Back Of Beyond

BLUF: I really enjoyed certain aspects of this book, but, as a whole, the book didn't do much for me.

Back of Beyond is the first in the Cody Hoyt series. Cody Hoyt is your typical, angry lone wolf who doesn't play well with others. I've been having a hard time with this type of character lately, but, for whatever reason, came to an acceptance with Hoyt after he exposes that he's a recovering alcoholic. (This may have to do with the last book I read, whose main character was presumed guilty after a relapse from alcoholism, but was a very caring family-oriented man.)

I'm not sure what went wrong with this book, but it lost me when Cody jumped from the murder of his mentor to the idea that the murderer now journeyed on a pack trip with his son and was, somehow, an imminent threat. This was too far of a stretch for me. While I understand that no one wants their child on a trip with a murderer, I don't understand how a threat was felt so instantly after the determination that the murderer was on the same trip, especially when the murderer's victims were all alcoholics – not teenage boys.

In all, I enjoyed the interactions between characters, but wasn't fond of how the mystery unfolded

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader in a post about this book and the follow-up.
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Cody Hoyt is your typical brilliant, but troubled, maverick cop. But he's gone a little further than most—his alcoholism has cost him a job, his marriage, and son. He's managed to find a job as a Sheriff's Investigator in Montana, and has two months of sobriety. He's called out to the scene of an apparently accidental fire that resulted in a death.

Sadly, the body is Cody's AA Sponsor. Cody refuses to believe that he got drunk and accidentally caused a fire. With a fellow investigator, he starts putting the pieces together while trying to prevent the Coroner and Sheriff from rushing to declare it an accidental death.

Meanwhile, we meet Gracie Sullivan, a bookish fourteen-year-old and her older, appearance-obsessed sister Danielle. In an attempt to bond with his daughters during the short time he has custody, he drags them along on a Yellowstone wilderness trip.

This seems like an odd combination of storylines to combine—but Box does it. While unclear about why Hank was killed, the investigators decide the killer is on a Yellowstone Wilderness Trip (yup, that's the one!). To add to the tension, Cody's son is also on that trip—he's with the man his mother is planning to marry, also in an attempt to bond. The idea of his son stuck with a killer is too much for Cody. So he sets off to find the tour while his colleague continues to investigate.

I'm not sure why so many adults want to bond with teens for a week in Yellowstone on the back of a horse, but maybe it's something I should try. Then again, given the body count on this trip...

Bouncing back and forth between Gracie and Cody (and, occasionally, other points of view), we get to see what's going on with the tour while we feel the tension from Cody's hunt. No one on the tour is aware there's any kind of problem, but things start going wrong and people start disappearing. The tour group is an interesting, and pretty believable mix of characters, and when things go wrong for them, it matters. I absolutely loved the contrast between the experienced, yet worried, Cody and the increasingly aware and innocent Gracie (I would've been more impressed with this if I hadn't moved on to Box's Open Season next where he'd done something very similar years before this).

Despite his many flaws—or probably because of the way that Box combined them and used them—I really liked Cody and was rooting for him. But Gracie? Gracie was fantastic. She's smart, insightful, clever and determined—and she keeps her head in a dangerous situation.

There's a lot of good twists (and even the one that you see coming from miles away, you only see part of it—and the motive will catch you off guard). All coming together in a good, solid, satisfying ending.