“When C.J. Box is at his best, there’s no writer alive today who can top him—and he’s brought his A-game with Battle Mountain.” — Ryan Steck, The Real Book Spy and Author of Gone Dark

Hello, and welcome to Twelve Sleep County, Wyoming, where the cell signal is spotty, the mountains are crawling with bad men who don’t belong, and things are about to get Western real quick. 

That’s right, C.J. Box is back and better than ever with his 25th Joe Pickett novel, Battle Mountain, another breathtaking, white-knuckle thrill ride that further cements his reputation as one of the finest voices in fiction today.

Set after the events of Three-Inch Teeth (2024), Nate Romanowski is on the hunt for the man who killed his wife and, with her, his dream of finally living a normal family life. Nate, a former special forces soldier turned outlaw falconer, wants revenge, and he’ll stop at nothing to find Axel Soledad. That’s bad news for Axel because Nate—especially when he’s one with his falcons, which is when he’s at his most primal, most lethal state—has left a lot of bodies in his wake. Longtime fans of Box’s series will no doubt be familiar with Nate’s past, while newcomers only need to know that bad guys tend to stop breathing in bunches when Nate comes around.

After a heart-thumping opening that shows just how detached Nate has come, his whole focus on ending the man who robbed his daughter of the loving childhood she could have had with her mother, the story shifts to two men preparing for an elk hunt up in the Sierra Madre mountain range. Spike Rankin is a veteran hunting guide with many years of experience, but he’s never encountered anything quite like the mysterious group of armed mercenaries he and his new assistant, Mark Eisele, happen across. The story’s first twist comes when the lead flies, and both Spike and Mark are left reeling, wondering what’s really happening in Wyoming.

Meanwhile, game warden Joe Pickett and his wife, Marybeth, are adjusting to life with a young child in the house again. After raising their three daughters, Sheridan, April, and Lucy, all of whom are now thriving adults, the couple once again finds themselves back at the beginning with Kestral, Nate’s daughter, whom he trusted the Picketts to care for after the death of his wife, Liv Brennan sent him back to his wild, off-the-grid ways. Joe, honest to a fault and still a lousy shot with his pistol, loves his family and being a game warden. He’s even happy that their old governor, Spencer Rulon, is back in office—that is until Rulon, who, during his past administration, made Joe his “range rider,” a fancy way of saying that he tasked Joe with dangerous assignments all over the state, once again needs his help. As it turns out, Rulon’s son-in-law has gone missing, and with little to no leads to go on, Rulon, who doesn’t want his daughter to know her husband is MIA, tasks Joe with finding the man as quickly as possible.
 
What Joe doesn’t know, though, is that the search for Rulon’s son-in-law puts him on a direct collision course with the fallout of Nate’s hunt for Axel Soledad, and as storylines cross, things heat up in a big way. And by now, Box’s legion of fans know that when things get Western, nobody is safe . . .
 
Buckle up because there’s no putting this one down, and once the battle breaks out, it’s a bloody, nail-biting sprint to the finish line.
 
When C.J. Box is at his best, there’s no writer alive today who can top him—and he’s brought his A-game with Battle Mountain. For fans of the Joe Pickett series, this novel offers everything you’ve come to expect—high stakes, sharp twists, and unforgettable characters (both new and old)—while delving deeper into the dark, untamed corners of Nate Romanowski’s soul. For newcomers, it’s a perfect entry point into the gritty, atmospheric world C.J. Box has built, and once you’ve gotten a taste, good luck trying not to binge the whole series before the 26th book comes out sometime next spring. If you plan to read one book in 2025, make it this one.