Badlands

The Highway Quartet #3

by C.J. Box, January LaVoy (Reading)

In C.J. Box's Badlands, the town of Grimstad used to be a place people came from but were never headed to. Now it’s the oil capital of North Dakota. With oil comes money, with money comes drugs, and with drugs come the dirtiest criminals Grimstad’s new deputy sheriff Cassie Dewell has ever encountered. . .


Twelve-year-old Kyle Westergaard dreams of getting out of Grimstad and leading a better life. Even though Kyle has been written off as a “slow” kid, he has dreams deeper than anyone can imagine. One day, while delivering newspapers, he witnesses a car accident and takes a mysterious bundle from the scene. Suddenly he’s in possession of a lot of money—and packets of white powder—and Kyle can’t help but wonder whether his luck has changed…for better or for worse.

“Suspenseful—you can’t put it down.’’—Library Journal

When the temperature drops to 30 below and a gang war heats up, it’s up to Cassie to help restore law and order. But is she in over her head? As she is propelled on a collision course with a murderous enemy, she finds that the key to it all might come in the most unlikely form: a boy on a bike named Kyle. He keeps showing up where he doesn’t belong. And he seems to know something that Cassie does not about what lies beneath the surface of this small and troubled town…


“The unrelenting cold makes this the perfect beach read.”—Kirkus Reviews

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Audiobook, Suspense, Mystery Thriller

10 pages, Audio CD

First published July 28, 2015

About the author

C. J. Box is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 24 novels including the Joe Pickett series. He won the Edgar Alan Poe Award for Best Novel (Blue Heaven, 2009) as well as the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, two Barry Awards, and the 2010 Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Award for fiction. He was recently awarded the 2016 Western Heritage Award for Literature by the National Cowboy Museum as well as the Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel by the Western Writers of America in 2017. The novels have been translated into 27 languages.

Box is a Wyoming native and has worked as a ranch hand, surveyor, fishing guide, a small town newspaper reporter and editor, and he co-owns an international tourism marketing firm with his wife Laurie. They have three daughters. An avid outdoorsman, Box has hunted, fished, hiked, ridden, and skied throughout Wyoming and the Mountain West. He served on the Board of Directors for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. Box lives in Wyoming.

--from the author's website

Series:
* Joe Pickett

http://us.macmillan.com/author/cjbox

Reviews

[PamG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Badlands by C.J. Box brings combines a crime thriller with a police procedural. There’s plenty of suspense and action in the third book in The Highway Quartet series. Sheriff’s office Chief Investigator Cassie Dewell has a new job in Grimstad, North Dakota where an oil boom has jumped the size of the town from 12,000 to 65,000. With this increase has come an increase in crime. Twelve-year-old Kyle Westergaard wants a better life away from the town. One morning on his paper route, he witnesses a car accident and finds a bundle to money and white powder. Will this enable him and his mom to leave the town?

Cassie is hard working, straight-forward, does her research, and can be tenacious when she’s pursing an investigation. However, she also seems to make errors in judgment and easily jumps to conclusions. At times she seems to be reticent and at other times aggressive.
The story has a continuation of a backstory as well as the new cases from Cassie’s North Dakota job. This adds suspense and some turmoil to the somewhat straightforward crime spree there. Readers quickly learn who the bad guys are so it’s a matter of solid investigative work for Cassie and her colleagues to catch up with us.

There is plenty of violence in this one. Additionally, there's a case of child endangerment that I felt was unrealistic. There are spoilers in this book for previous ones so the series is best read in order. Some scenes seemed unrealistic about riding a bicycle in extremely cold weather and snow. Despite these quibbles, I enjoyed the story and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series. Themes include drugs, violence, murder, family, and much more.

Overall, this novel was engaging and thought-provoking. It was descriptive without slowing the pacing and readers can easily feel they’re experiencing winter in North Dakota.

I purchased a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was July 28, 2015.

