An adoptive couple, Jack and Melissa McGuane, are the subjects of THREE WEEKS TO SAY GOODBYE. C.J. Box’s latest stand-alone thriller is as chilling and riveting as anything he has ever written.

The McGuanes have had their daughter, Angelina, in their home for several months when some unexpected news rocks their world. Garrett Moreland, Angelina’s birth father, never signed off on the adoption papers and has decided that he wants to raise Angelina. Garrett, a surly teenager who would be classified as a dirtbag under the most charitable of definitions, seems ill-suited to assume the responsibilities of a father and even less interested in doing so. He is being prodded into adulthood by his dad, a powerful U.S. District Court judge in Colorado who is insisting that Garrett live up to his responsibilities, notwithstanding the disruption it will bring into the lives of all involved. Judge Moreland gives the McGuanes three weeks to say goodbye to their daughter but is firm in his position that Garrett will assume parenting duties after that time.

Jack and Melissa are understandably devastated, but they are also puzzled. Garrett has no desire to see his daughter and seems more intent on harassing them with his street gang friends than taking on any responsibilities of fatherhood. Jack is not interested in letting events unfold in their due course. He advises the reader within the first few paragraphs of the book that he is not blessed with a genius-level intelligence or a first-rate education. He does, however, work harder than everyone around him, even when he doesn’t have to. He puts that work ethic to the test when he begins investigating the reasons why the Morelands suddenly want Angelina back.

Jack may not be smartest guy in the world, but he is not without resources. Among them are his lifelong friends Cody and Brian, two very different people. Cody is a local cop who is a loose cannon, a borderline alcoholic whose botched investigation of a notorious pedophile resulted in the fiend being set free. Brian is a successful real estate developer with enormous financial resources and networking abilities. Between the three of them, they uncover a puzzling trail leading back into the past that reveals not only a shocking secret but also a plot that, if carried out, will put Angelina in terrible danger.

Box gets better and better with each novel, whether it be a part of his Joe Pickett mythos or one of his stand-alone works. THREE WEEKS TO SAY GOODBYE, from its opening sentences to its concluding paragraphs, is impossible to put down. The clock that Box sets to ticking at the beginning gets louder and louder with each page, leaving his readers well out beyond the edge of their chairs by the book’s midpoint. Don’t start this one without leaving yourself time to finish in one sitting.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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