Book Review: Terrorists gather in C.J. Box's new Joe Pickett novel, 'Battle Mountain'
So once again, Rulon turns to game warden Joe Pickett, whom he's come to regard as his own private problem-solver.
But that's far from all that goes on in 'Battle Mountain,' the 25th novel in C.J. Box's crime fiction series featuring Pickett.
Corporate and government leaders of America's military-industrial complex are gathering for a secret meeting at a remote Wyoming resort near the elk hunting grounds.
Pickett's off-the-grid pal Nate Romanowski is trying to track down a violent criminal named Axel Soledad, who killed Nate's wife in violent rampage in a previous novel, 'Three-Inch Teeth' (2024).
And Soledad, it turns out, has surreptitiously recruited a small army of terrorists to attack the secret meeting.
Unbeknownst to any of them, they are all on a collision course as they venture into the wilderness in the shadow of a towering peak called 'Battle Mountain.'
As faithful readers of the Pickett series know, Nate is a falconer, and he carries his birds with him on his hunt for Soledad. But this time, when Nate launches his birds into the sky, he 'sees' the landscape through their eyes. This unexpected introduction of mysticism may be off-putting to some readers.
Nevertheless, Box does a fine job of pulling the disparate threads of his complex story together; and he keeps readers guessing about who will live and who will die as the suspenseful, fast-paced tale heads to a violent conclusion. However, the novel contains so many references to incidents in previous books that first-time Box readers may feel a bit lost.
___
Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including 'The Dread Line.'
___
AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
20 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Thousands of Haitians mark annual pilgrimage far from a sacred waterfall surrounded by gangs
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The massive crowd that would gather once a year at a revered waterfall in central Haiti where the faithful would splash in its sacred waters and rub their bodies with aromatic leaves was not there on Wednesday. Powerful gangs in March attacked the town of Saut-d'Eau , whose 100-foot-long waterfall had for decades drawn thousands of Vodou and Christian faithful alike. The town remains under gang control, preventing thousands from participating in the traditional annual pilgrimage meant to honor the Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, closely associated with the Vodou goddess of Erzulie. 'Not going to Saut-d'Eau is terrible,' said Ti-Marck Ladouce. 'That water is so fresh it just washes off all the evilness around you.' Instead, Ladouce joined several thousand people who scrambled up a steep hill in a rural part of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, on Wednesday to honor Erzulie and the Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel at a small church that served as a substitute for the waterfall. Like many, Ladouce thanked the Virgin Mary for keeping him and his family alive amid a surge of gang violence that has left at least 4,864 people dead from October to the end of June across Haiti, with hundreds of others kidnapped, raped and trafficked. 'People are praying to be saved,' he said. A church bursting at its seams Daniel Jean-Marcel opened his arms, closed his eyes and turned toward the sky as people around him lit candles, clutched rosaries and tried to push their way into the small church that could not hold the crowd gathered around it. Jean-Marcel said he was giving thanks 'for the grace of being able to continue living in Port-au-Prince,' where gang violence has displaced more than 1.3 million people in recent years. 'There is nowhere for us to go,' he said, adding that he and his family would remain in Haiti even as people continue to flee the ravaged country despite an immigration crackdown by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, U.S. authorities deported more than 100 Haitians to their homeland on the latest such flight. Jacques Plédé, 87, was among those dressed in all white who gathered to give thanks in Port-au-Prince, of which 85% is now controlled by gangs . He recalled helping build the small church but never thought it would serve as a substitute for the Saut-d'Eau waterfall. 'It's very disgraceful for the country that the gangs are taking over one of the nicest waterfalls where people go to pray privately,' he said. 'Life is not over. One day, if I'm still alive, I'll make it back to Saut-d'Eau.' Gang leaders visit a revered church On the morning of March 31, the Canaan gang led by a man known as 'Jeff' attacked Saut-d'Eau. Police and a self-defense group repelled the attack, but the gang returned in early April with more than 500 men, prompting residents and authorities to flee, according to a new report from the U.N. human rights office. Angry over the ongoing violence and what the United Nations described as 'weak responses from authorities,' residents of Saut-d'Eau and other nearby communities in May and June took over a hydroelectric plant in protest, causing widespread power outages in Haiti's capital and its central region. On Wednesday, videos posted on social media showed Jeff Larose, leader of the Canaan gang, standing in the large church of Saut-d'Eau that traditionally hosted the annual Mass amid the three-day pilgrimage. Next to him, in the largely empty church, stood Joseph Wilson, who goes by 'Lanmo Sanjou' and is the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang , and Jimmy Chérizier , best known as 'Barbecue' and one of the leaders of a powerful gang federation known as ' Viv Ansanm ,' or 'Living Together.' The video showed them distributing money to some residents who gathered with their arms outstretched. 'They used to stop us from coming to Mount Carmel,' Barbecue said. 'We are at the foot of our mother now.' At one point, Lanmo Sanjou looked at the camera and said the Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel would give them the opportunity to perform more miracles. 'Everybody needs protection' The sounds of laughter and gurgling water were absent on Wednesday at the church in Haiti's chaotic capital where the substitute pilgrimage was underway. Hugens Jean, 40, recalled how he and his family in previous years would visit Saut-d'Eau, where they would wash themselves in the waters and cook meals in the nearby woods. 'Today is a very special day,' he said. 'I come here to pray for deliverance for my family and for the country that's in the hands of gangs. One day, we need to be free from these systematic attacks. We don't know who's going to live today or who's going to die tomorrow.' Joane Durosier, a 60-year-old Vodou priestess known as a 'mambo,' shared a similar lament. Dressed in white with a rosary in hand, Durosier said she was praying for herself and her followers. 'A lot of people are suffering,' she said. 'In a country like Haiti, everybody needs protection.' ___ Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
