Force of Nature [by] C.J. Box
New York; G.P. Putnam’s Sons [2012]
978-0-399-15826-1; $25.95
An unemployed visitor to Saddlestring, WY has the shock of his life when a drift boat comes down the Twelve Sleep River right in the middle of town and runs into him while he’s fishing. Inside there are the corpses of 3 men and a lot of blood.
The 3 men had been paid to ambush former Special Ops operator Nate Romanowski, but Nate got the upper hand, shooting them all, despite being shot himself with a hunting arrow. After pulling out the arrow, Nate, Game Warden Joe Pickett’s good friend, packs his Jeep, torches his house, and leaves, knowing that his former boss in the elite Mark V Peregrines outfit, John Nemecek, is out to get him.
Joe Pickett is planning to take his trainee Luke Brueggemann to visit some elk hunting camps at the start of elk season, but they abandon their plans when Joe is called to ID the bodies of the 3 dead guys. He takes Brueggemann with him. Then they, the sheriff and his men, and the County D.A. go to find Nate, but he is not at his house. Joe suggests that the sheriff talk to the wife and mother of two of the guys. There is bad blood between them, and the sheriff doesn’t do that.
Nate visits Alice Thunder at the Wind River Reservation. She raised his former girlfriend, who was killed in a previous book. She treats his wound, and while she is cooking the ducks his falcon brought down, she tells him about a white man who came to visit her, asking about him. The name of this man is Bob White. Knowing that this is Nemecek, Nate gives her money to get out of town. He also talks to his girlfriend’s brother, Bad Bob Whiteplume, who owns a convenience store on the Rez. Bad Bob has also met Bob White.
Nate arranges a meeting in the woods with Joe Pickett. Nate tells Joe that Bob White is coming for him, and has been seen in the area. He may also cause trouble for Joe and his family. Once again he tries to tell Joe what happened so long ago and why he, Nate, is a target, but Joe doesn’t want to hear it. Nate tells Joe how to get in touch with him through an old falconry website.
The first place Nate goes is his father’s place outside Colorado Springs.Nate remembers Air Force T/Sgt. Gordon Romanowski as a guy who was always pushing him. It’s what drove him into the natural world, where he discovers falconry. Then Nate is appointed to the Air Force Academy, where he becomes its falconer. That’s where he meets Nemecek.
Nate sees his dad, who believes him to be a traitor who has shamed him. Then Nate asks his father when he last saw his wife Dalishay and their two little girls. He learns they have been taken awayby the bad guys. He leaves. He is followed. He knocks the guys off the road and down the mountainside, then returns to his father’s place. He polishes off the guy at his father’s, who brought Dalishay and the girls back. He gives his dad money to make his family disappear.
Meanwhile, it’s been noticed that Bad Bob and Alice Thunder are missing. So is the wife and mother of the two dead hunters, Pam Kelly. The sheriff is looking for them all – it is, after all, election time, and the sheriff has a rival – one of his deputies. He’s not getting very far.
Nate goes to the compound in Idaho, where he expects to find a number of people. The only people there are Oscar Kennedy, a crippled ex-Peregrine, and the girlfriend of one of the other guys, named Haley. 5 people from there have been killed in a variety of little “accidents,” plus Large Merle, one of Nate’s friends, who died last month. Oscar does some research for Nate, and Nate sends a message to Joe, via the website, to, essentially, “get outta Dodge.”
Just as Oscar is explaining some of his findings to Nate, and Nate is telling Oscar why Nemecheck is after him, a sniper round takes out Kennedy, and Nate and Haley are on the run again.
Nate and Haley make their way back to Wyoming from Idaho, with their eyes out for the bad guys. They find them in a hotel in Jackson, and follow them. He kills the driver and questions the other, taking him apart piece by piece.
Marybeth Pickett, Joe’s wife and researcher, is a librarian. One night a month, she works until 9:00 p.m., and this is that night. Just before she closes, a man comes up to her desk with 3 books to check out, but no card. She can’t find his name – Bob White – in the database. Then he asks about her children and husband. She gets scared, but tries to put on a brave face, as she opens her phone so that Joe will hear their exchange. Bob gets a phone call, and leaves the library. She reports him to the police, and calls her girls to have them lock the door.
Joe and Brueggeman are helping with the investigation, following up on sightings of the three missing people. They find a dead deer in a line shack. Getting back into range of their communication devices, they hear about the car near Jackson and the men, one dead, one tortured. Joe also receives Marybeth’s phone call from the library, and Brueggeman receives texts in response to the texts he’s been sending to his girlfriend, who is missing him. Joe puts on the speed to get home, calling Marybeth, but not getting her.
When he gets home, he finds out that Marybeth has been trying to get them a flight so that they can get lost in the outside world. Deputy Mike Reed – the only one of Kyle McLanahan’s men Joe thinks is competent, is guarding them all until Joe gets home. The next day they go to the airport, but Joe doesn’t get on the plane with them, he turns back to go help his friend.
Joe calls McLanahan, telling him that things are going to go down soon. He tells him 3 things he needs to do. Then he sets out to find Nate and his mortal enemy, Nemecek, who calls himself “Bob White.” There is a gun battle in the woods. Joe nearly loses his life, Nate is injured, and three others are killed. The cavalry, in the form of the Sheriff’s Department, arrives late. When all is said and done, McLanahan takes the credit for getting the bad guys, but not the blame for not following Joe’s directions to a “T,” getting one of his men killed, and another – Mike Reed, his opponent, seriously hurt. Also dead are 3 civilians, but one returns from a vacation viewing bats in Texas, but homesick for the Wyoming mountains. And Joe gets to have a well-deserved vacation!
The Joe Pickett books get better and better. This one has a lot of heart and a lot of heartbreak. Joe, who always wants to believe the best of everyone, is sorely tested. There are discussions about important things, including ethics and morals, love, trust, and patriotism. Good triumphs, but at a high price. Good men are compromised. It is a complicated book, and well worth the time to read it. Very, very satisfying, and very good. Highly recommended.~ lss-r
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This is a library book.
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