On March 8, 2022, Joe Pickett, America’s favorite game warden, returns to action in Shadows Reel, the next novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author C.J. Box.
Joe Pickett, who was first introduced in Box’s 2001 debut Open Season, has gone on to star in twenty-one books to date, including, most recently, this year’s Dark Sky. That book followed Joe as he accompanied a tech baron on an elk hunting trip that went terribly wrong when a cold-blooded killer emerges hot on their trail—their sights set squarely on the tech giant, with only Joe standing in their way. As always, Box delivered yet another unputdownable adventure that, for my money, is the best so far to hit store shelves in 2021.
This time around, in Box’s forthcoming twenty-second novel, things become far more personal for Joe when the Pickett family, including Joe’s wife and their three daughters, find themselves in the crosshairs of a dangerous killer.
Check out the striking cover art and exciting plot details below.
Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett’s job has many times put his wife and daughters in harm’s way. Now the tables turn as his wife discovers something that puts the Pickett family in a killer’s crosshairs in this thrilling new novel in the bestselling series.
A day before the three Pickett girls come home for Thanksgiving, Marybeth Pickett finds an unmarked package at the front door of the library where she works. When she opens the package she finds a photo album that belonged to an infamous Nazi official. Who left it there? And why did they leave it with her?
She learns that during World War II several Wyoming soldiers were in the group that fought to Hitler’s Eagles Nest retreat in the Alps—and one of them took Hitler’s personal photo album. Did another take this one and keep it all these years? When she finds the name of a deceased local man who was likely in the unit, Joe visits the man’s son—only to find him brutally tortured and murdered. Someone is after the photo album—but why? And when a close neighbor is murdered, Joe and Marybeth face a new question: How will they figure out the book’s mystery before someone hurts them…or their girls?
Meanwhile, Nate Romanowski is on the hunt for a younger and more ruthless version of himself—the man who stole Nate’s falcons and attacked his wife. Using a network of fellow falconers, Nate tracks the man from one city to another, learning that his target is an agitator and a financier of anarchists. Even as he grasps the true threat his quarry presents, Nate swoops in for the kill—and a stunning final showdown.
C. J. Box is the author of twenty Joe Pickett novels, six stand-alone novels, and a story collection. He has won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe, and Barry Awards, as well as the French Prix Calibre .38, and has been a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist. A Wyoming native, Box has also worked on a ranch and as a small-town newspaper reporter and editor. He lives outside Cheyenne with his family. His books have been translated into twenty-seven languages. He’s an executive producer of ABC TV’s Big Sky, which is based on his Cody Hoyt/Cassie Dewell novels, as well as executive producer of the upcoming Joe Pickett television series for Paramount Studios/Spectrum Originals.
In other C.J. Box news, Deadline recently reported that Joe Pickett, a 10-episode television series, has been picked up with actor Michael Dorman (Patriot, For All Mankind) set to play the title role. That, of course, is hot on the heels of Big Sky, which just wrapped a very successful first season on ABC, which follows Box’s series dubbed the “Highway Quartet,” a separate series that stands apart from Joe, Nate Romanowski, and the rest of his cast in Wyoming. Diehard fans of Box’s work have waited a long time to see his characters brought to life on the small screen, and if Big Sky is any indication, those fans are in for a real treat whenever Joe Pickett premiers.
Readers anxious to get their hands on Shadows Reel can now pre-order C.J. Box’s next novel wherever books are sold. In the meantime, for more information on the books and the TV projects, make sure you’re following the author on Facebook, Twitter, and his official website.
Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Ryan Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor and pens a monthly thriller column for CrimeReads. Additionally, he co-hosts ThrillerTalk, a new podcast with K.J. Howe. For more information, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He currently lives in Southwest Michigan with his wife and their six children.