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My 4.19 rounded to 4 stars review is coming soon.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I would try this author as I have always been inquisitive about how his series would go, but it fell short unfortunately I am not into gang wars , so for me it was a bit boring I did like Kyle's character he was well written it it wasn't enjoyable at all a slow burn had me thinking of other things time to move on.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hot book in a very cold place. It’s set in a town that sounds an awful lot like Williston, N.D. The pace is fast and the characters very good.

I’m new to C.J. Box books but think he probably deserves the good ratings he gets. This book is set in North Dakota in the wintertime where it is often -30F. The only state in the union that has colder average temperatures is Alaska. Minnesota is warmer. You might ask “why do people live there?” In the story here, it’s an oil boom and the money it brings. It resembles a Wild West mining town. The population suddenly doubles, triples and more. The sheriff who hires the main character to be his new lead crime investigator says the population changes day to day and he has no idea how many people really live in this stressed town. “Man camps” are built on the fringes of town for housing. 90% and more of the new residents have high paying jobs and no women with them. Again, sounds like gold mining bonanzas of the old West. No women, no civilization. Drugs! Here come new and savage gangs. All kinds of crime is getting out of hand. I think Box handled this in a very intelligent way and covered many pertinent issues. It felt very real to me and not excessively exaggerated.

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my third CJ Box book. Having previously read Back of Beyond, and The Highway and really enjoying them, Badlands fell a little flat with me.

I don't particularly enjoy stories about drug/gang wars and so this was a negative for me from the start. I was looking forward to continuing the story of the hunt for 'the Lizard King', and in this respect the book starts off promisingly enough. But we are soon diverted into the drug war by a shift of location for Deputy Cassie Dewell to Grimstad, North Dakota, where Cassie has just been appointed Deputy Sherriff.

Grimstad was a nothing town until oil was discovered. Now it is growing too fast for its infrastructure and problems are beginning to surface. Drugs and prostitution abound. There is a least one 'bad' cop in the department whom Cassie has been tasked with uncovering. And there is a twelve year old paperboy who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and who picked up a package thrown out of an overturned car and took it home.

There are people looking for that package, bad people who will stop at nothing to recover it. And they certainly are not going to allow a twelve year old learning challenged boy to stand in their way.

I loved Kyle's character. He is a charming, determined boy with a bad life but big dreams, and is probably the highlight of this whole book.

This is not a bad book. It just didn't have the same sense of tension that I felt in the previous two.

Will I read the next book in this series? Definitely. This Lizard King thing has me hooked.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for the ARC of Badlands in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

[Theresa Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cassie Dewell takes a job as the chief investigator for the sheriff’s department in frigidly cold Grimstad, North Dakota, a formerly small town that struck oil. Now, there are more men than women in town by 10 to 1, and housing can’t be built fast enough to keep up with all the people moving there to get rich working in the oil fields. The police department has had to grow to meet the demand of this new population—some of whom want illegal drugs. Where you have demand you have dealers—and the associated murders that go with rival gangs trying to rule the market.

Kyle Westergaard is a mentally challenged 12-year-old working as a paperboy. Riding his bike one freezing cold morning, he witnesses a car accident and discovers a bag of cash and another bag filled with mysterious white stuff. He sees a way to help his mother, who has battled drug and alcohol dependence and is now sober and working at McDonald’s. Unfortunately, she has terrible taste in men, and her boyfriend, who likes to be called T-Lock, thinks he can outsmart the people the drugs and money belong to.

I really like Cassie, and I enjoyed this story. This is the third out of six books in The Highway series. In Badlands, Cassie is still pursuing the Lizard King, who is suspected of torturing and murdering possibly hundreds of women, most of whom worked truck-stop parking lots as prostitutes. For that story line, you’d want to read these books in order.

