Breaking Point is the 13th book in author C.J. Box’s series centered on Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett. This book is pretty accessible to anyone who hasn’t read the other books in the series. The plot and characters don’t rely on much of the earlier history in the series, but I have really enjoyed the books and do recommend that you go back and pick them up at some point.

One day, when Joe is working, he runs into Butch Roberson. Their daughters have been good friends for a while, so encountering Butch shouldn’t be a big deal. Butch does seem a bit on edge, though. The two have a rather stilted conversation, and Joe moves on with his work. What he doesn’t know, yet, is that Butch Roberson is a man on the run.

When Joe arrives back in Saddlestring, he finds law enforcement in an uproar. Roberson is accused of murdering two government agents and trying to hide their bodies on a plot of land he owns. When he informs the sheriff that he ran into Butch, Joe is brought in on the manhunt.

The two men Roberson is accused of murdering were from the Environmental Protection Agency. Joe has never thought of the EPA as being an armed agency, but he quickly begins to learn differently. There seems to be a lot more behind the manhunt, particularly when a bounty is put out on Roberson, and more sophisticated weaponry is brought in. Joe has worries about how dry it’s been lately, as the area has been in a drought.

You can guess where all of this is heading.

Since Joe is mostly out in the field trying to locate Butch before the guys from the EPA murder him outright, unraveling a lot of what’s behind what happened falls on Joe’s wife, MaryBeth. She talks to Butch’s wife and learns that they cut a deal for that particular plot of land that nearly cost them everything. Then, when they started clearing the land to build, the EPA showed up and declared it a wetland. It’s put a strain on both of them as well as their marriage. MaryBeth is the one delving into information she can find on the internet and telling Joe what she’s discovered when he calls. Still, the more they learn, the less things seem to make sense.

Box modeled his story on the court case Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. This case created a way for people to appeal declarations by the EPA. Prior to this, there was no recourse for landowners who found themselves in a dispute with the EPA. The Sackett case is brought up several times, although when everything is said and done, there’s much more going on in Breaking Point than was present in the Sackett case.

Box fooled me this time. I did guess some of the mystery, but not all of it. The reasoning behind the vendetta the EPA seems to have against the Robersons somewhat took me by surprise. I had to suspend my disbelief to accept some of the coincidences that precede the events in the book. It seems a bit unrealistic that all of this would fall into place so perfectly and be able to be hidden for so long. I did correctly guess exactly what had happened to the two agents Butch was accused of murdering.

Joe’s pal, Nate Romanowski, doesn’t make an appearance until the very end. I would guess that after everything that’s happened, Joe understands Nate’s attitude about law enforcement and the government. Joe is still trying to be a good law enforcement officer, but it’s becoming harder and harder as he experiences more and more manipulations of the law by self-serving people. This is about the only part of the story that anyone who hasn’t read the previous books might struggle with. Joe has the reputation of being a “Boy Scout” when it comes to his job, but it seems like every book has him inching closer and closer to questioning everything.

I liked the role MaryBeth was given here, too. She’s usually the one holding down the fort at home, but in Breaking Point, she’s doing much more. It’s less Joe going to work and her worried and waiting at home. She’s a big part of figuring out what’s going on and helping their friends, while Joe is stuck with the manhunt.

David Chandler narrates the audiobook, and I think he’s a great narrator. He captures emotions but doesn’t insert his own thoughts into the reading. There was tension at the right parts, and he kept me on the edge of my seat at times.

Breaking Point is a great addition to the series, and I highly recommend it. There’s a great murder mystery and a thrilling manhunt, as well as intrigue. It all works very well, and I really enjoyed it.

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