February 2024:

Savage Run by C.J. Box

Charles’ Reflection:

For the month of February we're doing something a little different. The past two months we read Punching the Air and Moonrise, both books dealt with deep heavy issues of incarceration and Death Row. One of the discussion questions that was asked of me was how do I balance this with being in solitary confinement on Texas Death Row? The answer is I read other books for the entertainment value. And the book that we're featuring this month is one of these kinds of books.

"Savage Run" is book #2 from a series written by C J Box about a character who is a Wyoming game warden named Joe Pickett. There are twenty two Joe Pickett novels in the series to date and I've read just about every one of them! These books are filled with outdoor activities like hiking in the mountains, riding horses, fishing, camping all things I long to do. For the past quarter of a century my body has been locked in a solitary confinement cell, but but not my mind. Through Joe Pickett misadventures my mind is free as an eagle soaring high above the Rocky Mountains. I hike and camp fish and ride horses in the world the book contains and I love that.

Maybe you have heard the old saying about the powers that be can incarcerate your body but not your mind. That's how it is for me but it also applies to people who are not incarcerated. Just as the Dudley do right misadventures that Joe Pickett transport me from this cage on Texas D R, they can do the same for someone who is is unable to travel and see these beautiful places. It's expensive to travel and not everyone is financially able to afford to do so. Or maybe a physical disability makes it difficult for someone to experience the outdoors.

Reading fun exciting and entertaining books is something just about anybody can do. No matter were your find yourself or what your situation is, a Joe Pickett novel or one like it can transport you from where you find yourself to Yellowstone national park, or some other exotic place. I think that Yellowstone national park is my favorite place in the world author C J Box creates.

Savage Run is a rip roaring adventure that has Joe Pickett investigating the death of an extreme ecoterrorist that turns out to be much more that a publicity stunt gone wrong.

Joe is like a dog with a bone and isn't convinced that the deaths were an accident. And soon Joe begins uncover clues that suggest a deadly conspiracy that will test his strength, courage, survival skills and his determination to do the "right thing" despite all costs.

C J Box uses an impressive duel prospective in Savage Run, shifting between Joe Pickett's life as a game warden in Wyoming, and the travels of two hired hit men. Lots of excitement and adventure.

My favorite part of this book comes from native American lore and where the book got its title. According to the author, The canyon called Savage Run cuts brutal slash through the center of rugged Wyoming mountain wilderness.

The legend of Savage Run come from the story of a band of a hundred Cheyenne - mainly elderly, women, and children who were camped near the rim of the canyon while their warriors were on extend Buffalo hunt. The band was unaware of the Pawnee warriors who'd been following them.

The Pawnee had planned to attack, both to claim their "special" reward from the U. S. Army of $10 per scalp and to gain access to prime hunting land. They were also after the large herd of Cheyenne horses. When the Pawnee approached the camp at first light, to their surprise the Cheyenne were gone. Somehow they climbed down the canyon side and disappeared into thin air.

The Pawnee chose not to even try to pursue the Cheyenne. They admired the determination of the Cheyenne who managed such an escape. I love Native American history. Two of brothers were half Tigua Indians and C J Box did a great job weaving is legend into his novel.

Joe Pickett finds himself in a ruff spot and manages to do what the band of elderly men, women and children Cheyenne did, which was great!

Savage Run was a very entertaining novel and freed my mind with the story that it contains. I think that's the highest achievement a novel can attain and if that is the author's goal he reached it.

I hope I've been able to introduce you to a new genre of books and maybe you'll give ole Joe Pickett a try. I think you'll enjoy them just as I do. While reading Savage Run I was nowhere near Polunsky Unit, and was instead in the wild mountain wilderness of Wyoming and because this book contains the power to do that for anyone who reads it makes it a book worthy to be one of the books we've read in our Words That Sustain Me book club!