[Darla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cassie Dewell gets top marks for her performance as the new lead investigator for Grimstad, North Dakota. There are a bunch of moving parts in this one and although I knew C.J. Box could bring them all together in the end, I still did not love this one as much as 'The Highway.' Although this book is several years old, I found it relevant to recent debate over decisions regarding the Keystone pipeline. As noted in this book, the alternatives to the pipeline are train transportation or very slow barges. Food for thought. High marks for January Lavoy as narrator! Looking forward to the next installment.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I somehow read all of The Highway Quartet series, but book 3. A pleasant surprise that I get to dive into the hunt for the Lizard King one more time. This book was very good, but the plot deals more with drug distribution and MS13. Very entertaining audio, I love January LaVoy narrating as Cassie. Highly recommend this series to crime-mystery readers.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

CJ Box delivers a fast paced crime novel set during a freezing cold winter in North Dakota.
The characters are fully rounded, especially the wonderful Cassie Dowell, and so well drawn that you can't help rooting for the good guys & hating the bad ones.
This is the first CJ Box novel I've read, but it definitley won't be the last.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this a lot, but time will tell if Detective Cassie Dewell proves as engaging a character as Box’s Joe Pickett as the hero of the author’s terrific series of 15 books featuring a Wyoming game warden. An overweight single mother with an aging, kibitzing mother, Cassie leaves her position in Helena, Montana, for a post with the sheriff’s department in an oil-boom town over the line into North Dakota. The sleepy town has undergone recent gone unprecedented growth and now is the site of a gang war over the drug business, with police corruption an inevitable factor given the money at play. Cassie barely gets a chance to move before a series of brutal murders begins, and it’s a catch-up ballgame that kept me on the edge throughout. I love the way her mind works in reading the clues and the brave cat-and-mouse game she plays to trap her dangerous adversaries.

From the beginning, we spend a lot of time in the mind of a 12-year old boy, Kyle, who collects a package of drugs and money that fell out of a fatal car crash he witnesses on his paper route. He is a loner, tagged by everyone as a retard, but his main problem appears to be a speech defect more than intellectual challenges. He hopes the money can help save his mother, who is struggling with poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, and looking for love in all the wrong places. Her greedy boyfriend interferes with his plans and brings the wolves to their door with a scheme to profit from the windfall. Kyle’s resourcefulness and resilience in this tough situation where even the police can’t be trusted is a wonder to behold. His constantly biking around in 20 below-zero weather never failed to put an edge of worry in my sympathy for his desperate straits.

The strength of the Pickett series lies in the unconventional job for its crime investigator, his dogged Dudley-Do-Right character willing to pursue underhanded means to achieve justice, the outdoor settings of the action, and themes relating to the rural environment of the mountain west and its exploitation. Having a more typical law enforcement officer for a protagonist takes away some of the uniqueness for Box’s work, but having a woman as hero has some interesting challenges to make up for that loss. Like Pickett, and unlike so many other fictional detectives with tormented personalities, Cassie is emotionally healthy, has a playful mind, and is easy to identify with. I look forward to giving her a chance in any future reads (unclear if this is a series). I am not sure if I will backtrack to the pair of books set in Montana, “Back of Beyond” and “The Highway”, the latter of which has some backstory for Cassie.

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars for Badlands: The Highway Quartet, Book 3 (audiobook) by C. J. Box read by January LaVoy.

Cassie Dewell has relocated to Dewell, North Dakota. She just became their new sheriff as this formerly sleepy town has become the oil capital of the state. As the population has exploded, violent crime is on the rise. And the police chief has her working alone to make sure her other officers aren’t in on crime spree. Rival gangs have moved in and things heat up as the temperature hits 30 below.

[Bill Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Box doesn’t disappoint with this, the 3rd in his Quartet series. Cassie Dewell has taken a new position in Grimstad, ND when a local boy discovers a bag full of drugs and money. A bloody gang war breaks out as temperatures hit 30 below and Box takes his readers on a high tension thrill ride through the wintery landscape.

