I have become addicted to the C J Box mysteries, but this was not his usual story. It was not his renegade Conservation Officer, but rather his renegade cop, but then it was also one of his most unusual stories, one that touched on a ghoulish concept of a serial rapist and killer who drove the highways in his semi and preyed on vulnerable women.
It was he and his "partners" who ran a house of horror where these women of the road were tortured and killed. But the trucker - the Lounge Lizard - met his match when the two women who were abducted were the girl friends of Cody Hoyt's son. Cody, the unorthodox cop knew how to go where other lawmen were afraid to tread. Getting the bad guy for Hoyt had no limitations.
But at the beginning his slightly overweight partner, Cassie, a hire by the department to satisfy the diversity requirement, nabbed him - busted him - got him thrown off the force. So Hoyt was no longer a renegade cop when he set out for the margins of Yellowstone National Park.
However, despite Hoyt's history of success, it is Cassie who is the heroine. She is the one who busts the bad guys - all except one. This is not a book where the good guys always come out on top. However, she nails one of the bad, rescues the women, and everything would be great if the Lounge Lizard would only be caught.
Thanks to CJ Box we finally find that a woman can be exceptional without also being classified as a super model. The last thriller I read had every woman hot beyond description and it makes you wonder where the people I see every day are. In this one Cassie is complex, slightly overweight and not exceptional in any way which makes her a wonderful hero.
It is a book that demands that you turn the page, but not one you want to read just before bedtime.
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