Open Season
The first novel in the thrilling series featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett from #1 New York Times bestselling author C. J. Box.
Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts and the game warden—especially one like Joe who won't take bribes or look the other way—is far from popular. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind his state-owned home, he takes it personally. There had to be a reason that the outfitter, with whom he's had run-ins before, chose his backyard, his woodpile to die in. Even after the "outfitter murders," as they have been dubbed by the local press after the discovery of the two more bodies, are solved, Joe continues to investigate, uneasy with the easy explanation offered by the local police.
As Joe digs deeper into the murders, he soon discovers that the outfitter brought more than death to his backdoor: he brought Joe an endangered species, thought to be extinct, which is now living in his woodpile. But if word of the existence of this endangered species gets out, it will destroy any chance of InterWest, a multi-national natural gas company, building an oil pipeline that would bring the company billions of dollars across Wyoming, through the mountains and forests of Twelve Sleep. The closer Joe comes to the truth behind the outfitter murders, the endangered species and InterWest, the closer he comes to losing everything he holds dear.
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C. J. Box
C. J. Box is an author whose stories feel as vast and untamed as the Wyoming landscapes that shape them. Born in Casper, Wyoming, Box grew up surrounded by the rugged beauty of the American West, a setting that would later become the heartbeat of his acclaimed novels. Before picking up the pen, he led a diverse life that saw him working as a ranch hand, fishing guide, and even a small-town reporter. Each of these experiences enriched his understanding of the land and its people, fueling his ability to craft authentic, atmospheric stories rooted in both place and character.
Joe Pickett
In the rugged expanses of Wyoming’s wilderness, where the land’s raw beauty and unforgiving nature are as much characters as the people who inhabit it, Joe Pickett patrols the borders of justice. The Joe Pickett series by C.J. Box follows the moral compass of this tenacious game warden, whose deep-rooted sense of right and wrong constantly tests him against the harsh realities of the world around him.
Joe Pickett consists of twenty-six primary books, and includes three additional books that complement the series but are not considered mandatory reads and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of one more book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
