Book Covers: Grabbed by "Three-Inch Teeth"

C.J. Box started the Joe Pickett book series with "Open Season" in 2001. Now, 24 books later, the series latest book is "Three-Inch Teeth," published in 2024. Joe Pickett is a Wyoming game warden who, in this current book, is fighting to survive against two lethal enemies - one a monstrous grizzly bear and the other a monstrous human who is out for revenge.

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C.J. Box appeals to those who love the outdoors in his Joe Pickett crime novels.

If you are a person who loves to hunt, fish, and enjoy life in the woods and wilderness, then you will live your love of life in the Pickett series. Each one has details of fishing and hunting that you know come from a true outdoorsman, and the descriptions of the country Joe is traveling through will tell you the author has walked those same trails in real life, not just in his books.

"Three-Inch Teeth" is the story of a huge grizzly who attacks and kills Clay Hutmacher, Jr., a close family friend of the Picketts. Clay was fishing when the bear came tearing through the bushes after a deer. When it sees Clay standing in the water, it immediately changes direction and charges. There is no getting away from the bear.

Clay's father goes looking for his son after not getting answers to his calls and finds evidence of the gruesome attack. He calls Joe for help and, once Joe sees what the bear has done, he calls in reinforcements from the sheriff's department and more. The bear is on the loose and they have no idea where it will strike next.

Unfortunately, the bear is only a piece of the pain and destruction coming soon. Dallas Cates, a former champion bull rider and now a recently released felon, has a list of people he plans to kill now that he is free. He blames all those people for destroying his family and for having him spend years in prison, so he comes up with a scheme to kill the people on his list by making the murders look like more bear attacks. Joe, his family, and friends are on the list.

There are many great repeat characters in the Pickett series, including Joe's wife Marybeth, his daughter Sheridan, and his best friend Nate Romanowski. Side stories throughout the book add more to the adventure. Clay Jr. was getting ready to ask Sheridan to marry him, so after his death she takes on a job in Colorado to get away for a while. Sheridan is a master falconer who works for Nate and is hired by a rancher to help get rid of problem birds. Her 'welcome' at the ranch is not quite what she expected.

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Box opened up about his life and journey as an author. One of the major changes he made is to join podcasts of all kinds, including shows on rodeos, fly fishing, hunting, and many other outdoor subjects. At recent book signings, young men in fishing caps and long beards showed up, saying they hadn't been in a bookstore in years.

Box said, "It helped me build a male readership. Often this was the first book signing they'd been to."

His participation in these podcasts has helped many new readers find out that he knows what he's talking about - from bear attacks to government entities putting their noses where ranchers and others think they shouldn't be.

Box's next book "Battle Mountain" will be released on February 25, so jump in and try any of the books in the Pickett series. You'll feel like you're right there in the middle of it all.