Below Zero & A Reliable Wife

Below Zero by C.J. Box

Looking at the title of this book you might think it takes place in Antarctica OR you may think it’s about a frozen body but you would be wrong in both instances. The term is actually about reducing debt and reducing your carbon footprint.

Joe Pickett is back—hooray! --in Box’s latest entry. There’s also a reappearance of April who seems to have survived the massacre described in Winterkill.

This is the story of a mobster named Stenko who is dying and wants to leave this earth with no debt. His son, Robert is an environmentalist who wants his father to make peace with the crimes against the environment that he has committed in his lifetime. Both go on a wild spree across the country with a girl named April. Joe Pickett is in hot pursuit (along with the FBI) to capture them.

It was good to read about Joe Pickett again.


A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

A 54 year old gentleman in a remote Wisconsin town advertises in the newspaper for a wife and so this story begins. It takes place in the early 1900’s, a time of decadence and despair.

Catherine Land responds to the ad and a conversation by mail ensues until Mr. Truitt sends her train tickets to come to Wisconsin.

This is the story of two souls who have been ravaged and experienced great sorrows in their lives. Neither one knows the full story about the other. Catherine has had a torrid past and carries it with her into the new relationship. Mr. Truitt has his own secrets and reveals them to Catherine after she saves his life.

Both start their relationships with lies and subterfuge and both attempt to create beauty in their life together.

This is a well-written, engrossing story that you will not soon forget.
Ladybookbug!