[Alex Cantone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two vehicles race along the icy highway outside Grimstad, North Dakota, oil capital of the new Wild West. One car is forced off the road where it flips, overturning several times, trapping the driver. The second car drives off as a police patrol vehicle appears, followed by a second which “calls in” a single vehicle accident.

The scene is witnessed by twelve-year old Kyle Westergaard, undersized for his age and with a speech impediment due to fetal alcohol syndrome. He was delivering newspapers on his pushbike through the snow and stopped off at a bluff to survey the flames from the ducts of the fracking wells. Though dismissed as simple, Kyle has a dream of cruising his friend’s boat down the Missouri River to its confluence with the Mississippi and down to the Gulf. He collects items for this journey from rubbish skips and stoops to retrieve a package flung from the overturned vehicle from the snow, placing it in his pannier to take home. It is found by his mother’s feckless boyfriend, T-Lock, who opens it and sees an opportunity…

Cassie Dewell arrives in Grimstad from Helena, Montana, appointed Chief Investigator to Sheriff Kirkbride who suspects corruption within his department. She has a reputation as an uncompromising detective, and her mother and young son are to join her there. She soon discovers that not everyone welcomes her, particularly her predecessor, sent back out on patrol.

”My mother will be in for a shock, that’s for sure. She’s a vegan and she’s into sustainable and organic.”
“Whatever that is,” Kirkbride said, taking a long pull of his beer. “She’s in for a culture shock.”

The title “Badlands” relates to the rock formations, twelve miles east of the border with Montana, but is also a euphemism for a small farming community overwhelmed by oil workers living in “Man Camps”. And big money attracts drugs, prostitutes and criminals.

With temperatures dropping to thirty-below, body parts appear around town, identified by tattoos as a man starting a chapter of the “Sons of Freedom”. The disappearance of others suggests the town is witnessing a gang war, with the vicious Hispanic MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha) muscling in from California.

The strength of CJ Box’s writing is in the characters: from law enforcement turning a blind eye to minor felonies to focus on major crime, to the gangs, to people living on the fringes of society. There is no glamour at play here, only hard work, greed and bloodshed. A mighty read.

[Rex Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s hard to imagine a better written book. Lean sentences. Story first, last, and always. Really, really impressed with this.

Cassie Dewell, who we met in Box’s “The Highway,” where she first battled the Lizard King, the long-haul trucker serial killer, confronts him again. She then leaves Helena, Montana’s, sheriff’s department for a fictional Grimstad (note the play on words), North Dakota, which resembles oil-booming, ice cold Williston. She lands smack in the middle of a drug turf war between a biker gang and MS-13. Kyle Westergaard, a twelve year-old paper boy found a drug courier’s load of cash and meth and took it home to help his formerly alcoholic, drug-addicted Mom. Her boyfriend finds it and immediately – thinking he is clever – starts a play that will inevitably bring on the traffickers’ assassins. Cassie’s new job with the Grimstad Sheriff’s puts her in the sights of the deputies who’re on the drug lords’ payroll. Box masterfully shows us what the boy, Kyle, does. And, we learn there will be at least one more encounter with the Lizard King.

One of the few I’ve read within a twenty four hour period. You just can’t not like it.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Cassie Dewell, who was introduced in The Highway, has a new job opportunity as the Chief Investigator for the sheriff department in Grimstad, North Dakota. It used to be a dying town until they struck oil thanks to fracking. Now it is the Wild West. The town is booming. There is a lot of money and with that comes drugs and gangs.

Kyle Westergaard is a twelve year old paperboy. Kyle is small and has a speech impediment due to fetal alcohol syndrome. Most people consider him to be "slow" and they really don't notice him. But Kyle has dreams. He wants to get out of Grimstad, take care of his alcoholic mother, give them a better life. One morning while delivering his papers he witnesses a car accident. A package is thrown from the car in the accident. A package with lots of money and white powder. Kyle believes this is his chance to get out of Grimstad and make those dreams come true.

