As Joe starts his new assignment in a new county, first he must help his supervisor take care of a 450-pound grizzly bear that was named bear 304. They got the bear into a trap, but what happens next is something that I would not want to encounter. They shot the bear with a tranquilizer gun and waited ten minutes. Neither one of them could tell if the bear was a sleep or not. The bear's eyes were still reflecting the light and was still drooling. Both Joe and his supervisor got out of the truck and went up to the bear trap. They shone their flashlight on the bear and not only did the bear blink, but also turned his head away from the light, but it's when they realize that the lock on the gate didn't work that they were in some serious trouble. The bear roared and charged through the gate with such force that gate blew open. Now mind you Joe was on his way to a new job that he was to start the next day. They spent the next three days driving around trying to find the bear. Just when they thought their luck was over with, the receiver on the bear's collar chirped. The bear came back. They went out in search for the animal, but what Joe does being a game warden even surprises me. He is standing ten feet away from the grizzly, staring him in the eyes. He raises his shotgun, but Joe can't pull the trigger? I could just imagine what that felt like and hopefully I won't have to ever find that out.
Well the bear does get taken down, but by his supervisor. Joe continues on his way to his new assignment and the new office is not happy that he is late. Joe pretty much hits the ground running. Not able to talk to his wife, who needlessly is not happy right now that he has not checked in yet. Joe gets to his new office, which belongs to the old game warden who took his life and just can't put two and two together on what is wrong with the office, but sits down anyway to kind of figure out where Will left off. He gets a phone call from the receptionist saying that there are some people setting up camp in the middle of an elk refuge. As Joe approaches the camp it seems that these people are no strangers to the area. The previous game warden has arrested them a time ro two for their antics. They of course are animal rights activists who don't feel the need for hunters. Knowing that they are out numbered with all the hunters, Joe offers to take them down to their car as the camping gear they had was not suitable for overnight camping. I'm thinking they were actually hoping to get arrested for publicity on their part.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Out of Range - Summary 1
Well, I finally started the next book in the Joe Pickett series, Out of Range. I'm currently on chapter six of the book. Talk about a beginning that really pulls you in from the get go and hasn't let go yet. It first starts off with a game warden cooking and eating dinner and then leads into the man taking his own life. Well, naturally it leads you to believe that it is the main game warden.
On a brighter note, the next five chapters takes you to a wedding of Joe's mother-in-law on a beautiful ranch setting of the Bighorn Mountains. While having dinner at the reception they get the news that a game warden from Jackson Hole was found dead in his home and it looked like a suicide. Game warden Jensen was a friend of theirs and they just couldn't figure out what happened. After some drinking, eating, dancing, and partying, they are on their way home not knowing that a possible new future is in their view.
As most people assume, Joe works out of a Game and Fish Department building, but all reality, Joe has an office in his house. As the rest of the family changes out of their wedding attire, Joe goes into his office to see if he has any messages. Joe had three messages waiting for him. The first one was from a ranching calling to complain of the elk coming down from the mountains eating his hay and wondering when the fencing was going to be put up. The second phone call was an odd one. It was a gentleman with heavy breathing and faint music in the background. Joe can't figure out who it is or why he is getting these phone calls. The third in the past month. The third phone call was from Joe's Supervisor, Trey Crump. He was calling and confirming the death of the game warden from Jackson Hole. Along with that, he is needing someone to fill in for the up coming elk season. He put in a recommendation for a game warden and he recommended Joe. One of the other warden's he requested was Will Jensen, but since he decided to take his own life, he has called Joe to see if he would like to come up.
The rest of the Sunday was spent tieing up loose ends before heading out to the Jackson Hole. This includes packing bags, the truck, and meeting with Nate Romanowski, a friend of Joe's. On his way to Jackson, he is interrupted from Trey saying that he needs to meet Joe as there is a grizzly bear problem and he needs Joe's help.
