C.J. Box has been writing about the fictional adventures of Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett for over two decades. During that time, Pickett has remained happily married and watched his daughters grow up. He has become a little battered and a little slower over time, yet he still loves his job.
“Shadows Reel” is the 22nd Joe Pickett novel. While age and injuries may have cost Joe Pickett a thing or two compared to his younger self, the series is going as strong as ever.
The novel opens with a rancher assuming that the carcass of a moose poached out of season has attracted scavenging birds circling a remote corner of his land. Pickett responds, but he finds not a moose, but the body of a dead man. The man had been tortured and set on fire before being dumped.
That same morning, Joe’s wife Marybeth, head librarian at Saddlestring’s public library, arrives at work to see a strange man dropping off a package before disappearing. Marybeth has come early, well before opening time, wanting to finish work early to prepare for the next day’s Thanksgiving dinner. Their daughters will all be there, a first since the Picketts moved into their new home.
The package proves to be a photo album owned by Julius Streicher, an infamous Nazi leader. Repulsive as the donation is, Marybeth recognizes its historical value. Where did it come from? Several Wyoming residents were part of a battalion that reached Hitler’s Alpine retreat at the end of World War II. One of them took Hitler’s personal photo album. Another may have seized this album.
Meanwhile, Joe’s friend, Nate Romanowski, is pursuing a killer who stole Nate’s falcons and attacked Nate’s wife. Nate runs a bird abatement service with the falcons. He needs his birds back. A network of fellow falconers helps him track down the thief. This puts Nate on a collision course with Antifa, the group the thief is assisting.
The threads merge in an exciting climax involving fascists and anti-fascists. Box takes the tired “white supremacist” trope used by many mystery writers today and twists it into a believable and original story. This one involves not neo-Nazis, but the descendants of the real thing. He also highlights the fascism of Antifa. Joe Pickett fans will love this one. (Yes, Pickett totals another truck, as expected.) So will those who’ve never previously read a Joe Pickett mystery.
“Shadows Reel” by C.J. Box (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2022).