The drugs and money belonged to the MS-13 gang and they blame a local biker gang for the disappearance. MS-13 is vicious and will stop at nothing to get the missing package back. Cassie isn't sure what she got herself into when she took the job as Chief Investigator but as the gang war intensifies she keeps seeing a twelve year old boy on a bike.

I had mixed feelings about this book but I liked Kyle. He hasn't had an easy life with fetal alcohol syndrome, speech impediment, alcoholic mother, and people who treat him like he is slow. But Kyle is determined. He has dreams. Nothing stops him. Not the brutal weather in Grimstad. Apparently not even the MS-13 and biker gangs. He gets on his bike and pedals.

[Benji Glaab · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely enjoy these on audio where it's easy enough to digest while multi tasking. Though there are some serious issues in the content I find it quite comical at times and with all due respect to the author it has the B movie comedy factor complete with bad guys that you know exactly how they are going to react etc. If you've ever enjoyed Steven Segal or Chuck Norris you will be right at home here

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this library book and I am counting it for North Dakota in my US state challenge. This book is more of a thriller than a mystery, in that the bad guys are revealed early on. The suspense builds as they start killing people, while they look for a missing bag of drugs worth over a million dollars. The key to the missing drugs is a 12 year old boy who is mentally challenged, due to fetal alcohol syndrome. This book 2 in the Cassie Dewell series, but it read ok as a stand alone.

Cassie is a single mother, widow of a soldier killed in Afghanistan. She has quit her job in Montana to take a better job in N. Dakota. She is now the Chief Investigator for the Bakken County, ND, Sheriff's Dept. The Sheriff warns her that there could be corrupt deputies in his department and she must only report to him. This book takes place during a bitter N. Dakota winter where temperatures drop to minus 20 or 30 overnight and don't get above freezing(32F) in the daytime. A good book to read in the hot summer. I read it in 3 days, finding it hard to put down about half way through.

I thought the characters were believable and the plot moved along briskly. I liked the ending. There is a plot line that sets up book 3 in the series. I plan to read more of this series.

[Natalie M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little difficult to rate a book when you start three novels into the series (without realising there were two before the one you are reading)!

The blurb had me hooked but the actual story does not pan-out as per the jacket. I was expecting one thing and was delivered something entirely different. It landed up being a good gang/drug war story with some memorable characters, particularly Kyle.

Will I go back and read the first two, probably not. Will I continue the series, yes, as I need to see how the 'Lizard King' angle unfolds.

[John (JC) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to go back to read this book after realizing I had somehow skipped this while reading The Highway Quartet series. I am glad I did. It put the rest of the books in perspective. The characters are believable, the plots are solid and the action plentiful. This series is a worthy read.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update: As part of my binge on this series, I just re-read this one and concur with what I wrote in 2015. Brrrr, I felt that freezing weather in North Dakota which is so totally opposite from hot Texas. I failed to mention all the body parts that show up in this one plus the exciting and action filled ending.

Original review from 2015:
C.J. Box has another winner!

Detective Cassie Dewell, who tried to catch the Lizard King in Box's last novel, is back and moving to North Dakota for a new job as chief investigator with the sheriff's department. In this novel, we meet twelve year old Kyle Westergaard who witnesses an early morning car wreck while delivering his newspapers in the cold. Kyle takes home a package he found thrown from the wreckage and this sets up a series of events that result in murder and mayhem from the guys who want it back. Meanwhile, Cassie has to deal with possible corruption in law enforcement in her new job while investigating a series of gruesome murders.

I read every C.J. Box novel and particularly like Box's Joe Pickett character. I thought the character development in this novel was fabulous too and I hope we get more novels with Cassie Dewell.

