by C. J. Box
Part of Joe Pickett, book 6.5
First published 2011
Game warden Joe Pickett slides across a frozen mountain lake in Wyoming, checking fishing licenses in brutal twenty-two below zero cold. He spots a strange yellow glow beneath the ice surface. Something black and thin pokes up through the frozen water. At first glance it looks like a tree branch. It's not. A frozen human hand reaches up through the ice, fingers clawing toward the surface. The discovery transforms a routine license check into something far more sinister. Pickett must uncover who lies trapped beneath the ice and why they ended up there. The bitter Wyoming winter becomes the backdrop for a story of death and payback. This short tale from C.J. Box captures the isolation and danger that define Pickett's world, where nature's harsh beauty conceals deadly secrets.
Genres: adventure, mystery, crime, action
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, investigation
Setting: Wyoming
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
23 pages · ebook · Putnam Adult