Shadows Reel

Written by C. J. Box

Narrated by David Chandler

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett and his wife, Marybeth, make separate discoveries that put the Pickett family in a pair of killers’ crosshairs in this thrilling new novel in the bestselling series.

A day before the three Pickett girls come home for Thanksgiving, Joe is called out for a moose-poaching incident that turns out to be something much more sinister: a local fishing guide has been brutally tortured and murdered. At the same time,
Marybeth opens an unmarked package at the library where she works and finds a photo album that belonged to an infamous Nazi official. Who left it there? And why?

She learns that during World War II, several Wyoming soldiers were part of the first American company to reach Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest retreat in the Alps—and one of them took the Führer’s personal photo album. Did another take this one and
keep it all these years? When a close neighbor is murdered, Joe and Marybeth face new questions: Who is after the book? And how will they solve its mystery before someone hurts them … or their girls?

Meanwhile, Nate Romanowski is on the hunt for the man who stole his falcons and attacked his wife. Using a network of fellow falconers, Nate tracks the man from one city to another. Even as he grasps the true threat his quarry presents,
Nate swoops in for the kill—and a stunning final showdown.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781705023709

C. J. Box

C. J. BOX is the New York Times best-selling author of many novels including the Joe Pickett series. He has won the Edgar Alan Poe Award for Best Novel (Blue Heaven, 2009) as well as the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, and the Barry Award. Over four million copies of his novels have been sold in the U.S. alone and they have been translated into twenty-seven languages. He lives in Wyoming.  

Reviews for Shadows Reel

[Dennis Darr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Weak plot shallow storyline. Very disappointing for a known artist.

[Judy Cross · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent as always. I've read every one of his and look forward to next

[jamespurcell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Recovered from his latest wound and back at work, Joe's wife becomes a target when she receives a WW2 Nazi photo album. When two neighbors are murdered in quite violent fashion, Joe and family take charge to support the local but inept sheriff. Meanwhile, Nate pursues his stolen "Air Force" solen to support a murderous and anarchy-bound former military associate and commander. Lots of action on both fronts as they come to violent conclusions. Another smash ending for Joe.

[bblum_10 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Second CJ Box mystery that I have read though both are from different series. Well written with enough complexity to keep it interesting. Wyoming cattlemen are the background often punctured with modern issues like the Antifa bit in this book. Great summer reads.

[juju2cat · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This series is always a great read but I found the ending a bit far fetched. Still, love the scenery and the characters.Anyone else besides me get William Kent Krueger's Cork O'Connor and Joe Picket confused a bit? Love both though.

[buffalogr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

CJ Box continues to excite me. This book has all the characters we've come to know plus another falconer---Geronimo Jones and a new sheriff. The sheriff does a face plant and probably won't be seen again. Who knows about Geronimo Jones? Just when you thought Sheridan would take on the life of an independent 20-something enlightened woman, she reverts to giggly teen with her sisters. The plot takes us all over the Western USA, and includes a swipe at Antifa and BLM. It's got Nazis, Thanksgiving dinner, law violators, Nate and a couple of dead bodies while MaryBeth shines.

