Free Fire by C.J. Box: A review

I read the previous book in this series several weeks ago and the ending left me hanging, wondering how the main character, Joe Pickett, would respond to the changes in his life. He had just been fired from his job as a game warden for the state of Wyoming. He had finally run afoul of bureaucratic politics once too often.

The job had defined who he was as a person. What would he do now?

The answer was that he would become a ranch foreman for his wealthy father-in-law. But, of course, that didn't last long.

Soon, the governor of Wyoming came calling with a proposition for Joe. There had been a spot of trouble in Yellowstone National Park. A lawyer had shot and killed four people, environmental activists who worked for the company that had the contract to provide visitor services at the park. He admitted to the killing, turned himself in to the rangers, and said that he had shot the people because they had insulted him.

When the justice system attempted to prosecute the man, he pointed out that the killings had taken place in a small fifty-square-mile area of the park where there is no legal jurisdiction - a "free-fire" zone where it is possible to actually get away with murder. And he did. He walked free, much to the anger and frustration of all the authorities and the community.

The governor is outraged, but he also suspects that there is something more going on in Yellowstone, something that precipitated the murders, rather than the alleged insult. He wants Joe Pickett to go there as his representative (unofficial) and investigate. He'll be back on the state payroll as a game warden, with an increase in pay, and he'll have a free hand to handle the investigation however he sees fit. Which, to Joe, means that he can get his friend, Nate Romanowski, to help.

Joe doesn't have to think about the offer for long. He accepts and heads out to Yellowstone, with Nate to follow.

The story line details how Joe proceeds with his investigation in his usual bumbling way and it emphasizes the continued tensions between federal employees at the park and state employees, with, as usual, the feds (most of them, anyway) playing the role of bad guy. Joe does find allies among the federal employees and they slowly piece together the story behind the killings in the "Zone of Death".

The governor's instinct was right. There is something very rotten in the state of Wyoming.

Box moves his plot along toward an inexorable conclusion and in the process provides a lot of information about the history and the geology of Yellowstone and the laws governing the area. It turns out that the "Zone of Death," the free-fire zone, really did exist.

Some of the most interesting parts of the book involve the explication of the geology of the place. Having just this past week been reading about the caldera and the super volcano that underlies Yellowstone and that will one day erupt once again, my reading of this book seemed fortuitous and reinforced some of the information I had learned.

Yellowstone is truly a fantastical place and this book, while fiction, gives a good sense of that, as well as furthering the saga of Joe Pickett and his family.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

Search This Blog