well-known poacher - gets off scott-free after a humiliating confrontation, the locals are delighted.
And then the poacher turns up dead in the Pickett's backyard.
Charged with investigating the first murder he's ever encountered, Joe soon finds himself swamped with questions. How did the dead man get to his house? What was in the empty cooler by his side? And why do his colleagues want to sweep the case under the rug? Battling grudge-holding neighbours, corrupt officials and out-of-town activists, Joe begins to unravel a mystery that threatens the life and the family he loves.
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