Cody Hoyt is a detective with the Lewis & Clark County Sheriff’s Office in Montana. He might be rough around the edges, but he’s smart and he gets the job done. However, when his friend and Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor Hank Winters is found dead, everything changes.
This is an excellent book. Author C.J. Box knows how to write an evenly paced page turner full of twists and turns the audience won’t see coming. Going back and forth between what Cody is up to and the bigger picture means the through line is tension. Pure tension.
When the two plot lines of the book meet – at times, they seem separate – that’s when the book explodes. But Box takes a long time to get there. He’s really good at building suspense and developing characters. Someone who seems harmless at first slowly transforms into someone who’s not so innocent as meets the eye.
Well, maybe it’s not a slow transformation at all. Box is also really good at writing from his villains’ point of view. Getting into their heads and revealing to the reader just how messed up they can be underneath all the charm they use to try and make people feel safe around them. Charm only goes so far, though. The mask always falls at some point, no matter how hard people try to keep it on.
This book is definitely an adventure worth going on. Be prepared to get sucked into it.
The Reviewing Fangirl 