[Frosty61 · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging story that features the growing pains of the 'fracking' towns of North Dakota and how law enforcement officers struggle to handle all that goes with the influx of people into those small towns. There's a lot of grisly violence throughout as Cassie Dewell (newly hired police investigatior) is assigned to figure out if a car accident is somehow related to a gang war that's heating up. Cassie is a likable character, strong, fallible, and smart. Twelve year old Kyle comes across much the same, despite his speech problems and label as the 'slow kid'. The descriptions of the brutal North Dakota winter are spot on - makes you cold just reading the words. My only complaint with the book is the nagging loose end - no doubt to be resolved in a future book featuring Cassie, and maybe Kyle.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cassie Dewell has moved outside her comfort zone of Montana to a new opportunity in frigid North Dakota. Because of the recent oil boom, money flows freely, along with crime, namely drugs and prostitution. Cassie is hired on as the lead investigator for the sheriff’s department and must hit the road running. When she arrives there are already unsolved murders linked to a drug gang and possible corrupt cops on the force. Cassie develops more of a rapport with her boss, unlike her last job, and even with some of her coworkers. Though she’s undecided when she arrives, I think this may turn out to be a perfect spot for her. A small side story deals with the Lizard King, which I’m assuming will carry into the next book. Another very good book in this gritty series.

[LJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

First Sentence: Twelve-year-old Kyle Westergaard was halfway through his route delivering the Grimstad Tribune when he heard the high whine of car engines on the highway in the dark.

Det. Cassie Dewell, working with the FBI, thinks they may finally have caught the Lizard King, an independent long-haul trucker, a serial killer of prostitutes, and the man partially responsible for the murder of her boss. But do the they enough to hold him. Leaving her former post behind, Cassie has transferred to be the new deputy sheriff in Grimstad, ND, a town filled with oil money and drugs. The sheriff suspects the town is about to be flooded with a shipment of meth that came into town is went missing. A very vicious motorcycle gang is in town looking for them. Can Cassie find them first? And what is the role of a young boy on a bicycle?

The Lizard King is a through thread, and an excellent, unsettling one. One need not have read previous books in order to catch the thread, although one may be enticed so do to. That’s not a bad thing. One thing that was interesting was to learn the difference between independent truckers and company drivers.

Box is very good at creating a sense of place by painting mental pictures…”December in North Carolina was brown and gray but not white. Light rain fell from a close granite sky. The hardwood trees were tall and skeletal and a thick brown carpet of leaves covered the forest floor.”

Box presents an interesting and balanced picture of the positive impact from the economic impact of oil companies on previously small, struggling communities, while also focusing on the negative secondary results of money, drugs, guns and crime. In this instance, those negatives are very dark, and very violent.

Cassie is an excellent protagonist; smart, strong, intelligent yet not without her own issues. You become involved with her and her life. What is particularly nice, is that in Sheriff Jon Kirkbride she has a supportive boss. Kyle proves that no child should be underestimated or disregarded.

“Badlands” is exciting and gripping with an explosive plot twist. One becomes completely involved in a story which provides a satisfying conclusion and a continuing thread to the next book.

BADLANDS (Pol. Proc – Det. Cassie Dewell – North Dakota – Contemp) – Ex
Box, C.J. – 3rd in series
Minotaur Books – July 2015

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have worked my way through all of C.J. Box’s “Joe Pickett” book series and am now taking on his other series, the ones featuring Cody Hoyt and Cassie Dewell. I’m sure it comes as no surprise to other C.J. Box fans, who cannot get enough of Wyoming’s popular mystery writer. I have been pretty dang spoiled by Joe; his family; his brother from another mother, Nate; and many other unique supporting characters – so I hope that I will be able to handle any adjustments needed along the way. I admit that I watched all four seasons of the television series “Big Sky” which was based (loosely?) on these novels and enjoyed it pretty much. As long as C.J. Box’s tightknit thrill ride storytelling style is present, I will be more than happy.

The third highway book “Badlands” continues the shift to Chief Investigator Cassie Dewell, a single mom trying to grow her career in law enforcement.

