A gripping new thriller from the author who gives pulp fiction a good name
Box's books can be read as stand-alone stories, but the series works best as a chronologically ordered account of Joe's life, the characters around him, and the changing face of rural America.
Unlike Reacher, Joe is a stickler for the rules and his 'Dudley-Do-Right reputation' precedes him wherever he goes. That he is an honourable man can readily be seen in how he goes about his work and his life. When he comes across the state governor fishing without a licence in one of the early books, he tickets him the same way he would anybody else. When interviewing somebody he suspects of stepping out of line, he's learnt that a friendly opening – 'I guess you know why I'm here?' – is far more effective than a confrontation. He has a special dislike for trophy hunters, poachers, eco-terrorists and those who hunt out of season.
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Again unlike Reacher, he's not skilled in the martial arts. He's not even a good shot when he grudgingly finds himself forced to take up arms, and he always needs help when the serious shooting starts. Which is where master falconer, former special forces operative and survivalist Nate Romanowski comes in. Introduced in Winter Kill (2003), he serves more or less the same function as Reacher does in Child's books. When he's accused of a crime he didn't commit, Joe stands by him, winning his undying loyalty.
Simmering away beneath the surfaces of the stories is Box's dismay with the peculiarly American chaos that is also known as the state of the nation: the dangerous secret organisations festering around the fringes of its everyday life; the corrupt public officialdom that tarnishes its democracy; the plight of army veterans who've been exploited in hopeless foreign incursions; the hostility to migrants. In Battle Mountain, Marybeth's online investigations reveal that an FBI agent who has been asking after Joe and Nate had been engaged in several significant domestic terrorist events that have remained unhealed wounds on the American psyche (and that include the January 6 riots in the nation's capital).
Nate is at the heart of the new book. Joe doesn't appear until page 51, although he and Marybeth are still central to the plot. Nate is bent on tracking down and wreaking vengeance upon Axel Soledad, a fellow special forces soldier gone rogue, who first appears in Shadows Reel (2022), and has been lying in wait ever since.
As Box calmly and capably winds together the various plot threads, events unfold in a savage terrain littered with small towns, isolated farmhouses and shacks, and a tourist haven for privileged easterners known as the B-Lazy-U Ranch. At stake is what is described early on as not just a threat to the characters but dangers that could 'possibly alter the trajectory of the nation itself'. And like most of the preceding books in the series, it's unputdownable.
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Readers seeking crisis support can ring Lifeline on 13 11 14 or text 0477 13 11 14, the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 and Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 (for young people aged up to 25). More information and support with mental health is available at and on 1300 22 4636.
