Paradise Valley by C.J. Box

Cassie Dewell is a detective for the Bakken County, North Dakota sheriff’s department.  Her low self-esteem and single Mom status don’t keep her from being the best investigator in the department and her boss, Sheriff Kirkbride knows this.  But she is obsessed with the one that got away… a long-haul trucker/ serial killer… Ronald Pergram… the Lizard King.  Yes, Cassie knows who he is and has once almost caught him… almost.  But he somehow got away and is still out there, trolling truck stops for unsuspecting prostitutes who he can overpower, torture, and murder.  As an independent trucker with no address and cash payment for everything, he manages to evade all law enforcement.

So Cassie tries to set a trap for him.  She posts a load for pick up out of Grimstad, where she now lives, in hopes of luring the Lizard King to her.  One day, he calls to book the load and Cassie assembles a pose of deputies at the local factory where the fictitious load awaits.  But Pergram smells the trap and sends a substitute driver in his truck.  He packs C4 explosives under the driver's seat of the tractor and detonates it with a cell phone call just as the truck backs into the loading dock.  The substitute driver and three deputies are killed in the explosion and three others are injured.  A housewife observes Pergram in a pickup truck on a hill overlooking the factory as it explodes.  He kidnaps her and travels back roads into hiding.

Coincidently the same day, two young teenage boys from Grimstad leave on an adventure in a small boat on the Missouri River.  They stumble across Pergram at his first hideout as they attempt to camp for the night.  Pergram grabs them and puts electronic dog collars on them to control their movements… a method he uses frequently on his victims.  He then heads west into the Montana mountains near a secluded area of Yellowstone known as Paradise Valley.  No one suspects Pergram is still alive or that he has the woman or the two boys… no one that is except Cassie.

But Cassie takes a hard political fall and takes Sheriff Kirkbride with her as the Bakken County DA blames her for the lives lost due to the explosion.  She quits before she is fired but can’t give up on hunting the Lizard King, especially since she suspects he has prisoners.  She heads to Montana, a private citizen now, gathering clues from local law enforcement and citizens as she goes.  She can’t let this scumbag get away again no matter what it costs her.

I love it when a book exceeds my expectations and this one does just that.  Box develops a protagonist, you can’t help but revere.  Her weaknesses are relatable and her courage and tenacity admirable.  Add in her personal code and distain for politics and it’s easy to compare her to Harry Bosch.  I think we’ll see more of Cassie Dewell.

Thanks to Netgalley for the preview.