<h2><b>Joe Pickett investigates a mysterious death at a secret high-tech facility in this gripping new novel from #1 <i>New York Times</i> bestseller C.J. Box.</b> </h2><p>When a prominent University of Wyoming professor goes missing, authorities are stumped. That is, until Game Warden Joe Pickett makes two surprising discoveries in his district.</p><p>First, Joe finds the professor's vehicle parked on a remote mountainside. Then he finds the professor's frozen and mutilated body. When he attempts to learn more, Joe's investigation is obstructed by Federal agents, extreme environmentalists, and Governor Colter Allen.</p><p>Meanwhile, Joe's associate, falconer Nate Romanowski, is approached by a shadowy group of local militant activists who are gaining in power and influence, and demanding that Wyoming join other western states in seceding from the Union – by force, if necessary. They ask Nate to throw in his lot with them, but should he trust them, or is he being set up?</p><p>As a storm of peril gathers around them, Joe and Nate confront it in different ways – and maybe, for the first time, on opposite sides.</p><p><b>Reviewers on C.J. Box:</b></p><p>'The king of contemporary crime fiction set in the West' <b><i>Publishers Weekly</i></b> <br />
'A masterful storyteller who writes sublimely' <b><i>Irish Independent</i></b></p>
<p>The new thriller in the Joe Pickett series. Wyoming Game Warden Joe finds the body of a missing professor and becomes embroiled in a far-reaching investigation.</p>
<b>PRAISE FOR C.J. BOX</b>: <br />
'Box is the king of contemporary crime fiction set in the West' <i>Publishers Weekly</i>. <br />
'A masterful storyteller who writes sublimely' <i>Irish Independent</i>. <br />
'This is terrific reading entertainment, as riveting as it is relentless'
Providence Journal, on Dark Sky
<p>Twenty-third novel in perennially popular <i>New York Times</i> bestselling series.</p>
<p>Box's work has been made into the hit TV series <i>BIG SKY</i>.</p>
<p>Box is translated into 27 languages and has sold over 500,000 copies in the UK.</p>
<p>MARKET: Michael Connelly; Lee Child; Jeffery Deaver. </p>