When the book begins, Cassie is dealing with two professional developments. The first involves her hunt for the Lizard King, a long-haul truck driver who hunts and kills truck stop prostitutes. She is arriving in Wilson County, Norh Carolina, to assist the local Sherriff’s Department, who have a suspect in custody that they believe could be Ronald Pergram, aka the Lizard King. Their hope is that Cassie will be able to recognize Ron and hopefully get him to incriminate himself.

The second change involves a phone call that Cassie is waiting to get from Bakken County Sheriff Jon Kirkbridge in Grimstad, North Dakota. She interviewed for his open Chief Investigator position in the fastest growing, new energy capital of the United States, with the hope of escaping Helena, Montana, and her corrupt and untrustworthy boss, Sheriff Tubman, who cannot wait to get rid of her.

At the same time, as 12-year-old Kyle Westergaard, who lives with his mom in Grimstad, is out delivering newspapers in the cold morning, he spots two vehicles racing along the road. One forces the other off the road, causing it to roll and crash. Racing to the scene, Kyle sees that the driver is in bad shape. Then a cop car arrives on the scene, followed shortly by a second cop. As Kyle hides back in the trees, something seems wrong about what’s happening, and he decides to stay back. Then he discovers a bundle that was thrown from the truck when it crashed. It’s a heavy bundle, but he’s able to slide it into the bag he carries his newspapers in. and quietly heads out without being seen.

As Cassie shows up in Grimstad to start her new job, she discovers that over 90% of the town is made up of men working in the oil fields, and she is only one of two women in the police department. Making friends will be difficult, especially with when her new boss pulls her aside to ask for her help. There’s a drug problem in the town and the Sherrif fears that someone on his force could be bad. He needs Cassie to investigate and find out the truth, and keep it between just the two of them.

Kyle is facing his own problems. While trying to lay low with his newfound unopened bundle, he is confronted by his mom’s unemployed loser boyfriend, T-Lock, who found it in the garage and opened it, discovering 15 – 20 pounds of quality uncut drugs carrying a very high street value, and a large wad of cash that could keep them happy for a long time…
T-Lock threatens Kyle to secrecy and takes over the stash as if it were his own. Kyle is not happy. He wanted to use the money to help his mom and now it’s being taken from him. But things are going to get worse when T-Lock struggles with keeping what he has secret. All it would take is for the wrong people to find out who has their property and they’ll be in serious trouble…

As her investigation heats up, Cassie finds herself in the middle of a deadly gang war while working with fellow cops that she cannot trust, and the key to finding the cause for the war lies with a 12-year-old boy trying his best to save his mother’s life…

This was another C.J. Box winning blend of mystery and thriller that I thoroughly devoured. I think it may have been his shortest novel to date, but it was packed full of intense conflict and high-octane storytelling prose. I am really finding myself connecting with Cassie Dewell on a personal level, riding along beside her as a silent partner in her investigations, and feeling empathy with her personal challenges as a single parent and struggles in dealing with a belligerent mother. She has the dogged drive and perseverance of Joe Pickett (C.J. Box’s other popular series), yet her family situation is the complete opposite of his. She doesn’t the partner (Marybeth) or best friend (Nate) that Joe can rely. Except for a supporting boss, she is pretty much on her own. And by golly, that’s part of her attraction.

As with previous books in this series, the plotting was masterfully crafted and delivered. Another tight-knit, thrill ride, adventure. The setting of Grimstad also played a key role as a small town having incredible growth thrust upon it in a very short period of time due to the discovery of oil. It presents itself as a wild west setting in the modern day where investigating crime is its own untamed adventure.

I also noticed an interesting pattern. One that I am not sure of was intended or not, but my guess is that it was. In the first two books in this series the story was primarily told from two points of view – that of Cody Hoyt/Cassie Dewell and the young female, Gracie. This book also uses two points of view – Cassie Dewell and a young boy, Kyle. Using both an adult character and that of a younger boy/girl provides an interesting contrast in perspectives that actually serve each of the stories very well.

