Blue Heaven

Blue Heaven
C.J. Box

12 year old Annie Taylor along with her younger brother William have taken off from their home in Kootenai Bay, Idaho, to go on a fishing; because they’re angry with their mother, Monica, they don’t tell her of their impromptu expedition. But they inadvertently witness three men brutally murdering a fourth; worse, the killers see them. Annie and Wlliam run, pursued and shot at by the murderers. Eventually, they hide in the barn of Jess Rawlins, a 63 year old rancher whose family have ranched in the area for 3 generations; Jess is the last of a vanishing breed. Jess finds the children, believes their story, and sets out to do whatever he can to rescue them and frustrate the killers.

Box is well known for his series show more featuring Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden. Box’s premise was original and intriguing, although his writing was not that good. However, he improved with successive books, and his plots were always interesting, almost always involving some issue of importance to the West, mostly some variation on environmental protection vs development. Box, who lives in Wyoming, clearly loves his state and wrote both feelingly and lyrically about the beauties of its mountains.

Blue Heaven--so called because the Coeur d’Alene area has become a favorite retirement area for police officers, especially from Los Angeles--is a stand alone novel of surprising complexity and plot development. It’s extremely well written, establishes tension from the get-go, and I really got caught up in both the children’s fate and the way the story played out. I was surprised by the ending and could not believe that I was in tears over any novel written by Box. Interesting they were, yes, but emotionally gripping? I never would have believed he was capable of it until I read this book.

I think that the Joe Pickett series is written out; Box has done really well in branching out into stand alone novels where he has more freedom to develop new story lines and to experiment with different types of protagonists. I hope that this book, which is excellent, is a harbinger of more such to come. Highly recommended. show less

This is a wonderful book that I couldn't bear to finish. It's a standalone thriller, involving children in jeopardy, retired cops-gone-bad in an idyllic northern Idaho ranching community, and three ordinary men trying to find their way through the ensuing violence and terror. I loved the author's prior novels about Joe Pickett, a Montana game warden, but I wasn't sure what to expect here. While I miss the character building of those earlier novels, Blue Heaven has ample compensations. Like the Joe Pickett novels, Blue Heaven offers a sense of place and natural wonder that truly becomes part of the story. The character's love of the land resonates deeply throughout, but never becomes preachy or precious. While the plot rockets forward, show more it keeps you off balance and almost afraid to keep turning pages as the odds keep mounting in favor of the bad guys. In the midst of so much plot, the author still manages to pull you into caring tremendously for each of the main characters. And by the final pages, the book offers a glimpse of love and redemption that caught me off guard and moved me deeply. show less

I raced through this novel from a few years ago, one of my finds at our book sale. Anything by C. J. Box is an automatic grab after all, and this one really had my heart pounding. It begins with two children, Annie and her younger brother William, witnessing a murder. Then one of the killers sees them and the chase is on.

The setting is a small town in Idaho that is in transition because a large number of retired cops have moved there from Los Angeles. They've brought money but even as they claim to want a different, less stressful life, they've brought big city habits with them. Some have built enormous mansions and they drive their SUVs through town like they own the place. The people who loved their little town and surrounding ranches show more aren't necessarily happy about the changes or the people who brought them about. When word gets out that the kids are missing, they take over the investigation from the rather weak police chief who is out of his depth.

Our hero is a rancher who is in financial trouble and about to lose his beloved ranch. It's been in the family for generations but he has hit hard times. He's in his early 60s and he's a kind man who suffered when he had to let his last ranch hand go. I loved Jess Rawlins. He and the kids make the whole book in my mind.

This is a thriller with a subplot of another retired cop trying to trace money from a robbery at Santa Anita racetrack several years earlier in which a young guard was killed, leaving a wife and kids. All of the characters, good and evil and somewhere in-between, are skillfully depicted so you get more and more tense as the story plays out. At times I was breathless when the action heated up and I worried about the good guys.

One character is a staple in every small town I've ever known. In this town she's a rural mail carrier but she could be anything. She's a thoughtless gossip who craves attention and has no compassion for the people she's hurting. She also thinks she's attractive (not!) and has her eye on Jess Rawlins. And she's loud, so when she's spreading gossip she lets everyone around her hear what her imagination has come up with.

I happened to read this at the time the 16 year old California girl and her kidnapper were found in Idaho. That added even more color to the background as I read, especially when the horse riders who saw and reported them were interviewed. I could imagine how those two couples would resent the intrusion of city people into their lives.

