Storm Watch (Joe Pickett, #23) (2024)

I've never been to Wyoming, but I love my little escape to Saddlestring with Game Warden Joe Pickett series.

Joe tracks down an injured elk with his dog Daisy and an epic spring blizzard is about to hit. Joe doesn't have much time before he needs to get off the mountain when he comes across a dead man. It's beyond his guess what the man was doing there, got his head stuck in a metal structure with what looks like the top of his head sliced off. As Joe documents the gruesome scene, shots are fired at him from the woods.

Storm Watch is wild! I can say there was a lot going on, illegal hunting, Bitcoin, conspiracy theories, politics, and corruption. I was guessing the whole way, not sure what the first dead guy has to do with the rest of the mystery. The tension was high as Joe seems to be out investigating alone and always in places with no cell service. When will he learn to have his Sat Phone with him at all times?!

Another part I love about this series is when the story goes over falconry. I like learning about it and finding it very fascinating. This time though, defrosting a furry rodent in a microwave to feed the bird makes me squirm a bit. 😅

Joe's wife Marybeth, eldest daughter Sheridan, and Nate a master falconer help Joe with what's about to go down. Omg, I love Geronimo, can we please keep this guy?

Geronimo Jones is another falconer introduced in the previous book "Shadow Reel". He's from Denver and I'm happy he's visiting Saddlestring. He's a guy you want on your side. A funny big dude with a triple-barrel shotgun.

Love this series, until next time!

Thank you Penguin Group, G.P. Putnam's Sons, and Netgalley for my DRC.
Published Feb 28, 2023

C. J. Box continues to excite readers with unique crime thrillers that are full of suspense and action. The twenty-third book in the series featuring Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett is set in late March and early April when snow storms are still bringing two or three feet of snow at a time to the town of Saddlestring and its surrounding countryside.

While Joe is hunting a wounded elk, he finds a vehicle on a remote mountainside on a large ranch. Then he finds a missing professor’s frozen and mutilated body. With a snowstorm hitting the area, Joe has to leave the body in place and notifies the local sheriff. Federal agents, local extremists, and Governor Colter Allen attempt to thwart Joe’s investigation.

Meanwhile, Joe’s friend Nate and Liv Romanowski are rebuilding their falconry company. Geronimo Jones has come to them with a business plan for expansion. Additionally, a local group of extremists approaches Nate. They want him to join them.

The characters are well defined. Readers get a good feel for Joe, his wife Marybeth, and Nate. Their characters have depth, and by this time in the series, they feel like well-known friends. Joe and Marybeth’s daughter Sheridan plays a much bigger role in this novel. The other supporting characters provide humor and conflict to enrich the reading experience. I enjoyed seeing how the characters responded to events and experienced changes in outlook.

The writing is fluid and descriptive which helps readers envision the scenes without disrupting or slowing the flow. There was a strong sense of place causing me to feel as though I was living the events alongside the characters. The dynamic plot has a tremendous amount of conflict that kept me engaged throughout. The suspense intensified as the story progressed. The final action scenes are somewhat over-the-top, but consistent with other books in the series. Themes include violence, extremism, murder, deception, assault, and much more. The author also incorporated some contemporary issues into the story line that added depth to the novel.

Overall, this was intriguing, entertaining, suspenseful, and had an action packed ending with compelling characters that kept me turning the pages as I sat on the edge of my seat. With exciting scenes and fascinating story lines that converge, this fantastic thriller felt authentic and timely. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series. Will one of the Pickett daughters get their own series?

PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons and C. J. Box provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for February 28, 2023. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

-------------------------------------
My 4.5 rounded to 5 stars review is coming soon.

To date I've read, in order, every Joe Pickett novel. The series is set in a mountainous, sparsely-populated corner of Wyoming and features a fish & game warden who finds himself and his family threatened by bad men intent on raping the West. Overall they're great reads, engrossing and hard to put down.

This one, #23 in the series, was a bit of a letdown. C.J. Box injects right-wing views into his characters and tends to portray the people of the mountain West as monolithically conservative. While Joe Pickett generally remains apolitical (with a minor slip here and there, as when he makes a nasty crack to a cross-country skier about the "coexist" bumper sticker on her — what else? — Subaru), the storylines constantly highlight C.J. Box's political inclinations, holding leftists, government officials, and environmentalists up to scorn. Countering this is Nate Romanowski, Joe's sidekick, naturally distrustful of government and a survivalist by nature, who paradoxically winds up fighting villains who share his worldview. It's as if Box wants to push the Fox News/MAGA narrative while giving himself wriggle room to disassociate himself from it, putting me in mind of the late Rush Limbaugh, who when called out would always claim he was "just an entertainer." With each succeeding Box novel, though, it becomes increasingly clear the author listens to a sh*tload of AM talk radio.

