Christina Delaine delivers a thrilling performance of this high-stakes hunt for a killer. Relentless in her pursuit of the Lizard King, a long-haul trucker responsible for a string of murders, Deputy Cassie Dewell finally has him cornered in Bakken County, North Dakota. Unfortunately, he knows it. Employing regional accents and mostly avoiding caricature, Delaine firmly grounds the story in the Midwest. Male characters have deeper voices marked by a slower cadence, while female characters, especially older ones, elongate their vowels in signature Midwest style. Notably, Delaine's sensitive portrayal of a young man with a speech impediment adds emotional depth, while her depiction of the elusive Lizard King generates chills. Though it's the final audiobook in the Highway Quartet, listeners can easily enjoy this as a stand-alone. A.S. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

★ 05/15/2017
Bestseller Box’s excellent conclusion to a quartet of loosely related novels that started with 2011’s Back of Beyond finds Cassie Dewell now the chief investigator for the Bakken County (N.Dak.) Sheriff’s Department. Cassie convinces her boss, Sheriff John Kirkbride, to approve a sting operation designed to entrap serial killer Ronald Pergram, an independent trucker who preys on truck stop prostitutes. Having eluded capture in 2013’s The Highway, the cunning Pergram gets wind of the plan and booby traps his truck, which explodes and kills several local police and feds involved in the operation, including Cassie’s fiancé. In the aftermath, Cassie is suspended and obnoxious county attorney Avery Tibbs subsequently forces her to resign. Meanwhile, Pergram goes on a kidnapping spree that leads to Cassie getting back on the force and the case. The intrepid, appealing Cassie relies on her keen investigative instincts to hone in on Pergram in this top-notch thriller, which makes vivid use of the American West. 250,000-copy announced first printing; author tour. Agent: Ann Rittenberg, Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency. (July)

Praise for #1 New York Times Bestselling Author C. J. Box

“If Box isn’t already on your list, put him there.”—USA Today

“Box seems to get better with every book.” —Associated Press

“Box is a master.” —The Denver Post

05/01/2017
In this third installment of the series (after The Highway and Badlands), Cassie Dewell has been suspended from her job as chief investigator for the Bakken County, ND, sheriff's department, when her plan to capture the serial killer known as the Lizard King went badly awry. Pending an investigation, Cassie uses her free time to probe the disappearance of three Grimstad residents, including her son's friend, Kyle Westergaard. Clues lead Cassie to Paradise Valley, MT, childhood home of the Lizard King. Here, Cassie and her late partner, Cody Hoyt, had first uncovered the highway killer's gruesome deeds. With the help of mountain guide Bull Mitchell, Cassie tracks the Lizard King and his three captives to a remote cabin where, in a climatic finale, she comes face-to-face with the man she has long hunted. VERDICT Box's many fans will devour this dark thriller, which is sure to be another hit for the author. [See Prepub Alert, 3/1/17.]—Patricia Ann Owens, formerly at Illinois Eastern Community Coll., Mt. Carmel

Christina Delaine delivers a thrilling performance of this high-stakes hunt for a killer. Relentless in her pursuit of the Lizard King, a long-haul trucker responsible for a string of murders, Deputy Cassie Dewell finally has him cornered in Bakken County, North Dakota. Unfortunately, he knows it. Employing regional accents and mostly avoiding caricature, Delaine firmly grounds the story in the Midwest. Male characters have deeper voices marked by a slower cadence, while female characters, especially older ones, elongate their vowels in signature Midwest style. Notably, Delaine's sensitive portrayal of a young man with a speech impediment adds emotional depth, while her depiction of the elusive Lizard King generates chills. Though it's the final audiobook in the Highway Quartet, listeners can easily enjoy this as a stand-alone. A.S. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

2017-05-02
Box takes another break from the travails of Wyoming Fish and Game Warden Joe Pickett (Vicious Circle, 2017, etc.) to throw a serial killer at a dogged investigator and vice versa.His real name is Ronald Pergram, but he's more widely known as the Lizard King because of his habit of abducting lot lizards—prostitutes who work truckers' parking lots—and driving off with them into the endless sunset. And Cassandra Dewell, chief investigator for the Bakken County Sheriff's Department, has been after him for more than three years, ever since veteran Sheriff Jon Kirkbride recruited her from Montana and began to train her as his successor. Now that the deep-laid trap Cassie's set for the Lizard seems to be about to snap shut, she's arranged for every available lawman to be on hand when the Lizard's truck, complete with his latest victim, or at least with forensic evidence he hasn't yet had time to clean off, crosses North Dakota and heads west into Bakken County. On the very same day Cassie's set her trap, her son's friend Kyle Westergaard and his buddy Raheem Johnson, both 14, plan to pull a Huck and Jim and light out for the wide open spaces on a boat they hope to row to New Orleans. All too predictably, Cassie's trap goes horribly wrong, leaving her frozen out of the department by slimy new Bakken County attorney Avery Tibbs and the Lizard with several new hostages on his hands, setting the stage for a dogged pursuit all the way to Yellowstone National Park. Box handles both the set pieces and the longer arc with professional dexterity. The results can't exactly be called memorable, but if you like chases across wide-open spaces, you'll race toward the satisfying climax without caring about anything else.