[kevinrtipple · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Shadows Reel: A Joe Picket Novel by C. J. Box begins the day before Thanksgiving. It has been a few weeks since recent events (Dark Sky: A Joe Pickett Novel) and Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett is still recovering though he is back to work. He is feeling the aches and pains as his body continues to heal as well as his age, but is glad to be out in the field and doing his job. back at work He is looking forward to Thanksgiving and all the company which will include Liv Romanowski and her baby daughter, Kestrel, as Nate Romanowski is away and on the trail of the violent outlaw falconer, Axel Soledad. That hunt and Nate’s POV becomes one of the three storylines in the read and is slowly revealed. But, at this point, that is all in the future as Pickett and his dog, Daisy, head to business at hand. The destination is the Crazy Z-Bar Ranch, where owner Lorne Trumley has reported a dead moose on his property. The hunting season for moose ended a couple weeks ago so this is a problem. It soon becomes clear that a far bigger problem is going on than a dead moose when he arrives in the general area. Something smells like burned pork. Ravens are on top of the dark mound which is still smoldering in spots as evidenced by the smoke/steam coming upwards on this chilly morning. Pickett grabs his binoculars and looks at the mound and suddenly everything is much clearer.It is a body.A body means investigation by the recently elected Scott Tibbs. It also means that Sheriff Tibbs is not a fan of Joke Pickett and does not appreciate the fact that Joe Picket has created a mess that has to be dealt with at Thanksgiving. As if Joe Pickett scheduled and planned the events. Tibbs does not want Pickett anywhere around, but of course Pickett is going to keep his nose in the investigation as that is what he does.He is not alone in that as his wife MaryBeth tends to do the same thing with matters that his close to home. These days she is now the director of the library and often comes to work before everyone else. Pulling into her space at the library before dawn that same morning that soon saw her husband looking at a smoldering dead body, she had witnessed somebody leaving a package at the door of the building. The drop-off by the shadowy figure was spooky as was the way the package appeared. It is only after she takes some pictures of it and then unwraps the package does she realize that it is some sort of detailed leatherbound photo album that dates back to the 1930s. It documents a year in the life of a Nazi government official by the name Julius Streicher. It is a legacy of nightmarish history.It is also a book that some will kill for as Mary Beth, Joe Pickett, and family and friends soon learn. They want it back and don’t care what they have to do to get it. Nate’s hunt for the violent outlaw falconer, MaryBeth’s album, and the discovery of the body by Joe Pickett, are the three plot lines that are the storytelling pillars of Shadows Reel: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box. As befitting a book in a well-established series, there is not really any character development here. Much of the read is from the perspective of Mary Beth as she researches the book and comes to grips with the horrors it represents as well as the current threat that exists. Because of that situation as well as the hunt by Nate, much of this book has Joe Pickett regulated to the sidelines. This reader prefers reads where he is front and center and not so much on the periphery of various things. Still, while not the best work in the series, this reader enjoyed the complicated tale.My reading copy came from the Dallas Public Library System by way of the OverDrive eBook app. Kevin R. Tipple ©2022

[she_climber · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

23 and counting! This may be the second longest I've ever stuck with a series behind only to Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone's series. Most series become too formulaic and the joy of reading them diminishes until I just give up. Not so with the Joe Pickett series! I get just as excited for the next one and I did the first ones. Each book seems to center around some social justice issue that Box wants to explore. Finding a way to put Wyoming Game Warden, Joe Pickett, into the thick of it and destroy yet another vehicle. This book was no different: Nazi's and Antifa are the issues Box chose to highlight Shadows Reel. Rest assured, however, both are explored without really any biases (like there is some other acceptable stance regarding Nazi's). And as far-fetched as the Nazi storyline seems the author's notes will explain that it was based on truth.In Shadows Reel Joe's wife, Marybeth, the local librarian, is anonymously gifted a photo album of one of Hilter's inner circle. While Joe stumbles across more than one body. And his best friend, Nate, a falconer, picks up where the last book left off; chasing down the man who stole his birds and harmed his wife and child. Joe and Marybeth's story runs parallel to Nate's coming together at the end. While all the regular characters make an appearance, including all of Joe's daughters, the piece that was really missing for me was the great outdoors. None of this book takes place in nature, which I think is part of why I love this series so much. But nonetheless I tore through this book at lightning speed and here I am again: left impatiently waiting for the next Joe Pickett.I can not recommend this series highly enough and while I enjoyed this book, I absolutely recommend any newcomers to Saddlestring, WY start at the beginning. You won't be sorry.Many thanks to #NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam Publishing for providing me with an advanced copy of #ShadowsReel in exchange for my honest opinion.