Below Zero

By: C. J. Box

Narrated by: David Chandler

'Tell Sherry April called.' That simple phone message shakes Joe Pickett’s oldest daughter Sheridan and the rest of the family to the core. To Joe, it doesn’t seem even remotely possible that April could have survived the massacre six years before. He was there, and he was unable to save her. But Sheridan starts to believe there’s a chance that April is still alive, and her suspicions are confirmed when the person sending texts to her cell phone is able to recall family incidents only April could know.

Meanwhile, a dying Chicago mobster named Stenko and a much younger girl cross the country. He’s on a mission to reconcile with his extreme environmentalist son before he goes. His son is less interested in reconciliation than in getting his father to repent for the environmental crimes he’s committed during his lifetime. He wants his father to become not just carbon neutral, but to reduce his carbon footprint to below zero - as if he’d never even existed. Joe, however, remains wary of the messages, even though their references to things only April could know are convincing. But when the texts start to refer to "bad things", and when Marybeth discovers they come from locations throughout the West where vicious murders have taken place, alarm bells go off.

Desperate to discover if April is still alive and to save her from possible danger, Joe, Sheridan, and Nate Romanowski take to the road to connect the texts with the crimes. As the path of Stenko and his companions starts to cross with Joe, Sheridan, and Nate, the question is raised: is this young girl April or is the Pickett family the victim of the cruelest of hoaxes?

©2009 C. J. Box. (P)2014 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"Pickett: one of the most appealing men in popular fiction, a laid-back, good-natured guy until he's riled, and then ..." ( Chicago Tribune)

"This relentlessly paced powder keg of a thriller could be Box’s best to date." ( Publishers Weekly)