#4 in series about Joe Pickett. We find him getting roped into helping a task force try to solve the mutilations of several cattle, a horse and now two humans. They have all had parts of their bodies surgically cut from their torsoes by someone who knew what he was doing. His hunt takes him to a friend of the family who we learn has a connection to the events. We learn that the Cam Logue has a brother who has PTSD and hallucinations after his stint in the army. Cam?s wife, we learn, has a strong physical connection to this man and helped in his escape. Quite the ending. Cam is killed, his wife is arrested and the brother is killed by a bear. We don?t know yet what happens to their daughter who is best friends with Lucy, the Pickett?s younger daughter. Kirkus: Dead fish and game are only the appetizers for Warden Joe Pickett?s biggest problems in his fourth case.It?s obvious that cavalier local fisherman Jeff O?Bannon is to blame for the fish floating belly-up in Crazy Woman Creek. But who?s killed the elk, excised the flesh from half his face, and dragged off his enormous carcass? Who?s killed 12 head of Don Hawkins?s cattle in exactly the same way? And has this slaughter of innocents been nothing more than preparation for the remarkably similar murders of ranch hand Tuff Montegue and water-engineering exec Stuart Tanner? Robey Hersig, the County Attorney heading the hastily assembled Northern Wyoming Murder and Mutilations Task Force, lists the likeliest causes: ?BIRDS . . . CULTS . . . DISTURBED INDIVIDUALS . . . ARABS . . . GOVERNMENT AGENTS . . . GRIZZLY BEAR . . . ALIENS.? But Joe, skeptical of all these explanations, demands the right to investigate on his own. Even though his mortal enemy, Sheriff Bud Barnum, keeps reminding him he?s only a fish-and-game warden, nobody can deny that Joe?s pulled off some spectacular victories in the past (Winterkill, 2003, etc.).Not this time, though. The fact-based mutilations are so outr? you just know the answer?s going to be a letdown, and it is¥even though Joe and his family sweat out suspenseful duels with a self-styled paranormal expert and a trusted neighbor.

KIRKUS REVIEWDead fish and game are only the appetizers for Warden Joe Pickett?s biggest problems in his fourth case.It?s obvious that cavalier local fisherman Jeff O?Bannon is to blame for the fish floating belly-up in Crazy Woman Creek. But who?s killed the elk, excised the flesh from half his face, and dragged off his enormous carcass? Who?s killed 12 head of Don Hawkins?s cattle in exactly the same way? And has this slaughter of innocents been nothing more than preparation for the remarkably similar murders of ranch hand Tuff Montegue and water-engineering exec Stuart Tanner? Robey Hersig, the County Attorney heading the hastily assembled Northern Wyoming Murder and Mutilations Task Force, lists the likeliest causes: ?BIRDS . . . CULTS . . . DISTURBED INDIVIDUALS . . . ARABS . . . GOVERNMENT AGENTS . . . GRIZZLY BEAR . . . ALIENS.? But Joe, skeptical of all these explanations, demands the right to investigate on his own. Even though his mortal enemy, Sheriff Bud Barnum, keeps reminding him he?s only a fish-and-game warden, nobody can deny that Joe?s pulled off some spectacular victories in the past (Winterkill, 2003, etc.).Not this time, though. The fact-based mutilations are so outr? you just know the answer?s going to be a letdown, and it is¥even though Joe and his family sweat out suspenseful duels with a self-styled paranormal expert and a trusted neighbor.

(2004) Joe Pickett & his daughters discover the mutilated corpse of a moose while fishing. This leads him into an investigation of a string of deaths & mutilations of 2 people and additional animals. Pickett's position as a game warden hardly makes him any friends in law enforcement, especially as he shows them up in detective skills. Almost comes to blows with the local sheriff. Good stuff. BooklistBox, whose superb Joe Pickett series has nailed some great western issues (ecoterrorism, endangered species, survivalists), here draws a bead on one out in left field: cattle mutilations. When the Wyoming game warden finds a mysteriously mangled moose, he is unnerved. When cows and even humans turn up the same, he finds himself a reluctant member of a special task force. County residents think aliens are responsible and start wearing aluminum-foil hats and finding crop circles in their backyards; Pickett calls the theory "woo-woo crap." This has all the elements that made the first three Picketts so pleasurable: Pickett himself, a bad shot but a good man; a strong supporting cast, especially his family; an inventive plot; and Box's own well-reasoned grasp of the issues. If this one works a hair less well, it may be because of the woo-woo crap itself. Although there's a believable motive behind some of it, there's also a touch of the supernatural that doesn't quite fit. Still, there's nothing wrong with being merely excellent instead of state-of-the-art once in a while. Keir Graff

Well written, good plot ( )

I don't read a detective book series for brilliant insights into our relationship with the larger cosmos. Joe Pickett would not have much patience with that, and the books are better for it.

Also, a cow is one thing, but you don't fuck with a man's dog. Or a woman's dog, Harvey. Just don't do it. ( )