Suspense/Thriller

I don't think thrillers work that well if they are just pure narrative - nice as that is. I think when the author takes the trouble to delineate a specific setting (as, for example, Harlan Coben has been able to do with middle class suburbia), and also takes the trouble to make you care about the characters, then the thriller in question enters top notch territory, as this one does.

The main characters - there are several - are a struggling rancher; a newly retired detective from outside LA; and a set of children who witness something terrible in the first chapter and are on the run for the rest of the book. In the opening scene, Annie and William Taylor have gone out fishing on their own, and stumble into an apparent murder scene. They are able to evade the killers and hide, but the killers don't forget about them, and it's their hunt for the children - as well as their mother's anguish - that drives the plot. The rancher in question, one Jess Rawlins, has been a part of the Idaho ranching community since boyhood, the last in a long line of ranchers. His least favorite animal on the planet is a real estate agent - the very type of person his ex-wife happens to be living with. Jess feels adrift in the new world of Idaho where money comes from outside - movie stars, retired cops - rather than from the ranches that have made it run for decades.

The other pivotal character is a freshly retired cop from just outside LA, Eduardo Villatoro. One unclosed case has bothered Eduardo his entire career - the robbery of the Santa Anita racetrack, involving the murder of one of the guards. He just can't let it rest and has followed a lead to Idaho where he hopes to finally resolve the case. The ex-cops are the other pivot the story hangs on - but they're the bad guys, and Box is able to clearly delineate each man (each evil in his own way, though the weak link is apparent). The feeling of menace isn't just generated by the plot, it's also character driven, which just makes the book that much stronger.

I think a sign of a really good book are the small, secondary characters that are none the less indelible. In the case of Blue Heaven, that buzzing, indelible fly is named Fiona Pritzle, and she's realistically irritating. We probably all (unfortunately) know someone like her, and curiously, for me, she's what added a great deal of verisimilitude to the entire proceeding. You won't forget Jess, Annie and William, but you won't forget Fiona either. This is such a good read, Box is such a smooth writer, that you probably won't let it leave your hands while you're reading it. It's a truly enjoyable armchair expedition to Idaho, somewhere I still wanted to visit even after reading this scary book.