Drugs and murder in the mountains of Wyoming

While cruising the Shawano County Library e-book section, I ran across “Long Range” by C.J. Box.

Game Warden Joe Pickett has been pulled off his Saddlestring, Wyoming, beat to help in recovering the body of Jim Trenary, a well-known guide. According to a hunter, Jim had been mauled in an unprovoked grizzly attack. All agree that the man’s story is hinky, but first they must find Jim.

About halfway up the mountain, Joe is called back to Saddlestring immediately. When he gets there, he learns that Judge Hewitt’s wife, Sue, has been shot and is in poor condition. The judge is certain that the bullet was meant for him but hit Sue instead. He wants the shooter caught fast, so he summoned this group of men. Joe knows he’s an outsider but is here because the judge insisted.

The new sheriff, Brendon Kapelow, is a mystery and unpopular because he shares nothing with his deputies and won’t listen to other theories. Joe and Kapelow disagree on the location of the shooter. Kapelow says it’s nearby, but Joe and other officers believe it was a long-range shot from a very high-powered rifle. Joe must investigate on his own and soon finds where the shooter and spotter set up far from the Hewitt house.

The next day, county prosecutor Duane Patterson is nearly killed when a bullet slams through his windshield.

Who would be the next target? While Joe is working his way through the sparse evidence, master falconer Nate Romanowski is informed that a drug cartel is planning revenge for his part in killing one of their most murderous operators. A former special ops soldier, Nate used to live off the grid by his own rules but has settled down with a wife and baby girl and would do anything to protect them.

When Kapelow gets an anonymous tip, he goes to Nate’s falcon mews, finds the rifle and arrests Nate. Nate is furious because he knows he’s being set up, leaving his wife and baby vulnerable.

Meanwhile, Joe and wife Marybeth are shocked when Marybeth’s mother, Missy, shows up. Her current husband has pancreatic cancer, and she’s come to Saddlestring to get the drugs (obviously illegal) that might help him. As a game warden, Joe isn’t interested in where Missy is getting her drugs. He just wants her to go away.

Just as Joe is beginning to put together the few clues he has, Sue Hewitt dies. He’s surprised because she had been improving under the care of Tom Arnold, the new doctor in town. It all comes together when Joe recalls two different conversations. He races to confront the man who spotted for the shooter and get him to jail, but the shooter is waiting to gun them down.

When the smoke clears, Joe and two county deputies race to the shooter’s home. They have deliberately left the sheriff out of the loop, feeling that his grandstanding would cost lives. The shooter has gone to a secluded cabin, so Joe and deputies mount up and go after him. In a foolhardy/heroic effort, Joe rides in — hoping to get a shot as the man tries to aim the rifle. One error in timing and Joe is down, but the deputies take down the shooter.

As all that is happening, Nate escapes the jail and tracks down the man who has taken his family. The outcome is ugly, but effective. Joe wakes in the hospital, lucky to be alive. He’ll need a long rehab but should recover with few lasting effects. Things in the Pickett household are changing again, but Joe is thrilled that he and Marybeth survived another ordeal together, and their family is once again intact.

AT A GLANCE

BOOK: “Long Range”

AUTHOR: C.J. Box

PUBLISHER: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

PUBLISHED: March 3, 2020

PAGES: 367