C.J. Box has been writing about the fictional adventures of Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett for over two decades. During that time, Pickett has remained happily married and watched his daughters grow up. He has become a little battered and a little slower over time, yet he still loves his job.
“Shadows Reel” is the 22nd Joe Pickett novel. While age and injuries may have cost Joe Pickett a thing or two compared to his younger self, the series is going as strong as ever.
The novel opens with a rancher assuming that the carcass of a moose poached out of season has attracted scavenging birds circling a remote corner of his land. Pickett responds, but he finds not a moose, but the body of a dead man. The man had been tortured and set on fire before being dumped….