Blue Heaven: A Novel

This book is so exciting! I gave up sleep to finish it.

When I need a good book to read, there's no better place to start than looking at book award winners, especially the genre awards such as the Edgars, the Hugos, and the Nebulas. These contests seem to know exactly what their fanbase wants and expects. So when I saw that C. J. Box won this year's Edgar Awards, I quickly checked it out from my local library. That was yesterday. Today, I finished the last page of an immensely satisfying book. BLUE HEAVEN is a story about two children who witness a murder, the old rancher who vows to protect them, and a conspiracy of retired LA police officers who want to shut them up. Each chapter propels the story along from one of several different characters' perspective, and though some of these character's make mistakes, we find ourselves rooting for almost all of them. Plus, the novel slowly reveals the nature and depth of conspiracy over the course of the book that's very rewarding. C. J. Box shows us how that conspiracy has ensnared the small Idaho community BLUE HEAVEN is set in. And, like many modern Westerns such as TRUE GRIT or UNFORGIVEN, BLUE HEAVEN paints a picture of a small-town lifestyle that is modern suburban development and big box stores are eating up "like a snack". Box writes in clean, economical prose that captures the setting, characters, and tension in the plot almost perfectly. Very highly recommended.

Blue Heaven was a stand alone book for C.J. Box and a different form than his series books, but it was an absolutely delicious read. I wish Box would put all his books on tape or CD's. Two youngsters innocently going fishing see a murder by four retired cops killing one of their buddies. Unfortunately, the cops also see the children. The flight is on and the hero is an elderly rancher who basically saves the children. It's a wonderful trip!

The plot is not overly complicated--not if you're used to reading mysteries with more depth that Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys. My book had excellent print quality, which leads me to believe the person with the badly printed book should have exchanged it for a good copy. I've read everything C.J. Box has published and though I love the Joe Pickett novels, I really liked this stand-alone and I hope Box writes more like this. The action is interspersed with times of thinking on the protagonists parts but when the whole story was done, everything came together in a logical way. It was an excellent read and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes mystery and action all in one novel.

BLUE HEAVEN (Suspense-Jeff Rawlins-Idaho-Cont) - Ex Box, C.J. - Standalone St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008, US Hardcover - ISBN; 0312365705 First Sentence: If twelve-year-old Annie Taylor had not chosen to take her little brother William fishing on that particular Friday afternoon in April during the wet North Idaho spring, she never would have seen the execution or looked straight into the eyes of the executioners. When Annie and her brother William witness a murder they are on the run and don't know who to trust. They end up on the barn of Jeff Rawlins, a third-generation rancher struggling to hang on to his property. The three of them join together but soon discovered not all the good guys are good guys; nor are all the bad guys what they seem either. Until they figure out who is whom, they need to stay alive. My, oh my, this man can write. I'll admit I was a bit disappointed at the book not being part of the series but I got over that after about the first page. Although each chapter head tells you the date and time, it is not really an "against-the-clock" plot. That doesn't mean it's not suspenseful, because the suspense begins on page one and continues through to the end. Box always provides the reader a wonderful sense of place and good dialogue. The characters are varying shades of grey; from off-white to pure black in nature--in other words, human and interesting and I loved the ending. But be warned, the violence in this book is disturbing, particularly in light of the characters who are perpetrating that violence. I highly recommend this, and all books, written by C.J. Box.

Blue Heaven proves C.J. Box can hop into the sandbox and play with the best of the contemporary crime fiction authors. I've always enjoyed his everyman, Joe Pickett, series but this stand alone took my breath away. He takes a story of the search for two missing children and asks: Why would they disappear? Where did they go and what did they see? And on the answers to those questions hangs the plot of this marvelous book. The novel is beautifully textured and masterfully crafted. Part crime fiction, part thriller, Box moves us deftly through the story and balances all the elements to make the book consistently engaging. It's a difficult novel to put down even at 1 in the morning. The ending is solid and valid. I re-read the ending several times, getting more out of each reading. A superior effort!