Lisa, Our Resident C.J. Box Expert, Says This Book "will keep readers turning pages until the last one when they can finally let go and breathe again."

Back of Beyond

The Edgar® Awardwinning and New York Times bestselling author delivers a thriller about a troubled cop trying to save his son from a killer in Yellowstone. Cody Hoyt, while a brilliant cop, is an alcoholic struggling with two months of sobriety when his mentor and AA sponsor Hank Winters is found burned to death in a remote mountain cabin. At first it looks like the suicide of a man who’s fallen off the wagon, but Cody knows Hank better than that. Sober for fourteen years, Hank took pride in his hard-won sobriety and never hesitated to drop whatever he was doing to talk Cody off a ledge. When Cody takes a closer look at the scene of his friend’s death, it becomes apparent that foul play is at hand. After years of bad behavior with his department, he’s in no position to be investigating a homicide, but this man was a friend and Cody’s determined to find his killer.


When clues found at the scene link the murderer to an outfitter leading tourists on a multi-day wilderness horseback trip into the remote corners of Yellowstone National Park—a pack trip that includes his son Justin—Cody is desperate to get on their trail and stop the killer before the group heads into the wild. Among the tourists is fourteen-year-old Gracie Sullivan, an awkward but intelligent loner who begins to suspect that someone in their party is dangerous.

In a fatal cat and mouse game, where it becomes apparent the murderer is somehow aware of Cody’s every move, Cody treks into the wilderness to stop a killer hell bent on ruining the only thing in his life he cares about.

Read the BookGeek interview with the author.

Lisa says:

"Cody Hoyt is a rogue cop that readers first met in ThreeWeeks to Say Goodbye, and he left Denver at the end of that story.  Now, in Box’s newest thriller Back of Beyond, Hoyt is back home in Montana, where the Lewis and Clark Co. Sheriff’s Dept. has grudgingly hired him.

Hoyt drinks too much, chain smokes, makes snap decisions that don’t serve him well (like shooting the coroner), but he tries. He loves his son and wants to be closer, but due to his alcoholism his ex-wife isn’t real keen on getting drunken calls or visits. His partner, Larry, doesn’t like him, trust him or want to work with him. And to top it off – someone has murdered the only person who had befriended him and supported him – his AA sponsor.

After the murders start stacking up and lead him to a pack trip heading into Yellowstone – the one his son, Justin, is on with his ex’s boyfriend, Hoyt spins out of control and the wild ride into Yellowstone Park begins. Hoyt can barely keep his addictions at bay, let alone ride a horse into the wilderness. Readers will find they, too, are holding on tightly as the story twists, turns and bucks them from one dangerous scene to the next.

Box lets readers know that each person has come on the trip for a reason. There’s a dad trying to connect with his two daughters, one who loves nature and the other who loves cell phones, Hoyt’s son, Justin, and “Mr. Richness” who is hoping to gain the teen’s approval, the Wall Street guys seeking a City Slickers fantasy, the estranged couple, a mysterious single woman and the loner. They just don’t know that there’s a murderer among them.

Box writes of Yellowstone’s beauty and deadly features honestly because he’s been there so many times as a guide. He’s probably done more than 80 trips with a variety of nature enthusiasts, fly fishermen and greenhorns. This is exactly why his all of his books ring true. He writes what he knows. He creates a believable cast of characters that are as real as your next door neighbor. Back of Beyond will keep readers turning pages until the last one when they can finally let go and breathe again."