That's part of the letdown, but so are the bad guys, characterless and cartoonishly evil, incapable of insight or change, the batch in "Storm Watch" more unbelievable than most. I was disappointed in Geronimo, introduced as a new ally of Nate's in the previous novel, "Shadows Reel," who in this novel is no longer a street-fighting BLM activist but a hanger-on. A promising (and promised, at least in pre-release publicity for this novel) tie-in with Box's Cassie Dewell series doesn't materialize. We learn Joe's daughter Sheridan goes by "Sherry," which has me questioning everything I ever thought I knew. The bitcoin mining subplot leads ... nowhere. Maybe in the next novel we'll find out Nate and Geronimo lost their shirts.

I dunno ... it feels like C.J. Box was going through the motions with this one. Still highly readable and hard to put down, but not as satisfying as most of the earlier novels in the series.

Second Joe Pickett book in a row that disappointed me. Seems like ideas are coming from conspiracy nuts. The FBI is really making insurrectionist groups so they can arrest them to take away more of people’s rights. People are painted as comically ridiculous stereotypes without any specific information as to why. The whole book is formulaic. It starts out fine but halfway through goes off the rails and wraps up quickly without any satisfying or realistic explanation.

After last fall's poorly written "Treasure State," featuring Cassie Dewell, comes a usually reliable Joe Pickett novel, this one called "Storm Watch," but it is anything but reliable... filled with half-baked conspiracy theories, antigovernmental screeds, Chinese spies, cryptocurrency, coincidental plot points, and yet another daughter too stupid to see the warning signs flashing off of a boyfriend who, as soon as he is introduced in the novel, obviously is going to become a problem. The only 'twist' here is the character readers will most likely expect to act one way, acts another, although for absurd reasons. The fact that this book boasts a 4.47 rating after 96 reviews -- in fairness, as always, Box renders the area landscape well -- is astonishing; two stars would be generous.

“Sometimes I think you exist on this planet to be in a pain in my ass, Joe”
― C.J. Box, Storm Watch

Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett likes his job even though he is getting older and it is not as easy as it used to be.That is why in late March he is out in the field looking for a wounded elk even when a major snowstorm is bearing down. He finds the elk but he also finds an abandoned vehicle and then he finds the body of the driver. The body belonged to a University of Wyoming professor.

Although he is a game warden and he is law enforcement he knows some people don't appreciate when he gets involved in certain crimes. Such as a murder. So he calls the sheriff who is close to retirement and just wants to coast along until then. Needless to say he is not happy to get Joe's call. Especially with a snowstorm approaching. Later he is told by Governor Colter Allen to forget about it and to stay away. The sheriff's attitude Joe can understand. He is just lazy. But the governor? Why would he order Joe to stay away from the case?

In the meantime Nate Romanowsk is approached by a group of local militant activists who want Wyoming join other western states and secede from the union. They want Nate to join them. He is wary. He is back on the grid, has a falconry company, and a wife and daughter. Is he being set up?

Of course Joe calls Nate for help and the two storylines converge. It was nice to see Joe's daughter, Sheridan, play a larger role and left me wondering if she will be the protagonist in a future story. There is more than one storm that descends on Saddlestring. Of course the FBI gets involved, there is Governor Colter Allen, and Joe's mother-in-law Missy. A very enjoyable story.

thé FBI is the villain?

Mr. Box should remember that most of his readers voted for Biden, and that they find his plot just too far fetched. His description of nature is terrific, and Joe is levelheaded, but leave out all of the politics…

More politics from C.J. Box. I think I’m done.

Series writing seems to have a shelf life and the end of the shelf usually coincides with TV and movie deals. There are a few exceptions. Box isn't one of them.

I tried really hard to ignore the ridiculousness of the last Joe Pickett book and the author's choice of "experts" on antifa. I keep telling myself it's just fiction but I certainly never expected to see Joe Pickett become a vehicle for validating conspiracy theories and the entire "deep state" narrative.

There are two problems with that. The first is, I personally know many people who will read this book and say "oh hell yeah - I KNEW it!" There is no line between fiction and reality, storytelling and evidence for these people. If C.J. Box writes it into a fiction novel, it's like God Himself has validated their victimhood and confirmed that what they want to believe is absolutely 100% true. Those poor far-right domestic terror groups are a figment of the coastal elites' imagination and the FBI is just out to get them and their way of life. I understand that these people and what they want to believe is not Mr. Box's problem. What is Mr. Box's problem is he seems to forget he is writing fiction and he should remember those of us who are trying to escape it by reading books. If I want to hear about deep state and conspiracy theories, I can call my cousins.