This is an action-filled thriller with great characters and I hope you'll read it and other C. J. Box novels.

Highly recommended
Source: book sale show less

When 12-year-old Annie Taylor takes her younger brother fishing in the woods of North Idaho the children witness the murder of ‘a wavy-haired man’ and are soon running, literally, for their lives. They manage to flag down a car belonging to an old boyfriend of their mother’s and just as they think themselves safe things take another bad turn. At the same time a retired police officer comes to town because there might be a link to an old case he investigated but never solved. Slowly people start to wonder if there’s any connection between all these events and the fact that retired Californian cops have moved almost en masse to the area.

In this standalone novel Box has created a ripping yarn. It grabbed my attention immediately show more with a combination of beautifully described places and fast-paced action sequences. I’ve never been to North Idaho but I almost feel like I’ve seen it thanks to the beauty of Box’s words. On the very first page as he sets the scene where the two children will encounter the murderers he writes


When the grey-black fists of storm clouds pushed across the sun, the light muted in the forest and erased the defining edges of the shadows, and the forest plunged into a dispiriting murk. The ground was black, spongy in the forest and sloppy on the trail. Their shoes made sucking sounds as they slogged upstream

I felt like I was right there watching the kids trudge through the mud and, if anything, the writing gets better as the book progresses.

There’s a cast of memorable, credible characters too and the book doesn’t really rely on a single protagonist. Jess Rawlins, an ageing ranch owner struggling to keep his land in a changing world is certainly a key character but there are other interesting people too. Eduardo Villatorro, the retired cop on the trail of the most bothersome case of his career and Monica Taylor, the children’s mother, both learn a lot about themselves as events unfold. And the bad guys too are well-rounded, believable people.

I’ve not heard of C J Box before and therefore have not read any of the Joe Pickett series for which he is well known. However, I can thoroughly recommend this standalone story which is perfectly encapsulated between two covers: an increasingly rare treat from this reader’s perspective.


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From Amazon:

A twelve-year-old girl and her younger brother are on the run in the Idaho woods, pursued by four men they have just watched commit murder—four men who know exactly who William and Annie are. And where their mother lives. Retired policemen from Los Angeles, the killers easily persuade the local sheriff to let them lead the search for the missing children. Now there's nowhere left for William and Annie to hide…and no one they can trust. Until they meet Jess Rawlins.
Rawlins, an old-school rancher, knows trouble when he sees it. He is only one against four men who will stop at nothing to silence their witnesses. But in this thrilling mystery novel from C.J. Box, these ex-cops don't know just how far Rawlins will go to show more protect William and Annie…and see that justice is done.

My Thoughts:

C.J. Box has only written two standalone novels to date...this one and Three Weeks To Say Goodbye. The villains are revealed at the outset and C.J.Box takes more time to explain the motives for their crimes. The "why" is never really important... the back-story of the original crime that motivates the rest of the narrative is one of the book's weak points, however the novel is little affected by it. The motivating crime doesn't really matter if the characters are compelling and the action is well-written, Box succeeds admirably on both counts, and it's enough to know that these retired LA police officers did something very bad, and they don't want anyone to know about it and will stop at nothing to see that it happens.

The characters were very well developed and the story line compelling. Who wouldn't love a real old time "cowboy" with a strong sense of justice, two lost children and and a good cop to balance out the bad ones? The book lost one star for the ending, which I will not spoil. I will just say it felt a bit rushed and could have given better closure. show less

In the woods outside a remote town in Northern Idaho, four retired Los Angeles police officers thought they were committing an untraceable murder. They didn’t count on Annie and William Taylor, ages 12 and 10, seeing the whole thing. The children flee for their lives as the four corrupt officers hunt them down, determined to silence them. When the criminals take over the sheriff’s investigation of the children’s disappearance, Annie and William have no choice but to turn to Jess Rawlins, a stoic, aging rancher, for protection. Jess must use all of his knowledge and skills to decide who he can trust, and how to bring the murderous police officers to justice.


Box, best known for his Joe Pickett mysteries, has written a fine show more stand-alone novel, filled with suspense and vivid human emotions. Blue Heaven has a complex plot, narrated from many perspectives. A clumsier writer could have tangled the many story lines here into a confusing mess, but Box is skilled at creating memorable characters with distinctive voices, making the novel a fast paced and thrilling ride. show less

A decent story. I liked the fact that an older man became the hero. Reminded me of my grandfather, a similar type. Too many points of view to feel very close to any one character.