"Meet Joe Pickett: He's going to be a mystery star."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"C. J. Box is a great storyteller."--Tony Hillerman

"A great crime novel."--Lee Child

"A muscular first novel...Box writes as straight as his characters shoot, and he has a stand-up hero to shoulder his passionate concerns about endangered lives and liberties."--The New York Times Book Review

"Intriguing, with a forest setting so treacherous it makes Nevada Barr's locales look positively comfy, with a motive for murder that is as unique as any in modern fiction. Pickett is a refreshingly human and befuddled hero...But it's Box's offbeat way of telling the story that puts it on the best of the year track."--Los Angeles Times

"C.J. Box might represent an endangered species himself: a first novelist who is getting his due...Box's book has it all--suspenseful plot, magnificent scenery and a flawed male hero who is tough but truly connected to his family...profoundly memorable."--Boston Herald

"Every few years a first novel appears that immediately sets itself apart from the crowd. As readers, we feel that special shock of recognition that announces, 'Here is something special.' Taking dead aim with his first sentence...Box remains square on target throughout this nearly word-perfect debut...Best of all, the soft-spoken Joe Pickett is a Gary Cooper for our time."--Booklist (starred review)

"A high-country Presumed Innocent that moves like greased lightning."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Pickett [is] an engaging change from the fast-driving, trigger-happy male heroes of so many contemporary crime novels."--Washington Post Book World