The bigger problem, however, is that like many of my other formerly favorite series, this one reads like it was phoned in. Blah blah blah Joe Pickett blah blah blah Nate Romanowski blah blah blah Bad Guys blah blah blah Snowstorm blah blah blah oh where was I going with this? Oh yeah blah blah blah Chinese spy blah blah blah poor trampled upon neglected misunderstood Americans who produce for the elites who show no appreciation for them (where have I heard this all before?) no wonder they're depressed taking drugs drinking too much and plotting civil war blah blah blah.

I soldiered through the last book but for the first time reading Joe Pickett, I seriously thought of tossing it into the DNF pile. And the day that actually happens, I'll shed a tear for what used to be a great series with some really fantastic storytelling and characters.

Yeah, I can do without the politics, Mr. Box. Go re-read the first 10 books in the series and bring THAT magic back. Please. I beg you.

The 23rd book in the Joe Pickett series continues in much the same vein as the last 8 or 9, following the exploits of the Wyoming game warden as he gets himself caught up in extreme situations due largely to his own stubborn desire to see justice prevail.

So here I am again, back in my happy place of Saddlestring, Twelve Sleep County, Wyoming and Joe Pickett is still at it, game wardening away. He’s still getting himself in trouble with the Governor, his mother-in-law is just as big a pain as usual and Nate Romanowski continues to add his unique touch of outlaw magic. The question of whether his department-issue truck is going to survive in one piece again hangs heavily over his head.

While tracking an injured elk in the teeth of a ferocious snowstorm he spots a dead body lying in the housing of a shed’s extractor fan. The top of the guy’s head had been taken clean off. While taking photos of the scene and trying to understand the purpose of the shed, he’s suddenly shot at by unseen people hidden further up the mountain. With the danger of being shot and the imminent storm, Joe has to leave the scene. But before he goes he records the coordinates so the sheriff’s department can easily find it.

Of course, because it’s Joe Pickett, the next thing he knows he’s getting a “please see me” request from the Governor and is ordered to keep his nose out of things that don’t concern him. There’s no doubt that something is going on in a tin shed on a mountain outside of Saddlestring and, cursing his own curiosity, Joe Pickett has to follow it through regardless of what the powerful people in the state advise.

As so often happens, what starts out as a single murder grows into something far more significant. The Feds show up and throw their weight around, an extremist group hoping to cause havoc target Joe and even the local sheriff’s department aren’t much help. It comes down to Joe, along with wife Marybeth’s help and even daughter Sheridan who throws her assistance in, to get to the bottom of what’s going on.

Somehow, staggeringly, it has something to do with Bitcoin. Well of course it does.

Because I’ve read every book in the series I’ve settled into an easy rhythm with the Joe Pickett storyline and the recurring characters are like old friends. Somehow, the tiny (fictional) town of Saddlestring appears to be the centre of every criminal money-making enterprise in the US and there’s no exception here. For the sake of the sheer entertainment value, I’m prepared to cut the author some slack here and accept that, in this particular universe, the world revolves around this one small patch of Wyoming.

While Storm Watch features many of the recurring characters from earlier books, this time it’s a little more unusual in that Marybeth Pickett, along with daughter Sheridan, play a significant role in taking down the bad guys. This adds an even more nepotistic feel to the story given that, once again, Missy (Marybeth’s gold-digging, self-absorbed mother) somehow insinuates herself onto the scene and proves to be an ongoing thorn in the Pickett’s collective backsides. Naturally Nate, his falconry expertise and new friend Geronimo get in on the action to complete the team.

Although it feels as though the situations Joe finds himself facing are becoming more and more contrived and the bad guys are less than realistic, this carries on at a fast pace. It’s entertaining with an ironically humorous tone that tends to mask the fact that more than the odd murder takes place through the course of proceedings.

BIG thanks to both G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Storm Watch!!

What a great book!! I was a bit disappointed by the last book ... but this one knocked it out of the park!!!

Storm Watch finds Joe and Nate surrounded by a storm of peril. They confront it in different ways—and maybe, for the first time, on opposite sides.

This one had all of the things I love about the series: A huge snowstorm, mystery, lots of tension, good guys who may or may not really be good, bad guys who may or may not really be bad, Joe's sweet dog, Daisy, and his wonderful daughter, Sheridan.

May this series never, EVER end!

Without question, C.J. Box has definitely jumped the shark. Back-to-back one-star reads (because Goodreads won’t allow zero stars) infused with right-wing political bullsh*t, conspiracy nonsense, and the return of Missy, has ended the Joe Pickett series for me.

