Short and Sweet Review: The Disappeared by C.J. Box

I’m a huge fan of C.J. Box and his valiant Wyoming game warden, Joe Picket. But it’s been a while since I’ve read one of his books. You know how it is, once you’re caught up with all the books in a series you have to wait until the next one comes out and the before you know it, you’re binge reading Longmire or Charles Lenox mysteries, or maybe rereading Pride and Prejudice or Ender’s Game. So many books, so little time. Anyway, Box doesn’t ‘put out’ at the speed of some authors, but the payoff is worth the wait and that's definitely the case in The Disappeared.

If you’ve been following Joe’s adventures you’ve been through many anxious moments for him, his family, and his best friend, sometime fugitive from the law, (former special forces, master falconer, zen master? What can this guy not do??) Nate Romanowski. 

Readers will be thrilled to hear Nate is back in this book. While each installment in this series is great...it never feels quite whole without Nate. He made a promise long ago to protect Joe and his family and, as readers know, for Nate, a promise never grows old.

This time the new Govenor has sent Joe on a mission to find a missing British woman, despite previous attempts by federal agencies that were mysteriously and prematurely terminated. There’s a missing game warden too, and some frustrated falconers. Oh, and a really nasty guy who seems to always be on the fringes of whatever goes wrong. Wait! Don’t forget the local logging company’s burner that’s supposed to be burning up the day’s sawdust...but it smells like more than sawdust to a meddlesome little old lady.

Why send a game warden? And who hates Joe enough to want to destroy him? Think back, fans of the series...you know who, but it will become clear soon enough.

The only upside is the location, a very high-end dude ranch where Joe’s oldest daughter, Sheridan, happens to work, and where she’s become very fond of a fellow wrangler. Sheridan, as we’ve seen before, is cast in a similar mold to Joe. This time around we see her finding her feet—and maybe her future—more and more. My fingers are crossed that the future holds more of Sheridan. And Nate, of course, we always want some more Nate!

Princess Maddie is 11!

Maddie

Today is my little girl’s 11^th birthday.  Her name is Maddie and she’s a Golden Retriever. Her little sister, Zoe, turned 3 in March, and while Maddie has mellowed with age and dearly loves her many naps throughout the day, Zoe is a bundle of energy and enthusiasm.

The day we brought Zoe home Maddie gave us ‘The Look’. If you have an older pet and have brought home a puppy you know what I’m talking about. It’s the one that says “Oh no...what have you done now?” But we couldn’t help ourselves, we are dog lovers and we love them in pairs. Usually it takes a few months, max, before we are on the hunt for a new puppy after one of ours crosses over that Rainbow Bridge. This time, however, was an exception.

Maddie’s older brother, Wrigley, had passed almost 2 years before. In the interim Maddie faced some health issues so we didn’t want to inflict a puppy on her while she recovered. Then we had a few road trips we wanted to take and Maddie, as our now ‘Only Dog’, came along. To say she luxuriated in the attention and pleasure of an only dog would be a very big understatement. We always knew, from her delicately regal trot to her incredibly loving spirit, that she was born to be our Princess. What we hadn't realized was that she was clearly also born to be an only child!

Unfortunately, we didn’t really appreciate that fact until we brought home the new puppy. Past experience had taught us that it took two or three weeks for the older dog to lay down the hierarchy and then settle into a comfortable relationship with the interloper in their domain.

Maddie, in fact, was subjected to just such behavior when she arrived, a frisky and sweet tempered 9 week old, anxious to make Wrigley her new best friend. Wrigs had other ideas and Maddie spent a couple weeks sneaking up and settling in behind him when he slept. She’d curl up and sleep near his tail--where he couldn’t see her but she could still be close to him.

Maybe he could see her, and it was all part of the process. I’ll never know for sure, but I’ve seen it many times. That’s because Zoe is something like the 15^th dog so far in my life. Some came single, some in pairs, for a while we had three BIG dogs...that’s a lot of dog around the house! Eventually, Maddie and Wrigley were devoted to each other and Wrigs was so sorely missed by his little sister when he was gone.

Zoe and Maddie

I’m not sure Maddie is quite as devoted to Zoe, but they have formed a comfortable friendship and Maddie is the first to come to her defense whenever she's encountered less than friendly dogs. Zoe adores her and is at her bravest in the world when Maddie is beside her. I guess dogs, like people, have their favorite friends.

We, of course, are devoted to our dogs, and I do believe they have all been devoted to us, whether we deserved it or not. And that’s the bottom line with dogs. They’re friendship is true. They are ever sympathetic, ever delighted to see you, ever excited just because you are you—no questions asked.

Today, our sweet girl is 11 and we are so thankful she’s our girl. No questions asked.