Kids witness killing in sleepless thriller
MARK BARRINGER

There is an area in North Idaho known by some as Blue Heaven. It is a beautiful, rugged and mountainous area to which many police officers from the Los Angeles area have chosen to retire.

But not all cops are good guys.

Twelve-year-old Annie Taylor is decidedly unhappy when Tom, her mom's latest boyfriend, joins her and her younger brother, William, at the breakfast table, smiling and full of himself. After Tom fails to pick them up from school as promised that Friday, Annie seeks revenge by taking William on an unannounced fishing trip.

As the brother and sister are on the banks of Sand Creek, they witness an execution-style murder in a clearing on the other side of the water. When one of the killers looks up and locks eyes with Annie, the nightmare kicks into overdrive.

C.J. Box has stepped outside the world of Joe Pickett, the star of his highly acclaimed mystery series, to pen a stand-alone thriller that will grab you on page one. I suggest you make sure you have time to finish this one before you need much sleep again.

In this novel, you are rarely sure just whom to trust. Box proves again that he is a master storyteller who can use suspense to deal with such issues as greed, corruption and the clash between the modern world and traditional values.

By the way, I have it on good authority that he's not done with Joe Pickett.
Mark Barringer is a librarian at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County's Main Library.