Well, that's where I leave you for now. I'm curious as you are wondering more about the mysterious phone calls, the grizzly bear, as well as the investigation on to why Will Jensen took his own life.
On a brighter note, the next five chapters takes you to a wedding of Joe's mother-in-law on a beautiful ranch setting of the Bighorn Mountains. While having dinner at the reception they get the news that a game warden from Jackson Hole was found dead in his home and it looked like a suicide. Game warden Jensen was a friend of theirs and they just couldn't figure out what happened. After some drinking, eating, dancing, and partying, they are on their way home not knowing that a possible new future is in their view.
As most people assume, Joe works out of a Game and Fish Department building, but all reality, Joe has an office in his house. As the rest of the family changes out of their wedding attire, Joe goes into his office to see if he has any messages. Joe had three messages waiting for him. The first one was from a ranching calling to complain of the elk coming down from the mountains eating his hay and wondering when the fencing was going to be put up. The second phone call was an odd one. It was a gentleman with heavy breathing and faint music in the background. Joe can't figure out who it is or why he is getting these phone calls. The third in the past month. The third phone call was from Joe's Supervisor, Trey Crump. He was calling and confirming the death of the game warden from Jackson Hole. Along with that, he is needing someone to fill in for the up coming elk season. He put in a recommendation for a game warden and he recommended Joe. One of the other warden's he requested was Will Jensen, but since he decided to take his own life, he has called Joe to see if he would like to come up.
The rest of the Sunday was spent tieing up loose ends before heading out to the Jackson Hole. This includes packing bags, the truck, and meeting with Nate Romanowski, a friend of Joe's. On his way to Jackson, he is interrupted from Trey saying that he needs to meet Joe as there is a grizzly bear problem and he needs Joe's help.
Well, that's where I leave you for now. I'm curious as you are wondering more about the mysterious phone calls, the grizzly bear, as well as the investigation on to why Will Jensen took his own life.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Summary
I don't know exactly how I came upon the current author I'm reading, C. J. Box, but I sure am glad I did. I love the outdoors and I love a good murder mystery and his Joe Pickett series is the best of both worlds sort of speak. He currently has 11 books out and I'm on the 4th of the series.
The first book of the series is Open Season. Joe Pickett is first introduced into this edge of your seat thriller with many twists and turns. Just when you think you have it all figured out on what is going on, you get pulled into another direction. Besides the murder that takes place in the story, the endangered species issue is well written into the plot of this book.
The second book in the series is Savage Run. Exploding cows that also takes out a newlywed couple is only part of the many exciting parts of this murderous twist. Some of the murders in a shooting spree that crisscrosses across the U.S. include a lawyer, a writer, and a lobbyist, all of which are enviromentalists. All the people killed have a powerful position.
The third book in the series is Winterkill. Due to the events that are happening, a high-ranking forest official is brought in for the investigation of the District Supervisor for the Twelve Sleep National Forest. Not only was he killed, but he was left stuck to a tree with hunting arrows. You would think that the death of this man would be the center of the plot, but it isn't. It all centers around a steak out a piece of land on Battle Mountain. This definitely is a must read for all murder mystery lovers as well as the rest of the Joe Pickett series.
The fourth book in this series is Trophy Hunt. By the name of the book and given the fact that the main character is a game warden one would thing this is about the one that is meant to be mounted on the wall. Well this story line is along a whole different aspect. We are talking mutilations of animals and humans. What could be causing this? Aliens, people, a beast of a bear? There are many twists and turns on trying to figure out what the cause of the mutilations of a moose and cows with no evidence of preditor or clues on who did it. When two men are found dead the same way the moose and cattle are killed, a task force is formed, but with Joe goes his own way to find out what is tearing his town apart.
The first book of the series is Open Season. Joe Pickett is first introduced into this edge of your seat thriller with many twists and turns. Just when you think you have it all figured out on what is going on, you get pulled into another direction. Besides the murder that takes place in the story, the endangered species issue is well written into the plot of this book.
