As I write, my “to be read” pile boasts the new Michael Connelly, a Lee Child, Roslund & Hellstrom’s highly rated Three Seconds, a Karin Slaughter, and an extremely tempting chunk of Faber’s 2012 catalogue.  And yet, I find myself reading three CJ Box efforts on the spin.  Below Zero is the third of my Box marathon, and the ninth in the Joe Pickett series.

Following the events of Blood Trail, Pickett is in exile in Baggs, out in the Wyoming hinterland where game wardens’ careers go to die.   He is away from his home and family for lengthy stretches, and it is during one such absence when his eldest daughter receives a text message from April, his foster daughter, killed six years ago during a shoot-out with survivalists.  As the content of the messages becomes increasingly dark, and the evidence April really is still alive becomes harder to dismiss, Pickett takes to the road in order to save his foster daughter, and in doing so succeed where he failed once before.

Below Zero represents a change in style for Box on many levels.  While his work typically takes place in rural Wyoming (and with occasional flirtations with Yellowstone National Park), Below Zero sees the characters make forays into urban Chicago.  Likewise, Box’s antagonists are often dyed-in-the-wool rural folk, or ex-pat city-dwellers seeking a piece of Wyoming’s natural beauty (usually to exploit it).  However, in Below Zero, the villains of the piece are cut from urban cloth, and fit a more traditional crime fiction mould.  Finally, this is less of a mystery and more of a protracted chase scene, with establishing the facts of the case ultimately being less important than tracking down April.  Such sweeping changes to his usual pattern may be a little disconcerting to Box’s regular readers, but this is purely a matter of preference.  Those who wouldn’t choose to fix what ain’t broke may grumble at the encroaching urbanity; those who admire a writer for taking a chance in order to keep a series fresh should jump in with both feet.

However, there is a slight deviation from Box’s usual high level of plausibility.  While Box covers himself with great attention to detail, and believable decisions made by characters, there is something about the antagonist’s motivation in Below Zero which seems more outlandish than usual.  Environmental extremists frequently grace the pages of Box’s books, but rarely do they manage to fuse psychopathy and dogma with such maniacal results.
The examination of ecological issues is as rigorous as ever though, and in Below Zero, Box turns his attentions to the world of carbon offsetting.  His thorough research ensures the debate between characters is well informed, giving the reader the usual dose of free education with their entertainment.  While the debate itself is characterised by the polarised rhetoric so familiar in the real world, Box does the reader the courtesy of throwing in numerous facts; I learned more about the issue in a couple of days than I have in eighteen months of having rolling news coverage in the background while I work.

The strength of Below Zero however, is in its relentless pace.  While there is less character study here than in his other work, Box shows a genuine flair for lengthy action scenes, adding yet another string to his impressive literary bow.

Overall, if you’re looking to delve into the work of CJ Box (and if not, why not?), Below Zero may not be an appropriate starting point (the ninth book in any series seldom is).  But if, like me, you’re already familiar with him, sit back and enjoy another chunk of great crime fiction from Wyoming’s finest.

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