Today is my stop on the blog tour for Battle Mountain by C.J. Box.
Here’s the blurb.
Can Joe Pickett stop an old friend throwing his life away in order to gain revenge? The gripping new novel from #1 New York Times bestseller C.J. Box.
The campaign of hate and vengeance that a pair of violent criminals wreaked on Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett and his friend, falconer Nate Romanowski, left both men in tatters, but it was Nate who came closest to losing everything.
Facing his lowest ebb, Nate decided the only option was to drop out of society. Taking only his birds, he went off-grid to rediscover his true self… and prepare for his own revenge.
When Joe is called on to help the governor, whose son-in-law is missing in the Sierra Madre mountains, the investigation takes a darker turn when Joe and Nate’s very different journeys unexpectedly converge.
All will come to a head at Battle Mountain, but in a struggle neither of them would ever have seen coming, can both Joe and Nate survive?
Review
I’ve jumped into the authors world quite late but I’ve seen, and heard many a good thing and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
Jumping in at this stage did I feel like I’ve missed out? Yeah sure… but did it cause me any issues with reading and understanding the tale.. Not really.. if anything it just made me more determined to crack on with the author’s other works.
When a family member of Governor Rubon’s goes missing game warden Joe Pickett is tasked to find out what happened.
That whole opening scene had me hooked.. it’s was enthralling… it’s a brutal opening but sets the tone perfectly.
At the same time Nate Romanowski, a falconer, is still healing from a vicious attack from Axel Soledad. I don’t think he will ever heal truly but when a chance comes to finish Axel.. well Nate can’t pass that up.
There’s a lot of history between these men and little do Nate and Joe know how their paths are about to cross again.
Any time Axel was the focus I tingled… that man is ruthlessly scary but makes a wonderful read!
Being new to the series I didn’t feel out of my depth, more intrigued.. the characters have clearly developed over time but the history is made clear with context thrown in there just when you need it to understand motivations etc.
Not being familiar with the authors style or the setting I was very pleasantly surprised too with the idea of these ex-military guys, love for guns and birds, it made for a fascinating read.
Flow wise the pace was perfect for me, as we switch focus between the main characters. This gave me time to really ingest what I’d just read.
Axel Soledad was the most intriguing for me, disgruntled and with an axe to grind, not only against Nate but anyone in power and the idea he finds like minded people was scarily good.
I do feel like I should have read the rest of the series first… not because the book doesn’t work as a standalone.. more I can tell I’ve missed something good.. and I hate missing out on good books!!!
I don’t want to spoil anything but I think what I loved the most was simply the detail, the birds.. the guns.. the motivations, the feelings that poured out of each of the characters… it’s like nothing I’ve read before and there’s plenty to keep the action junkies happy too!
5/5 Stars
My thanks go to the author, publisher and Rachel’s Random Resources for having me on the tour!
Why not check out the rest of the stops on the tour?
Tempted yet? – Purchase Link – https://geni.us/BattleMountRRBlogTour
Author Bio –
C. J. Box is the author of over 30 novels including the Joe Pickett and Cassie Dewell series. He has won Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe and Barry Awards, as well as numerous other US and international awards for literature. Two television series based on his novels have been produced (Big Sky on ABC/Disney+ and Joe Pickett on Paramount+) with him serving as Executive Producer for both series. He and his wife Laurie live on their ranch in Wyoming.
Social Media Links –
Author Social Handles
X: @cjboxauthor
Instagram: cjboxnovels
Facebook: C.J. Box
Website: Author C.J. Box (cjbox.net)
Aries/Head of Zeus Social Handles
Facebook: Aries Fiction
Instagram: @headofzeus
TikTok: @headofzeus
Website: http://www.headofzeus.com
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