In this 25th book in the 'Joe Pickett' series, the game warden searches for the Governor's missing son-in-law. For maximum enjoyment, readers should be familiar with the previous novel in the series, Three-Inch Teeth.
Background: Joe Pickett is a Wyoming game warden who's encountered all kinds of trouble in his district, Twelve Sleep County. Joe has a reputation for being the most destructive game warden in Wyoming history, for wrecking so many cars, getting his house destroyed, and shooting the ex-Governor's plane.
In 'Three-Inch Teeth', a violent sociopath named Axel Soledad helped perpetrate horrific crimes and got away.
Now Joe's friend, Nate Romanowski - a master falconer and the toughest outdoorsman in the country - is after Axel for killing his wife.
*****
As the story opens, Nate Romanowski is stalking Axel Soledad and his criminal gang.
Nate vowed not to return home until he kills Axel, so Nate's 2-year-old daughter Kestral is staying with Joe Pickett and his wife Marybeth.
Nate manages to track down - and exterminate - some of Axel's associates, but Axel himself is in the wind. Nate is living in a cave, still planning revenge, when he's joined by his fellow outdoorsman and falconer, Geronimo Jones. Jones is after Axel as well, for burning down his house.
Nate and Geronimo join forces to find Axel, and bits of information about Axel's whereabouts lead them to Battle Mountain in southern Wyoming.
In the meantime, Joe Pickett is given an assignment by Governor Rulon. The governor's son-in-law Mark Eisele is a computer tech with no 'outdoorsy' experience. To toughen Mark up, Rulon arranged for Mark to accompany veteran hunting guide Spike Rankin.
Now Mark and Spike are missing, and Rulon - who fears the wrath of his wife and daughter - asks Joe to search for them. By coincidence, Spike's hunting camp is in the area of Battle Mountain, so Joe heads there to look for the two adventurers.
The reader is aware that Mark and Spike were scouting elk-hunting areas when they came upon disaffected military veterans in Axel's band. Mark and Spike are now prisoners in Axel's compound, an old abandoned hotel. Axel and his followers are planning a terrorist attack, and didn't expect outsiders to stumble on their location.
The group Axel plans to attack are bigwigs in the military-industrial complex, including the Secretary of State, Army generals, arms manufacturers, and so on. This group is having its yearly gathering - a combination meeting and hunting/fishing vacation - at a ritzy Battle Mountain resort. Axel thinks he can kill them all at once, and deal a serious blow to the government.
As all this is going on, FBI Agent Rick Orr is looking for Nate and Geronimo, for reasons that become clear as the story unfolds.
The upshot is that ALL the main protagonists are congregated in the vicinity of Battle Mountain, and things come to a head at the book's climax.
As all this going on, Joe Pickett's wife Maryann and daughter Sheridan have their own adventure - and it involves Sheriff Bishop of Twelve Sleep County. (You'll have to read the book.)
There's a lot going on in this novel, but the story is easy to follow, and there's plenty of action and adventure. Recommended to fans of Joe Pickett novels.
Rating: 4 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment