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Below zero
342 pages
A rugged, tension-fueled thriller where the ghosts of a tragic past collide with a chilling present-day threat.
What it feels like
This is a thriller that sinks its hooks in early and refuses to let go, driven by a relentless, ticking-clock momentum. The reading experience is steeped in the rugged, unforgiving atmosphere of the American West, where the stark landscape mirrors the gritty, pragmatic tone of the narrative. It feels both expansive in its environmental stakes and deeply claustrophobic in its emotional intimacy, centering on a family grappling with the agonizing possibility that a buried tragedy has been unearthed. The prose is lean and muscular, stripping away excess to focus on escalating dread and visceral action. It will thoroughly delight readers who crave outdoor mysteries anchored by stoic, fiercely loyal protagonists and a pervasive sense of chilling suspense.
- Mood
- tense
- rugged
- chilling
- dread-tinged
- Tone
- pragmatic
- suspenseful
- earnest
- gritty
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- ghosts of the past · family loyalty · environmental extremism · grief and false hope · survival
- The writing
- Lean, unadorned, and highly visual, capturing both the stark beauty of the American West and the brutal swiftness of violence.
- The arc
- Begins with the unsettling shock of impossible hope, building through escalating dread toward a harrowing, high-stakes confrontation.
- Who it's for
- Fans of rugged, outdoor-set thrillers who appreciate a stoic, morally upright protagonist fiercely protective of his family.
Content notes
- murder
- arson
- child endangerment
- gun violence
- grief
About the book
Award–winning and national–bestselling writer C. J. Box returns with a vengeance in this thrilling new novel featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett.Below Zero begins with an unassuming phone message: “Tell Sherry April called.” But Sherry—Joe Pickett’s oldest daughter, Sheridan—and the Pickett family are shaken to the core. April, Pickett’s foster daughter, was killed in a horrific murder and arson spree six years prior. To Joe, it doesn’t seem even remotely possible that April could have survived the massacre described in Winterkill. He was there. But Sherry starts to believe there’s a chance that April is still alive; the girl on the other end of the phone is able to recall family incidents that only April could know.Joe, however, remains suspicious, especially when he discovers that the calls have been placed from locations where serious crimes have occurred.At the same time, an older man and a much younger girl cross the country. The man is on a mission to repent for the crimes he’s committed against the environment during his lifetime. He ultimately wants to offset each incident until he not only becomes carbon neutral, but actually drops below zero— as if he’s never existed. As the path of these travelers starts to intersect with the Pickett family’s, the question is raised: Is this young girl April—or are Joe and his family the victims of the cruelest of hoaxes?
Description from Open Library.
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