Another month, another CJ Box.  From the month of September comes Free Fire, the seventh in the Joe Pickett series.  Still reeling from the dark events that drew In Plain Sight to a close, Free Fire finds Pickett cast out of his role as game warden by joyless bureaucrat Randy Pope.  To make ends meet, he works as a ranch hand for his father-in-law.  His pay is dwarfed by that of wife Marybeth, and he yearns for the fulfilment and autonomy of his former life.
Such is Pickett’s professional situation when the plot kicks off; and what a plot it is.  A sociopathic killer guns down four people in cold blood, and reports directly to the authorities, handing over the murder weapons and admitting culpability.  But, much like true love, the course of law enforcement never did run smooth, and the killer walks.  Thanks to a legal loophole created by national park boundary legislation, it is impossible to prosecute him.  As part of the ongoing investigation into these events, Governor Rulon approaches Pickett with a clandestine proposition; Joe must travel to Yellowstone without official portfolio, and establish the facts of the case.

Of course, all the staples of a fine CJ Box book are included.  Joe’s vindictive mother-in-law Missy continues to blight his existence with her assaults on his marriage; Joe finds ever more inventive ways to destroy state-owned vehicles; the striking natural beauty of Wyoming is covered in-depth (with Old Faithful enjoying a starring role); and Nate Romanowski, Joe’s partner and all-round avenging angel, stalks about the tale with his trusty .454 Casull, dispensing justice in a manner that continues to make Mike Hammer look like a sissy.

As ever, this is no mere crowd pleaser though.  The characters remain as complex as ever, making them a joy to return to time and again.  The darkness in Joe’s family history is opened up, providing stark contrast with the light of the present.  As his daughters have aged, their bickering remains, but is now complemented by thoughtfulness, and indeed some strong opinions of their own, challenging debate being another staple of Box’s work.
There are intellectually provocative passages throughout Free Fire, the obvious being those involving Lucy Pickett’s school teacher; a quixotic environmentalist who gleefully (and misguidedly) drives in excess of a hundred miles each week in order to visit a recycling centre.  While her foolishness would seem to make the issue clear-cut, Box refrains from beating the reader around the head from either a pro- or anti- position, maturely allowing his audience to reach their own conclusions.

Despite all this, the main controversy at the heart of Free Fire takes a while to rear its head.  This is out of necessity; in this instance the nature of the controversy underpins the motive, and so, ever the master of suspense, Box keeps the issue close to his chest.  The trade off is a slight loss of urgency compared to some of his other books.  The emphasis here though, is on the word ‘slight;’ this is still another triumph from a writer fast muscling his way into my own personal top three.  When the finale hits, it does with characteristic force, offering up double-crossing, gut-wrenching violence, and at the same time, an examination of platonic love between two men that precious few writers have the skill to tackle this well.  As the Foo Fighters would say; “done, done and I’m on to the next one.”

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