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BACK OF BEYOND (AUDIO)
by C. J. Box, read by Holter Graham
Macmillan Audio, August 2011
Unabridged pages
$39.99
ISBN: 1427211345


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Cody Hoyt was an alcoholic. He was also a cop in Helena, Montana. He had been two months sober when his sponsor and friend, Hank Winters, is found dead in his half burned cabin. The coroner rules it a suicide but Cody is certain it was murder. From evidence in the cabin, Cody deduces that the murderer is taking a guided packing trip into Yellowstone National Park. When Cody learns that his son is on that same packing trip, he leaves for the Park in spite of the fact that the sheriff has forbidden him to go.

Meanwhile the packing group assembles around the outfitter and begins their ride into the Park. The story alternates between what is happening with the group and Cody's furious chase after them. There is enough tension and adrenaline for three or four books. This is an exciting story that had me on the edge of my seat and it was difficult to stop listening even for necessary chores.

The characters are very well drawn. Cody is a believably flawed human being. He yearns for a drink and a cigarette at the same time as he is struggling along the path back of beyond behind the party of packers. He is not a an experienced rider, but he struggles to keep up with his guide. When he is certain they are headed into danger, he sends his guide back and continues by himself. He is courageous and frightened at the same time.

Two of the group are teenage girls. Gracie, the younger, is smart and attentive and is pretty certain something strange is going on. The older, Danielle, just cares for flirting with Justin, Cody's son. Their father, divorced and only rarely in their lives, turns out to be a coward who pretends to be brave. The outfitter is greedy but very competent. The other members of the groups are equally well created as is the guide Cody employs.

The setting is magnificent: Yellowstone Park. The reader can see the trail, the trees on both sides, the sudden openings into clearings, and up above, towering over them at the end, a massive glacier. It is peopled with, as Cody's guide says, "lots of animals who could eat us," and Cody encounters several of them. The descriptions were so well done that I felt like I was actually there.

The story moves at a rapid pace. There is suspense from the very beginning as someone tries to kill Cody before he can even get into the Park. It never stops, rising and then settling back a little before it rises again. There are no dead spots in the book and very little time for the listener to catch her breath.

The reader, Holter Graham, is quite good. He sometimes emphasizes words I wouldn't and speaks dialogue differently than I might, but he is a good reader and capable of differentiating all the characters.

This is a story, exciting and action-packed, with believable and interesting characters in a spectacular part of the country that grabs the listener at the very beginning and never lets go.

§ Sally Fellows is a retired history teacher with an MA in history and an avid reader of mysteries.

Reviewed by Sally A. Fellows, October 2011

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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