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4.5/5

Joe Pickett is asked by the governor to head into Yellowstone and investigate murder. It seems that a man has killed a group of people while they were camping and, weirdly, he was not punished for it.

The premise of this story is completely fascinating. The Sixth Amendment of the Constitution gives accused people the right to a speedy trial by a jury in the State and district where the crime has been committed. (See this explanation of the ) There is a small section of Yellowstone that creeps over the Wyoming-Idaho border and extends into Idaho, with a population of zero people. The Vicinage Clause creates a strange loophole in this space, allowing perfect crimes to be committed. The area is essentially lawless. (The area was called the Zone of Death and it led me on a real-life trail of reading on the internet.)

Anyway, this is the seventh Joe Pickett story. Joe had a change to his job description in the last book, which made me a little nervous where Joe is concerned because I'm so used to how he does things. In Free Fire, he has to leave home again and stay in Yellowstone while he is conducting this investigation, which worried me because of how things went for the Pickett family when he did that in Out of Range (Joe Pickett #5). Thankfully, this time while Joe was away, they didn't fall so far off track as a family.

So there is murder and there are environmental things being investigated here. There is also some corruption in the government. It isn't surprising by now that I loved the role that Joe's friend Nate Romanowski played in the story, because he is one of the best things about the series. I wasn't as enamored with the landscape in this book even though it takes place in Yellowstone, which is super beautiful, because I'm such a huge fan of the scenery when Joe patrols the mountains, and he wasn't really doing that in this story. Still, this series is my favorite series out there and Joe Pickett is my favorite book character, and I'm ready to continue with the next installment of Joe's story.

I'm pretty amazed at how fresh and exciting C.J. Box keeps every installment. I'm not sure I've been able to keep my interest in a series long enough to make it through this many books, but I definitely don't want to stop with Joe Pickett.



Audiobook Notes: This is my favorite audiobook series and as long as David Chandler continues to narrate it, that will probably not change. I love listening to these stories so much. (Lately, since we've been staying at home all the time because of social distancing and Coronavirus, I've loved listening while I put puzzles together.)

Title: Free Fire by C.J. Box
Series: Joe Pickett #7
Narrated by: David Chandler
Publisher: Recorded Books
Length: 11 hours, 5 minutes, Unabridged