Paradise Valley by C.J. Box is the author's third Western-set crime novel to feature sheriff's investigator Cassie Dewell, who appeared previously in The Highway and Badlands. Cassie is mid-thirties, not very tall, and somewhat overweight. But she's a sharp investigator and a good shot when she has to be. This combination makes her character both realistic and appealing.
Cassie began her police career in Montana, where she first got onto the track of an elusive serial killer called the Lizard King, a long haul trucker who abducts and murders his female victims across the country. She moved to a new sheriff's department in North Dakota, but has stayed alert for any new traces of the Lizard King. When her new lead on the killer leads to a disastrous police operation, it costs Cassie her job.
She doesn't give up and returns to Montana to continue her obsessive hunt on her own. Paradise Valley is a chilling cat-and-mouse contest between a determined investigator and a cunning predator set against a landscape of rugged mountain terrain. It's another great read from C.J. Box, who's one of the best writers in the regional crime thriller genre.
Monday, August 14, 2017
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