Blue Heaven

By: C. J. Box

Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd

Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Blue Heaven is the break-out novel from C. J. Box, the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Joe Pickett series.

A twelve-year-old girl and her younger brother are on the run in the Idaho woods, pursued by four men they have just watched commit murder—four men who know exactly who William and Annie are. And where their mother lives.

Retired policemen from Los Angeles, the killers easily persuade the local sheriff to let them lead the search for the missing children. Now there's nowhere left for William and Annie to hide…and no one they can trust. Until they meet Jess Rawlins.

Rawlins, an old-school rancher, knows trouble when he sees it. He is only one against four men who will stop at nothing to silence their witnesses. But in this thrilling mystery novel from C.J. Box, these ex-cops don't know just how far Rawlins will go to protect William and Annie…and see that justice is done.

Blue Heaven is the winner of the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Novel.

©2007 C.J. Box (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“John Bedford Lloyd's rich, distinctive voice brings a strong sense of power to his reading of Box's first stand-alone thriller…Lloyd's crisp, laconic delivery easily handles a multitude of characters, accents and shifting points of view, creating just the right tone for the material and drawing the listener deep into the action of the story. He portrays his villains (a band of dirty ex-cops) with just the right amount of ruthless menace without going overboard, and he perfectly captures the essence of the aging rancher, imbuing him with the quiet strength and dignity of an iconic western hero.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Blue Heaven is a non-stop thrill ride--a provocative suspense novel that has you rooting for the characters every step of the way.” —Harlan Coben, author of The Woods

“Blue Heaven is a relentless thriller. C.J. Box sucked me in with good cops, bad cops, and missing money, then blind-sided me with unexpected twists and surprises in this novel of clashing cultures and dark secrets. Box delivers the goods!” —Robert Crais, author of The Watchman: A Joe Pike Novel

Narration was awesome, felt like I was watching the movie . Realistic fiction.

Loved the story, felt so real time/real life. Not much felt overly embellished. Enjoyed the characters.

A disappointment

I was expecting a lot more from the Edgar Award winner of 2009. This book was childishly written and read like a cartoon. Very disappointing. The competition must have been pretty weak in 2009 for the Edgar Award. This is not an award winning book.

Good story But....

We loved the story line, but the author uses to many "F" words. They could tell the story with out that kind of language .

Close to Joe Pickett standards but improbable plot

When you run out of great books to read, pick a stand-alone from a favorite author and hope for the best. That is what I did and wasn't disappointed. This is as good as you can expect for an alternate story from a writer of a great series like Joe Pickett.

Don't expect the author to be a master of a different genre, police detectives in this case. The book is well crafted with complex plot and engaging characters. It's failing is similar to a lot of novels, occasionally the characters don't do the obvious simple thing to resolve their predicaments which requires the reader to suspend his common sense.

Lots of potential but ending eerl

Started off really well, good story, excellent suspense, until the ending. That turned out to be somewhat sentimental and really bit of a miss - not in line with the suspense and quality of what had come before.

Very good

I have read many of CJ Box’ books, all of his Joe Pickett series. Really enjoyed them. This story was good. And there were some really interesting elements. Overall, something was lacking. Not really sure what. One thing, there really isn’t a central character, there were maybe 5-6 people or groups, that we keep visiting with, as they become involved in the story. That was all well told, but somehow I did not connect 100%. If you haven’t read the Joe Pickett series. I would strongly suggest you do. Barry Eisler writes really interesting books. Vince Flynn. John Burdett.

Had potential then not so much

Narration was fair but of the character voices were very annoying. Story was fair but found myself skipping segments that were boring and unrelated. Ending was a miss mash where it seemed like the author just lost his way.

COWBOY STORY FOR OUR TIME

Great story, different approach to a familiar trope. This book keeps you interested from the onset. A geeat storyteller, a great story and an ending that zigs just when you are ready for it to zag.

A great read!

This was a really enjoyable experience! I’ve really come to like all the Joe Pickett stories but Blue Heaven really showed me some character and story building that made this book a strong effort . Box is now one of my all time favorites and look forward to the next experience!

Blue Heaven

good story. Interesting characters. Narration was also good