2024 the best books on tape review

Price: $0.99
(as of Dec 05, 2024 18:00:32 UTC - Details)

The inspiration for the new ABC series Big Sky. Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel, the New York Times best-selling author of Back of Beyond and Breaking Point and the creator of the Joe Pickett series is back.

"If CJ Box isn't already on your list, put him there." (USA Today)

When two sisters set out across a remote stretch of Montana road to visit their friend, little do they know it will be the last time anyone might ever hear from them again. The girls - and their car - simply vanish. Former police investigator Cody Hoyt has just lost his job and has fallen off the wagon after a long stretch of sobriety. Convinced by his son and his former rookie partner, Cassie Dewell, he begins the drive south to the girls' last known location.

As Cody makes his way to the lonely stretch of Montana highway where they went missing, Cassie discovers that Gracie and Danielle Sullivan aren't the first girls who have disappeared in this area. This majestic landscape is the hunting ground for a killer whose viciousness is outmatched only by his intelligence. And he might not be working alone.

Time is running out for Gracie and Danielle...Can Cassie overcome her doubts and lack of experience and use her innate skill? Can Cody Hoyt battle his own demons and find this killer before another victim vanishes on the highway?

Reviewer: Max Tomlinson
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Truck stop page turner!
Review: When I started The Highway, I was of two minds. The novel treads a well-worn, somewhat heavy-handed approach to the story of a serial killer trucker who calls himself The Lizard King (a rather cheesy reference to a Doors song) and who goes to extreme lengths (read often unbelievable) to hunt his prey, whether they be “Lot Lizards” (truck stop hookers) or, preferably, more innocent quarry. In this case two sisters are driving across Montana for a Thanksgiving event and, ignoring engine light warnings and dark roads through Yellowstone, soon become his new victims to be.Deputies Cody Hoyt and Cassie Dewell are soon on the case of the missing girls, however, even though they receive pushback from the powers above. Hoyt is a stereotypical loose cannon, but Cassie is well-rendered and believable, a departmental equity hire with weight and family issues to deepen her character. Her lack of confidence and struggle to push ahead as members of the Sherriff's department show their (very) dark sides is well done.The scenes where the Lizard King and his deviant pals reminisce and plan their sessions are terrifying and not for everyone, even though much of the ugliness is taken off camera. Several of the characters are utterly repellent (e.g. the Lot Lizard’s mother).The world building of Montana and the west is extremely satisfying as is the author’s ability to drill down into characters without easing up on the tension. Many thriller authors would dispense with what might seem more mundane traits in favor of pacing, but here they add complexity to otherwise stock characters and the suspense doesn’t lag.The book became a page turner for me as a trio of sick individuals plan their time with the two new teenage captives and a twist I didn’t see coming (see spoilers) changed the story's direction. The final shoot out with Cassie and one baddie is very well done and her effort to sugarcoat her actions is great irony, considering her initial opinion of Hoyt’s shoot-from-the-hip strategy.[spoiler]When Hoyt is killed by one of his colleagues, a sick deputy who has wormed his way into The Lizard King’s world, I was completely blind-sided, as I thought Hoyt to be a permanent character. Well done, Mr. Box. Keep us guessing!

Reviewer: Maggie Deaton
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: AA macabre tale of kidnapping, rape, and murder across this nation...
Review: An unconventional lawman who pursued justice at all costs and placed "right and morality" above the letter of the law takes justice into his own hands. His partner and protege is left to bring salvation and safety to two frightened girls facing rape and death.... The search continues for the final suspect as one remains at large despite the deaths of two of the gang....Excellent, if somewhat disturbing, novel.

