A middling C.J. Box novel is better than the best efforts of most mystery/thriller authors, but this is a middling entry in the Joe Pickett series, full of great setups and wonderful suspense undermined by the sped-up wrapups of several plot threads, all executed with all the grimace-inducing squealing of a fast-forwarded tape. And that's only the ones that were resolved in this admirably ambitious but ultimately overstuffed novel.
Before the wheels come off, however, Box keeps things spinning with his usual superlative skill. A lot of mysterious new characters are introduced, and a handful of former ones make appearances. Somehow LONG RANGE makes room for a vengeful FBI agent, a Mexican cartel hitman, an eccentric film producer, an inscrutable sheriff, a Florida millionaire and a lawyer named Kink. And things always gent interesting when Joe's biggest nemesis — his mother-in-law — comes back to town to wreak more havoc in his family's life. And there's a number of other equally interesting characters. But most of them don't get satisfying character arcs — they feel more cauterized than tied off and up — and overall, LONG RANGE reads like a book that was meant to be about 150 pages longer but was hastily rewritten or edited down to a more conventional page count. Why else would the last several chapters — and several plot lines — get wrapped up at 78-rpm speed?
Box is good, and LONG RANGE is well worth the read, but he's better than what he delivered here, and I have no doubt he'll deliver it. Twenty book into the series, there's no sense that he's losing interest in Joe Pickett, Nate Romanowski and Co. — if anything, LONG RANGE indicates that he's so over-interested in them that he doesn't know how to deal with all his good ideas. If that's the case, someday I hope to read a "director's cut" of this book—if, as I suspect, a lot of pages were left on the cutting-room floor.
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Jim Thomsen
Good Pickett Story, but Could and Should Have Been Better
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2020Verified Purchase
JRAlpine
No time to duck
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2020Verified Purchase
Patricia M
WOW!!
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2020Verified Purchase
Robert James Vandevoort (Show Low, Arizona)
Non Stop Excitement!
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2020Verified Purchase
Lois Swanbeck
Another best book from C.J. Box
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2020Verified Purchase
Margaret A. Todd
Adventure among friends
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2020Verified Purchase
Top reviews from other countries
Larry
Excellent series
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 13, 2020Verified Purchase
Kindle Customer
Consistently good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 4, 2020Verified Purchase
Maggie M
Well, you know me by now, the greatest Joe Pickett fan ever.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 4, 2020Verified Purchase
RonCarole
Another classic from CJ Box
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 18, 2020Verified Purchase
Martin
Mr. Box does it again!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 21, 2020Verified Purchase