33 minutes ago
Cambodia makes 1,000 arrests in latest crackdown on cybercrime
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia on Wednesday said that an order by Prime Minister Hun Manet for government bodies to crackdown on criminal cybercrime operations being run in the country had resulted in the arrest of more than 1,000 suspects so far this week. Hun Manet issued the order authorising state action for 'maintaining and protecting security, public order, and social safety.' 'The government has observed that online scams are currently causing threats and insecurity in the world and the region. In Cambodia, foreign criminal groups have also infiltrated to engage in online scams,' Hun Manet's statement, dated Tuesday, said. The United Nations and other agencies estimate that cyberscams, most of them originating from Southeast Asia, earn international criminal gangs billions of dollars annually. More than 1,000 suspects were arrested in raids in at least five provinces between Monday and Wednesday, according to statements from Information Minister Neth Pheaktra and police. Those detained included more than 200 Vietnamese, 27 Chinese, and 75 suspects from Taiwan and 85 Cambodians in the capital Phnom Penh and the southern city of Sihanoukville. Police also seized equipment, including computers and hundreds of mobile phones. At least 270 Indonesians, including 45 women, were arrested Wednesday in Poipet, a town on the border with Thailand notorious for cyberscam and gambling operations, the minister said. Elsewhere, police in the northeastern province of Kratie arrested 312 people, including nationals of Thailand, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam, while 27 people from Vietnam, China and Myanmar were arrested in the western province of Pursat. Amnesty International last month published the findings of an 18-month investigation into cybercrime in Cambodia, which the human rights group said 'point towards state complicity in abuses carried out by Chinese criminal gangs.' 'The Cambodian government is deliberately ignoring a litany of human rights abuses including slavery, human trafficking, child labor and torture being carried out by criminal gangs on a vast scale in more than 50 scamming compounds located across the country,' it said. Human trafficking is closely associated with cyberscam operations, as workers are often recruited under false pretences and then held captive. 'Deceived, trafficked and enslaved, the survivors of these scamming compounds describe being trapped in a living nightmare – enlisted in criminal enterprises that are operating with the apparent consent of the Cambodian government,' Amnesty International's Secretary General Agnes Callamard said. Cambodia's latest crackdown comes in the midst of a bitter feud with neighboring Thailand, which began with a brief armed skirmish in late May over border territory claimed by both nations and has now led to border closures and nearly daily exchanges of nationalistic insults. Friendly former leaders of both countries have become estranged and there have been hot debates over which nation's cultural heritage has influenced the other. Measures initiated by the Thai side, including cutting off cross-border electricity supplies and closing crossing points, have particularly heightened tensions, with Cambodia claiming they were churlish actions of spite to retaliate for its intention to pursue its territorial claims. Thailand said its original intention was to combat long-existing cyberscam operations in Poipet.
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
1,500 tarantulas hidden in snack cake boxes smuggled into Germany
Customs officials in Cologne, Germany, made a startling discovery this summer when they inspected odd-smelling packages of snack cakes from Vietnam. Upon opening the package allegedly filled with 15 pounds of snack cakes, they discovered colorful packages of Vietnamese brands of cookies and chocolate cakes that contained, instead of sweet treats, an estimated 1,500 young tarantulas. 'The noticeable smell upon opening the large package was inconsistent with the alleged contents of 7 kilograms of biscuits,' Jens Ahland, press spokesperson for the Cologne Main Customs Office, said in a news release, translated into English. 'My colleagues at the airport are regularly surprised by the contents of prohibited packages from all over the world, but the discovery of around 1,500 small plastic containers containing young tarantulas in this package left even the most experienced among them speechless.' 3 Plastic containers holding young tarantulas that had been hidden in chocolate sponge-cake boxes shipped to Cologne Bonn airport, western Germany. AP Cologne customs officials said many of the tarantulas did not survive the flight to Cologne. If they were on a nonstop flight from Vietnam, the tarantulas would have been on the plane for about 12 hours. 'An extraordinary seizure for German Customs, even though it saddens us to see what some people do to animals purely for profit,' Ahland said. The tarantulas that did survive were placed in professional care. 3 There was an estimated 1,500 tarantulas in the packages. AP 3 Cologne customs officials said many of the tarantulas did not survive the flight to Cologne. AP Criminal proceedings are underway for the intended recipient of the tarantulas, officials said. They noted that the charges involve not declaring the animals to customs and for not paying duties on packages from a country that is not part of the European Union.
