David's Reviews > Endangered

The Joe Pickett novels are always very good, but this one not so much.

Pickett's daughter, (the adopted one) is found beaten by the side of the road, and is placed in a medically induced coma while Pickett tries to find out who did this to her. The chief suspect is a rodeo champion named Dallas, but he claims he was injured in a bull riding accident and his injuries suggest he could not be the culprit. His family (frequently referred to as white trash, and they seem to fully fit that definition) close ranks to protect him. In addition, Joe's friend, Nate, is released from federal custody with a tightly written agreement preventing him from contact with Pickett. He is ambushed and left for dead. His girlfriend/partner is missing. Pickett wanders around through the rest of the book trying to determine if the two incidents could possibly be related.

In addition, Pickett is investigating the wanton slaughter of a flock (called a Lek) of endangered sage grouse. So there are actually three cases that need resolution by the end of the book.

One mistake that Box makes, in my opinion, is showing too much of the bad guy behind the scenes stuff. Box has a legitimate literary reason for this. He seeks to show the evil and despicable character of the "white trash" family in all of its dysfunction and insanity.

The earlier Pickett novels were far superior to this one, but this was still a decent enough read. I like Pickett because he isn't a tough guy. He isn't an exceptional marksman, or even fighter. He's just an honest game warden who keeps stumbling into intrigue that is related to his work. Still, he manages to get the job done... in this instance, eliminating a number of bad guys, despite his lack of expertise in combat.

Towards the end, there is some stuff that goes "over-the-top" relating to Nate, who is recovering from severe wounds in the hospital. Box allows Nate to be the tough guy, relegating the actual detective brain workk to Pickett. By doing this, the author allows Pickett to remain an everyday type who does heroic things, which makes his character more realistic and enduring. Allowing Nate to the the tough guy who does amazing things is a good literary tool and Box uses it quite well.