Note to C.J. Box: Not all veterans are MAGA cult members.

This is a nicely paced story until we find that the bad guy is not the right wing morons instigating a revolution but the federal government for mounting a sting against them. What a crock. Adios C. J. Box.

This story started strong but unfortunately took a wrong turn about midway in my opinion. Box lost me as soon as he used the word libtard and then gave credence to ‘Deep State’ conspiracy theories.

I have had the pleasure to read twenty three books featuring Joe Pickett. I have never been let down. Some are slower than others, some are like being on a runaway roller coaster. This book was the latter. Joe is often thought by those who do not know him to be dense but underneath that neutral expression is a very sharp mind. He manages to see things that others cannot or do not want to see. He never ceases to ruffle feathers of others that lack his tenacity. The setting is beautiful, his friends are supportive, his family is precious (except for Missy, the mother in law) , the plot is clever and the action is fast moving. The good part is this is an exceptional read for those who fancy this genre. The bad news is now I have to wait again for the next in this series.

More shenanigans happen in Wyoming than I realized! Like every C.J. Box book I've read I learned something new in Storm Watch. I never learned anything about crypto-anything because it felt like a scam. Crypto-mining was a fascinating subject to learn about but more so how Box weaved crypto into the story. Storm Watch is a stunning display of Box's writing prowess and character development. The bad guys in Storm Watch are a **chef's kiss**. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- I would be the first in line for a Nate Romanowski standalone or series.

My sincere thanks to G.P. Putnum's Sons and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced c0py of Storm Watch!

Storm Watch takes place during back to back spring blizzards and the author’s description of setting and place is one of my favorite characteristics of his writing style. He puts you there in the storm, the bitter cold, the wind, and the sights and smells.
❄️
The entire cast of characters is back and Nate Romanowski is featured more than in the past few installments. Another thing I enjoy is how Box ages his characters along with the timeline of his writing. I selfishly hope he keeps writing for another 20+ years.

Good story, ripped-from-the-headlines. I was skeptical that the story with several disparate threads could be pulled together, but they were to a satisfying conclusion. (There was one point where I had to wince at the coincidence -- i.e. Lucy's friend Fong and the info she provided. But I can overlook that.) I listened to the audio book at 1.5x speed.

P.S. -- minor spoiler -- I think it's time for Sheridan to find a good boyfriend. She's smart, loyal, and interesting and I think she's grown-up enough at this point not to fall for these losers.

I've been a big fan of C.J. Box for years now and I have read everything he has written. His Joe Pickett novels have been great but I must say I was somewhat disappointed with his latest effort, STORM WATCH. The story has Joe out tracking a wounded elk in the middle of a snowstorm when he comes upon a dead body near a mysterious structure on a ranch. The dead man turns out to be a professor at the University of Wyoming. The man is also Chinese. So what was he doing out in the snow at the structure that housed millions in computers and was used to mine Crypto Currency? Joe also was shot at near this site, but who did it and why? Turns out there are a group of elk antler poachers that may also have been responsible for the Chinese man's death.

Okay, the first part of this novel was rather intriguing but then it went downhill for me when the conservative politics of the west came into play. The book makes it sound like everyone in Wyoming is against the shutdown of oil pipelines and oil production and feels climate change is a hoax. Politicians, government officials, and environmentalists are all scorned by Box in his plot. The story really devolves when the FBI is involved in a plot to show that there are domestic terrorists called the "Sovereign Nation" who are part of a plot to kidnap or kill the Governor of Wyoming. But the FBI is really manufacturing the whole thing for their benefit.

I didn't really like the idea of the FBI being the bad guys here in a plot involving Chinese communists, the Wyoming Governor, and orchestrated by an East coast politician. I wish Box would go back to his earlier plot methods and leave the politics out of his novels. I'll probably read his next Pickett story but my interest seems to be lagging.

Box can just write a very fluid easy read that makes lots of sense and a desire to keep reading! His characters are wonderful and the stories believable.

Too political.

This novel lacks the magic of the traditional Joe Pickett tale: the setting was rarely in the Bighorn wilderness and seemed over contrived so that all members of his family and friends could have a part of the action. A family police story. Entertaining but disappointing compared to most Pickett novels. So different. Not convinced it was actually written by CJ Box.

Pick a hot-button topic: Cybercurrency mining. Survivalists hoping to overthrow the government. Conspiracy theories. Politicians with questionable campaign donors. Chinese interference (find better word). You'll find 'em all in here. And caught smack dab in the middle are Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett and his falcon-loving, former fugitive-from-justice friend Nate Romanowski.