The second book in the series is Savage Run. Exploding cows that also takes out a newlywed couple is only part of the many exciting parts of this murderous twist. Some of the murders in a shooting spree that crisscrosses across the U.S. include a lawyer, a writer, and a lobbyist, all of which are enviromentalists. All the people killed have a powerful position.
The third book in the series is Winterkill. Due to the events that are happening, a high-ranking forest official is brought in for the investigation of the District Supervisor for the Twelve Sleep National Forest. Not only was he killed, but he was left stuck to a tree with hunting arrows. You would think that the death of this man would be the center of the plot, but it isn't. It all centers around a steak out a piece of land on Battle Mountain. This definitely is a must read for all murder mystery lovers as well as the rest of the Joe Pickett series.
The fourth book in this series is Trophy Hunt. By the name of the book and given the fact that the main character is a game warden one would thing this is about the one that is meant to be mounted on the wall. Well this story line is along a whole different aspect. We are talking mutilations of animals and humans. What could be causing this? Aliens, people, a beast of a bear? There are many twists and turns on trying to figure out what the cause of the mutilations of a moose and cows with no evidence of preditor or clues on who did it. When two men are found dead the same way the moose and cattle are killed, a task force is formed, but with Joe goes his own way to find out what is tearing his town apart.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
What's in a title?
Sitting in front of my semi-large collection of books, I sort through all the titles and it makes me wonder, where or how did they come up with the titles they have. I've got authors like James Patterson, C.J. Box, Patricia Cornwell, Dean Koontz, Tess Gerritsen, Lisa Black just to name a few. As I mentioned before Patricia Cornwell has a title of her book The Body Farm, which is a fiction story of her main character Kay Scarpetta touring the body farm. One of her books that I have not read yet, but found doing some research is called Port Mortuary. It is an actual place that is on Dover Air Force Base. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Books/excerpt-patricia-cornwells-port-mortuary/story?id=12266046. This is a link of an interview Patricia did on GMA talking about her book. I have also supplied a link that talks more about this place. It's pretty interesting. http://www.mortuary.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=15361.
I have a few books from an author John Sanford. I have heard good things about his books, although I have never read his books yet. I did notice that all his books have prey in the title. For example, Rules of Prey, Shadow of Prey, Eyes of Prey, just to name a few. here is a link of his books if you would like to check out his series. http://www.johnsandford.org/faq.html
It's pretty interesting how authors come to title their books and sometimes after reading it, you still are left puzzled on how they came up with that title while others it is pretty obvious. I will continue to wonder when reading a book how they do come up with the titles of their books as I'm sure it's not easy.
I have a few books from an author John Sanford. I have heard good things about his books, although I have never read his books yet. I did notice that all his books have prey in the title. For example, Rules of Prey, Shadow of Prey, Eyes of Prey, just to name a few. here is a link of his books if you would like to check out his series. http://www.johnsandford.org/faq.html
It's pretty interesting how authors come to title their books and sometimes after reading it, you still are left puzzled on how they came up with that title while others it is pretty obvious. I will continue to wonder when reading a book how they do come up with the titles of their books as I'm sure it's not easy.
Monday, April 4, 2011
The Body Farm
The Body Farm, although a title to one of the greatest forensic authors, Patricia Cornwell, is also a well known place located on the campus of University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The body farm was created by another well known author and professor of the University of Tennessee, Dr. William M. Bass in 1971. Dr. Bass is one of the most famous American anthropologists in his field.
Over the years, this has become the place for researchers everywhere, including Patricia Cornwell. The body farm at UT Knoxville was the only one of it's kind until a few years ago when other colleges have opened their own facilities, It helps document postmortem changes in various elements, both controlled and natural environments; as the body does decompose in various elements, such as sun, water, cold, etc and based on insect activity.
The body farm is a 2.5 acre facility that is well hidden and well protected by razor wire fence. There are several ways these bodies have come to the facility. They are either donated by their families and are pre-registered with the facility, while others are donated by the medical examiner's office as they are never identified. On average, about 60% of the bodies are from family members that were not pre-registered. Over 100 bodies are donated each year.
I must admit, when I first heard of this place when living in Knoxville, I seriously did not believe that it existed. It is a well protected area. It is located behind UT Medical Center in downtown Knoxville. Some have said you can see it from the highway, but I never have. Some of the links below from where I got some of my information, actually have some pictures (not a whole lot) of the body farm.
Dr. Bass has several forensic books out that I have read, though fiction, take place in East TN and are based off the body farm. http://www.jeffersonbass.com/books.html
For more information on this facility, please follow the following links.
http://www.jeffersonbass.com/videos.html
http://web.utk.edu/~fac/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_farm
http://www.vbs.tv/watch/motherboard/the-body-farm (actual interview with Dr. Bass and glimpses of the body farm and very informative information on the concept of the body farm).
Over the years, this has become the place for researchers everywhere, including Patricia Cornwell. The body farm at UT Knoxville was the only one of it's kind until a few years ago when other colleges have opened their own facilities, It helps document postmortem changes in various elements, both controlled and natural environments; as the body does decompose in various elements, such as sun, water, cold, etc and based on insect activity.
The body farm is a 2.5 acre facility that is well hidden and well protected by razor wire fence. There are several ways these bodies have come to the facility. They are either donated by their families and are pre-registered with the facility, while others are donated by the medical examiner's office as they are never identified. On average, about 60% of the bodies are from family members that were not pre-registered. Over 100 bodies are donated each year.
I must admit, when I first heard of this place when living in Knoxville, I seriously did not believe that it existed. It is a well protected area. It is located behind UT Medical Center in downtown Knoxville. Some have said you can see it from the highway, but I never have. Some of the links below from where I got some of my information, actually have some pictures (not a whole lot) of the body farm.
Dr. Bass has several forensic books out that I have read, though fiction, take place in East TN and are based off the body farm. http://www.jeffersonbass.com/books.html
For more information on this facility, please follow the following links.
http://www.jeffersonbass.com/videos.html
http://web.utk.edu/~fac/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_farm
http://www.vbs.tv/watch/motherboard/the-body-farm (actual interview with Dr. Bass and glimpses of the body farm and very informative information on the concept of the body farm).
Friday, April 1, 2011
Captured on the big screen
When I get into a good book, I often times wonder who I would pick to play the main character. As for the series I'm reading now from C. J. Box, I'm not quiet sure yet who I would have play the various characters. As much as I love to read Patricia Cornwell, I'm not sure I would like to see those as a made for T.V. movie or even a big screen movie. There are times when a book comes to life, it can ruin your impression of that character. There is however, one author who has had her character's come to life on T.V. I was not aware of this at first as it was years ago that I read one of her books. I love crime dramas, especially when one of the main character's is a medical examiner. I stumbled upon one one evening that is on TNT called Rizzoli & Isles. These character's were brought to life from an author named Tess Gerritsen. Like I said, I've read only one or two of her books in the past. In reading the credits during one of the shows, it said that the characters were characters taken from the books by Tess Gerritsen. After the first episode I was hooked.
The two main characters are Dr. Maura Isles, medical examiner and detective Jane Rizzoli. I love the portrayal these two have played out. I don't know about you, but when I think of a medical examiner, I'm not really picturing someone with stilettos on and designer dresses, although I must say it fits her character well and sure would love to have her sense of style. Who says you can't look nice even though you are working with dead people all day. Anyone who can spend 8+ hours on their feet in those things gets an A+ in my book. When I do get a chance, I would love to go back and read some of her books. If you haven't seen the show and would like to learn more, follow the link and check it out. http://www.tnt.tv/series/rizzoliandisles/.
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