Name: Winterkill
ISBN: 9780425195956

C. J. Box

The arrow-riddled corpse of Lamar Gardiner, district supervisor for the Twelve Sleep National Forest, and the bodies of seven illegally shot elk start Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett on a pursuit that endangers the life of his beloved foster daughter April. Reprint.

Winterkill

Keernan Lanismore

** spoiler alert **
           Joe Pickett has arrested Lamar Gardiner deep in the wooded mountains in the middle of a blizzard. He puts Gardiner into the passenger seat and begins the long drive down the mountain. At some point Joe realizes his dog is in the open bed of the truck and sees frozen icicles in her face and fur. He pulls over and puts the dog into the cab. Gardiner takes this opportunity to escape and Joe tries to follow after him in the middle of the worsening blizzard. Joe finally catches up to find Gardiner shot with two arrows pinning his body to the tree and his throat slit. Joe struggles in the deep snow and carries Gardiner’s body back to the truck and off the mountain.

Thus begins the story. I am immediately mesmerized by the puzzle how anyone could have been out in the middle of the woods in the middle of an active blizzard and just happens to be at the precise spot where Joe by chance stops his truck and Gardiner runs off into the woods. It appears this will be a great mystery to unravel and I anxiously read page after page... until it becomes clear that is NOT the mystery behind the story but rather an unexplained huge hole in the story which ruined an otherwise enjoyable book for me.

Rob F

'Joe Pickett strides in big boots over the ruggedly gorgeous landscape of C.J. Box's outdoor mysteries' - New York Times It's an hour away from darkness, a bitter winter storm is raging, and Joe Pickett is deep in the forest edging Battle Mountain, shotgun in his left hand, his truck's steering wheel handcuffed to his right - and Lamar Gardiner's arrow-riddled corpse splayed against the tree in front of him. Lamar's murder and the sudden onslaught of the snowstorm warn: Get off the mountain. But Joe knows this episode is far from over. Somewhere in the dense timber, a killer draws his bowstring - with Joe as his prey...