Monday, April 4, 2011

Review: Cold Wind by C. J. Box

Cold Wind (A Joe Pickett Novel) I won Cold Wind from LibraryThing and I wish I had realized it was a series when I entered the contest. I simply thought it sounded like a good story that I would enjoy, and I did enjoy it despite not being familiar with the characters.

The murder in this book is unique and sets the tone for the book. Set in Wyoming with its wide open spaces and ridges where the wind blows nearly all the time, a wealthy landowner who happens to be Joe Pickett's latest father-in-law is installing 100 wind turbines. Now I'm in favor of wind power myself so I first thought this was a great idea. The only problem was that someone had murdered the landowner and chained his body to one of the spinning blades. Now that's a new one on me.

Almost immediately Joe's mother-in-law is arrested for the murder of her fifth husband. Joe Pickett is a game warden who has never liked his mother-in-law but it just seems too pat that they would arrest her so quickly. The woman is a conniving gold digger for sure but there is a lot more to the story than first thought.

For those of you who know the series, you'll also catch up with what's happened to Joe's friend Nate and his girlfriend. The cast of characters in this small Wyoming town is more varied than you would think.

As I have said, I'm in favor of wind power, but in the course of the story I learned the other side of the issue and it did make an impression on me. What's wrong with it in this book is the vast amount of money to be made on a renewable energy project and how little oversight is in place. Certainly sets up a lot of potential for corruption.

Now I'm going to read the rest of the series, hopefully from the beginning, because I really like Joe and his wife and daughters. I can understand Nate as well and I look forward to getting to know these people much better. I recommend Cold Wind highly.

6 comments:

  1. You too!

    The whole world seems to be determined to make me read this series. Okay, okay, I will - just not this month because I ordered NINE books the other day! ;)

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  2. I was thinking I'd also go back and read more, especially the one just before Cold Wind, so I could understand what happened between Joe and Nate!

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  3. Dorte, Nine books! Wow, you lucky duck!

    Jill, I'm very curious about what drove them apart for a while too. They seem so different that I'm also wondering what made them friends to begin with. All they seem to have in common is a good heart and a love for the land.

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  4. I'd like to read this just to hear the other side of wind power. GE has a big wind power operation here, so most of our community is for it.

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  5. I've heard of the author and am wracking my brains trying to think if I've read any of theirs... this sounds a really good read.

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  6. Kathy and Barbara, I do hope you'll read this one. Besides the possibilities for huge profits and therefore corruption, this shows why neighbors object. I had thought they just didn't want their skyline view ruined but it's more than that.

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