The whole thing begins as Joe is looking for a wounded elk that needs to be put out of her misery and seems to be wandering around on a friend's remote property. Mission accomplished, but in the process Joe comes across something a bit more worrisome: a dead body half in, half out of a building from which strange sounds are emanating. The friend is evasive, and the subsequent identification of the body brings more questions than answers.

Meantime, as Nate is dealing with burgeoning demand for his bird abatement business, he's approached by a shady guy who wants him to join a group of men who, like Nate, don't trust the government - but who want to kick their distrust up more than a few notches. Given his background, Nate is willing to listen - but will he jump in knowing the guns may come out?

In the midst of this is the weather - snow deep enough to bring a several-ton plow to its knees - and a state governor who's power hungry, itching to get reelected and decidedly not a fan of Joe, who was aligned with the previous governor who just might decide to run again. All told, once the action gears up it's full speed ahead right up to an ending that probably has more potential to go wrong than right - and the whole thing held my attention throughout. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review another of the books in one of my favorite series. Well done!

Storm Watch by C.J. Box will be the last book finished in 2022 and it sure is up among the best ones this year. It is always fun visiting Saddlestring Wyoming. Joe Pickett is one of the several game wardens I follow and I love the fact that there is a genre without the traditional police, private detective or military hero. I also love the side characters that are just as important as the "hero". I have followed this series since the beginning and have never been disappointed once and that is a great achievment for any writer. In this book we get bitcoin mining, poaching, murder, political power struggle and some kind of militant rebellion. Oh, and falconry of course. I love the new characters like Geronimo and the fact that Joes family is always taking a part in the story and actually is a big part of the solution. I also was surprised by the fact that Saddlestring has a new deputy that we all know from his blog and his new book Fields of Fire. I am really glad I got this copy and thank Edelweiss, G.P. Putnam's Sons and Penguin Random House for it as well as C.J. Box for keeping things western.

Great as always

Love the characters, the setting, the animals, and the twisty lovely plot that keeps my attention. Once I get started, I hate to be interrupted so usually finish it in a couple of days. Then comes having to wait for the next. Highly recommend it. #23 in the series!

My first book by CJ Box, and the 23rd book in the Joe Pickett series. I saw a really good review for this one on bookstagram and I can't remember who posted it. I also saw that this can be ready as a standalone, so I had to grab it and see what it's all about. I liked it. Definitely alot going on with side stories as well as the main plot, but I was definitely never bored and read it pretty fast. So I'll definitely need to check out more in this series at some point. I'm glad I picked it up.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own. Comes out February 28. I'll also have my review posted on Netgalley, Instagram, Bookbub, and Amazon once it publishes.

Another great Joe Pickett novel. I have read them all. I hope C.J. Box continues this series for as long as he can.

4 Stars. I love the Pickett books and this one was no exception. Other than being a little preachy politically, I guess. I get enough of that daily in this country on every news platform in existence.

Still, Joe and the gang were predictably enjoyable. The mystery was a good one and I can tell you it will be a quick little thriller to enjoy. Definitely ready for the next one.

A total mess of a book. Unless, of course, you thought Jan 6 was just a bunch of happy tourists out for a stroll to our nation's Capitol Building. This is the first book I have read by this author and it is my last. The plot is ridiculously thin and contrived. The writing is so-so. The "he said, she said" drove me crazy. I've read other reviews on this author's work and apparently, he headed for the deep end and dove in with full force. I'm sure his title "Storm Watch" is his metaphor for where he thinks the United States of America is heading. Save yourself the time because there is no story with a plot here. Just a paranoid man's rambling diatribe.

Another dead body found in Joe Pickett’s district. Illegal elk shedding and murderous bitcoin operations; a weird combo but it works. Glad to see ex-governor Rulan back as a main character. Does anyone find it strange that the law enforcement is portrayed as idiots and his wife and daughters solve the murder instead? Hhhmmm

two days later and I’m still offended by Box’s “libtard” statement.

The paranoid conspiracy theories are strong with this one. I haven't read any of the previous 22 books in the series, but for once that didn't seem to matter too much to me. I thought the story was quite entertaining, but it played on the idea that the Chinese are spying on the West (U.S.) and the Democrats are stealing people's jobs (a pipeline that ran through Wyoming and created a lot of jobs was apparently closed down) for the fun of it rather than because climate change is going make the planet near-uninhabitable in the not-too-distant future if we don't do something about it now. Wouldn't say no to reading the first book in the series to see if Box was as paranoid back then as he appears to be now (because, aforementioned issues aside, the plot was decent), but I don't think I'd bother to search it out.