I found myself just as impressed with Kyle in this one as I was with Gracie in the last two books. He’s a little more of fly by the seat of his pants personally, where she was smart and able to think fast on her feet. But there are a lot of advantages to using a young person’s point of view in a mystery/thriller story because you can use their lack of experience and maturity to distort what’s going on and not expect them to figure everything out like an adult might be able to do. C.J. Box uses those elements to his advantage in this book, creating and amplifying the tension to deliver a winning yarn.

I know that I am repeating myself at this point, but I was easily immersed into Box’s writing style and plotting, which as expected, demanded my attention and delivered a winner. The multiple storylines moved along at a frenetic and reckless pace. I was fully invested throughout and was personally invested in the outcomes of the characters and resolution of the storylines. The connected plotlines were set-up well, using conflict to build tension and drama throughout.

Overall, this was another strong 4-star rating for me. The characters, plotting, and setting all came together to deliver a winning reading experience. My interest continues t run high and I am already about 100 pages into the fourth book – “Paradise Valley”. This has turned out to be another winning series to binge on! Come join the fun and see for yourself why C.J. Box is such a splendid writer.

[Dan Biermeier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first CJ Box novel, it will NOT be my last.

The pace was great, writing crisp and the characters well defined.

It's a hard cruel world in the new North Dakota where Oil Fracking has caused a boom in money, drugs and murder.

The new detective from Montana is in for a number of shocks while the boy with a bit of mental and speech disability has already seen and heard it all at a very young age.

The story follows the detective as she works her way through the evidence and the young boy as he continues to plan his dream escape, down the Missouri River to the great Mississippi and beyond.

If you like stories that involve the innocence of kids mixed up in the big old crazy adult world, try this one. You're bound to like Kyle.

Watch out for violence, dirty cops, drug use and a very cold winter. That's just how North Dakota flows in these new days of the Bakken Oil Rush.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Box has branched out with another interesting law enforcement character. Cassie Dewell is an expert on a serial killer who preys on truck stop hookers. After she returns from a trip to North Carolina to identify a suspect, she quits her deputy's job in Montana to take on a new one in the oil fields of North Dakota were a new drug crime wave is booming and members of the Sheriff's Department might be dirty. Box does his usual good job of story telling.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great serial detective novel by Box. This was a slow read for me. I thought about reading it a lot, but I was drawn more to my holiday reading. Perhaps after Christmas is over, I will have a comfy reading marathon with Cassie and crew.

Meanwhile, have a Merry Christmas everyone!

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I read The Highway by Mr. Box. I have not been able to stop reading his books. I can't get my hands on his books fast enough. His latest one is a good one. I thought however that it was a little bit of a change from his current books. It was not as high pressure intensity with the action or the killer being as prominent. Yet, despite all of this I still liked this book a lot and read it quickly.

I was drawn more to Kyle's storyline then I was Cassie. While they are both tied together in the end, I felt that Cassie's side was somewhat lackluster. Kyle was such a sweetheart. I was cheering for him the whole time. I would have to say that this book was more character driven then action paced.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding crime fiction in the Arctic winter weather of Grimstad, North Dakota. Grimstad is ground zero in an explosive oil boom and as it's new Chief Investigator, Cassie Dewell get's busy investigating crooked deputies and a missing shipment of meth by the MS-13 gang. Author C J Box builds the third installment of "The Highway Quartet" into a modern, fast moving western thriller with richly drawn characters in a world of compellingly entertaining prose you'll long remember. It's now on to the 4th book in the Highway Quartet "Paradise Valley". Joe Picket who?

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent read. I like the way Cassie keeps plugging along trying to always do the "right" thing.

[Sandra Hoover · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm enjoying the Highway Quartet series by C.J. Box. While it reminds me of the writing in the Joe Pickett series, it's different enough that I don't compare the two. Highly recommended to fans of this author's work!