Monday, April 1, 2013

Breaking Point-C.J. Box

Breaking Point


C.J. Box

Putnam, Mar 12 2013, $26.95

ISBN 9780399160752



Authorized to carry weapons, Denver based EPA Special Agents Tim Singwald and Lenox Baker drive to Cheyenne where they meet Corps of Engineers’ civil servant Kim Love. The two EPA agents are delivering notification documents that neither read; but Love did and uses a separate car to take them to their location in the Bighorns. Love vanishes while Singwald and Baker die from gunshot wounds.



State game warden Joe Pickett investigates a hole in the fence that separates private and public land. When he finds his friend Butch Roberson, Joe warns him and orders him to repair the fence. Soon afterward, angry law enforcement officials accuse Butch of murdering the two EPA agents. Led by EPA regional director Juan Julio Batista, a horde of officials begin a manhunt for Butch who has vanished in the mountains. Wanting to insure Butch is not exterminated, riding horses, Joe and a posse of friends also search for Butch while avaricious former sheriff Kyle McLanahan, seeking the reward, likewise hunts the fugitive



The latest Joe Pickett suspense thriller (see Force of Nature) is an action-packed tale that focuses on the dispute between Federal government and local residents over use of government land with the former as evil and the latter innocent. Thus ignored are bureaucracies (even the Feds) are a microcosm of society with everyone knowing someone employed by the government and most Feds adhere to and enforce laws passed by legislatures and executives. Still fast-paced from the moment the two Feds lie dead, fans will relish this entry with its strong wilderness confrontation.



Harriet Klausner

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