Reviewer: DHansard
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Some kind of sick mind...
Review: In a one-star review one reader said he didn't care about all the critical acclaim for the author. He said, "...I still don't want to fill my heart and head with these products of a sick mind."The comments from pre-release reviews of CJ Box's THE HIGHWAY have been overwhelmingly positive though there has been an undercurrent of discomfort, sometimes anger, from both long-time Box fans and those reading him for the first time. With this book, far more than his others, people love it or hate it, and there's not much in between. The balance is heavily on the "love it" side, but there is an intensity and consistency to the negative points of view that bear consideration.THE HIGHWAY is based on actual events, dozens, maybe hundreds, of unsolved abductions, disappearances, and murders of women, many, but not all, prostitutes. That's what this book is about. If you want lighter, but still excellent fare, check out stories that feature Nero Wolfe or Hercule Poirot.THE HIGHWAY, from the first page to the last, is intense and dark, at least compared Box's Joe Pickett series, as well as his other standalones. It's not dark compared to Jim Thompson's THE KILLER INSIDE ME, or Ross MacDonald's DOUBLE INDEMNITY, but next to the stories of Joe and Mary Beth and their girls, with best friend/loose cannon Nate Romanowski in a sidecar, this one is as black and frightening as Wyoming wilderness on a moonless night.Part of the reason for the grimness is that you are led into the story by one of Box's most troubled and complex protagonists, a lawman some consider to be a "borderline psychopath" himself, Cody Hoyt. Cody first appeared in THREE WEEKS TO SAY GOODBYE, and reappeared in BACK OF BEYOND. He is a fired, disgraced (in some eyes) cop, who consistently manages to do the right thing, and just as consistently manages to do it in the wrong way. He has a gift for making almost everyone on both sides of the deal upset with him. He's your friend from high school or college that you loved being around even though every time you got in a car with him you knew two things: it would be an adventure; and you were probably going to get into trouble, maybe a lot of trouble.CJ Box has taken fictional fee simple title to a good portion of the American West, the same way Tony Hillerman did the Big Rez, Raymond Chandler did post-depression Los Angeles, and John D. MacDonald did South Florida. THE HIGHWAY, however, though set in Wyoming and Montana, does not fit a restricted geography. It jumps the rail and busts the barricades of single locale. The true location of THE HIGHWAY is not a couple of Western states, it is America, broad and deep, as defined by that endless center-striped ribbon of road that is an organism unto itself. The American highway, perhaps more than any other physical feature of the continent, including the Rockies, the mighty Mississippi, the Great Plains, (I know, queue soundtrack: "Oh, beautiful, for spacious skies...") embodies our culture. This man-made tentacle calibrates American consciousness like nothing else. From Kerouac's ON THE ROAD, which plays through Cheyenne, to Stirling Silliphant's ROUTE 66, to THELMA AND LOUISE, and the literally countless chase and road movies, TV shows, and films, this is us. THE HIGHWAY is America.Box has fine-tuned his best-selling Pickett series to such a degree he could shift to overdrive and cruise as long as he wanted. He has chosen not to do that, challenging both his readers and himself by taking on narrative tasks that few, if any, other writers are up to. He does it notably in the Pickett book, COLD WIND, and he does it in spades in THE HIGHWAY. Unfortunately, it's not possible to talk about how he does it in either without spilling a barrel of spoilers. But I will say this. Every time you think you know where the story is going, you are probably wrong; and, though I have read hundreds of crime fiction novels, there came a point deep in the tale at which my jaw dropped and I quit breathing for a moment. I was stunned in a way I don't remember, ever, at least not since the scene in THE EXORCIST in which Linda Blair's head did a three-sixty. What happened in THE HIGHWAY can't happen in a story like this. But it did.What is not different from Box's other books is the voice, the pace, the rhythm, the power of the language, the passion. As sure as the night is dark, you will be hooked within a page or two. It is a tale that keeps on telling because even when you are done with it, it will not be done with you. It will come back to you on lonely roads running through an opaque night when the needle's on empty and the only pumps are at a faded truck stop with flickering neons, and a lot that's empty except for a single tractor-trailer, idling in blackness. The idea of filling up at a place like that will be about as appealing as spending a night at the Bates Motel.Oh, and for the record, the introductory excerpt was from a review of THE COLLECTED WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE. What may seem like a sick mind may merely be an open and aware mind astutely observing a reality that is, very often, sick.

Reviewer: Linda Curry
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Highway
Review: Couldn’t stop reading this book. It was exciting and scary. Glad they made a movie from it. I watched all episodes of it. Very good.

Reviewer: sheba
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A good read but not for the faint of heart. C J Box is a great story teller and writes about believable characters. Keeps the reader involved in the story

Reviewer: scatterbox
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The story is about a highway trucker who abducts women and tortures them. The story begins with two girls taking an adventure into the mountains of Montana who disappear en route. The story builds by bringing in several characters , state troopers, police and the families of the victims. It is a thoroughly good read which doesn't waver from the plot. The build up to the end is tense but the result is satisfying but doesn't end quite as you would expect, Without giving the story away I was a bit confused as to wether it had ended completely or if this may be a trilogy .The characters were totally believable and I imagined the female co to be like the female cop in Fargo. It was very descriptive of the landscape so you almost felt you were actually there I just wished the female cop had got her commendation she deserved but if it is a trilogy maybe that will be in the next book?.

Reviewer: Eva
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Zwei Teenager verschwinden mitten im Nationalpark, doch die Suche gestaltet sich schwierig. Bad cops treffen auf good cops und einige Tote später wird es dann noch mal heftig bevor der Showdown eine Frau zur Heldin macht. Absolut empfehlenswert!

Reviewer: Mauger Emmanuel
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: la suite des aventures comptées par C J Box et c'est une réussite. Le ton est bon, le suspense au rendez-vous, les surprises aussi car il y a des sacrifices importants d'un côté et malgré tout le Mal s'en sort partiellement indemne... la vie en somme.Très bien écrit, bien mené par un spécialiste du genre et toujours cette plongée dans l'Amérique profonde, celle qui est aimable.

Reviewer: 新しもの好き
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: 楽しいドライブ旅行でモンタナのハイウエイを飛ばしていたティーンエイジャー姉妹が凶暴なトラックドライバーに捕まり恐怖の日が始まる。飲んだくれで名を知られる保安官コーディ・ホイトが出かけたが連絡を絶ってしまった。相棒の女性保安官カサンドラ（カシー）・ドウエルが女性蔑視の土地で本領を発揮して快刀乱麻の活躍をみせる。お膳立てはいいしトラック野郎たちの生活ぶりも活き活きと描かれてさすがの腕前だが、犯人たちはただ乱暴で凄惨な場面が続き、いつもの深みもなく作品の意図がいまひとつわからない。Back of Beyondで新シリーズかと期待したががっかりだ。やはりジョー・ピケット シリーズだな。