The Bitterroots

When Cassie investigates the case of a child molester for an old friend, she does not expect to do more than validate known facts to put the perpetrator behind bars. But while she is asking questions the people involved act peculiar, and someone seems to be very adamant to scare her off, even going as far as threatening her life. Instead of retreating Cassie stubbornly stays on the case.
Fast paced and entertaining story, well written page turner, highly recommended!

This is a highly addictive book to read as it is very atmospheric and provides the reader with an insight of a small town in rural Montana. Cassie Dewell is one of those private detectives I love,. She never backs down and is determined to reveal the truth even if it might kill her.
In my opinion C.J. Box is at the top of his writing career with this novel. It has great twists and turns that will keep the reader turning the page. CJ Box is easily at the same level as Lee Child and Michael Connelly with this book. I highly recommend it!

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. I recently started reading C. J. Box and love him. The Bitterroots involves a former sheriff’s investigator Cassie Dewell who is now a private investigator. Cassie helps a friend who wants Cassie to help investigate a man, from an wealthy family accused of assaulting his niece.

The Kleinsassers have ruled the Bitterroots of Montana for decades, and the Iron Cross Ranch is their fortress.. They want to see Blake Kleinsasser, the accused, put away forever for the assault. Cassie tries to uncover the truth, but she is threatened, jailed, and assaulted herself. But Cassie will stop at nothing to find the truth. Cassie is another great C.J. Box character who is diligent and focused as well as very entertaining.

Many thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the chance to review this book.


A five star review feels like it should be a special rarely seen type of book, However the best praise I can think of is Yep... Its a C.J. Box book. You have a beautiful western location, A honest main character who wants to do whats right, And there is always more to the story than it seems. All in all it is a classic C.J. Box story that you will enjoy throughout. 5 Star

The author of the Joe Pickett novels has written the first in a series with a female Private Investigator. Cassie begins by investigating a rape of a 15 year old Franny. Kleinsassers has already confessed to the rape. Cassie must make sure his confession is true by following the statement of the girl. But everyone is Lochsa County is in the pocket of the Kiensassers family, from the sheriff down. They are a vicious and dishonest family doing everything to make Cassie's life horrible.

C.J. Box has written an intriguing and twisty story, every bit as good as his Joe Pickett novels..
Definitely recommended.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with the ARC. This was a very anticipated read for me! C.J. Box writes beautifully and has a way of immersing you in the story! I was totally engaged and will of course be reading more from this author in the future!

Box is at his best in the fourth of this continuing series. The Bitterroots has everything: a plot that keeps the reader guessing until the end, wonderful characters, and a setting that comes alive even when choked with ash from the blazing forest fires ripping through the forests of Montana. I read the book in a single sitting while flying from Scotland to Chicago and finished it with time to spare. I literally couldn’t put it down. I doubt that most readers won’t be able to either.

I've read several books by CJ Box and have enjoyed them all. This one was no different. Fast paced read and easy to get interested in. I recommend this book.

Box at his best. Propulsive plot, deepening of our relationship of the protagonist, and just enough of his journalistic background flavoring the tale. I wouldn't say Joe Pickett's at risk of being pushed aside by Cassie Dewell, but I'm more than fine with the characters taking turns for as long as Box's still game to tell their stories, especially this well.

I just loved this Cassie Dewell book. Once again, Box writes such compelling characters and his Kleinsasser family puts the fun in dysfunctional. Can’t wait to put this into my customers’ hands.

CJ Box brings back Cassie Dewell. Cassie has solved the Lizard murder case but that doesn't mean she isn't still endangered. A new evil has come to her part of Montana. An uncle has been accused of raping his niece and it is up to Cassie to uncover the truth.

In the author’s fourth Cassie Dewell novel, the protagonist has left her career as a police officer in North Dakota to open her own private investigation firm in Bozeman, Montana. She had tires of the bureaucracy of law enforcement and the misogyny of her co-workers, and needs to work through the PTSD of killing the “Lizard King”, a long-haul trucker and mass murderer. But starting a new business in a new location brings challenges of its own. So when a local female attorney wants to hire her to investigate a rape by a wealthy, over barring man from the adjacent county, Cassie has little choice but to agree.
The accused, Blake Keinsasser is the oldest son of a prominent ranching family in Lochsa County. After three generations, the family business has prospered but has developed a hold over people and politics in the county to preserve their interests. The first day Cassie begins to ask questions about her client, she is stopped by a deputy and jailed on bogus charges. Not intimidated by the tactics, Cassie pushes her way into the family only to have her life threatened again. Still not giving up she finds a former employee of the ranch who fills her in on the family’s history. Now she knows why she’s in danger but how can she persevere?
C.J. Box does it again with The Bitterroots. He writes an intriguing story about a fearless, code bound protagonist that you can’t put down, all the while weaving in modern day issues… misogyny, climate change, law enforcement behavior. An excellent read.
Thanks to Netgalley for the advance look.

As much as I love the Joe Pickett books, I think this book has become my all time favorite book of his.

Cassie Dewell, a former sheriff investigator is now working as a private detective. She gets asked to look into a case where the eldest son of a rural Montana family is accused of raping his niece. She does not want to do this but she owes his lawyer a favor.

Cassie drives up to this remote area of Montana where the family seems to control everyone and everything. CJ Box does an amazing job of writing about just how creepy this all is. There are run ins with the sheriff, weird and scary family members which puts Cassie in danger many times. There really are no happy endings in this book except Cassie survives.

The Bitterroots by C.J. Box.
This is a highly addictive book to read as it is very atmospheric and provides the reader with an insight of a small town in rural Montana. Cassie Dewell is one of those private detectives I love,. She never backs down and is determined to reveal the truth even if it might kill her.
In my opinion C.J. Box is right at the top of his game with this novel. It has great twists and turns that will keep the reader turning the page. CJ Box is easily at the same level as Lee Child and Michael Connelly with this book. I highly recommend it.

C. J. Box can always be counted on to give us a thrilling, edge of your seat book. Bitterroots is one of the best, especially enjoy the character Cassie Sewell.

Opening up a C. J. Box book is like turning on your favorite movie.
The intense anticipation is one of a kind, one you know you’ll be pulled in and held captivated until the final scene.
Now that she has her own Private Investigative Company, Cassie Dewell is trying to piece her and Ben’s lives back together after the harrowing ordeal with a serial killer, The Lizard King, a notorious long haul truck driver who wrecked havoc across the country’s highways and truck-stops.

However, her peace of mind may be cut too short.
Cassie has taken on a case up in The Bitterroots Mountains, a case that will lead her into an evil cliquish territory.

C. J. Box has created an amazing plot, intertwined with a nail-biting conclusion, which will raise the hair on the back of his reader’s necks.

I received an arc copy of Bitterroots in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.

An old friend calls in a debt, and Cassie Dewell leaves the comfort of her new business as a PI in Helena, Montana, to look into the circumstances surrounding the arrest of a member of an influential family in a small, rural community. After the intensity of her previous job in law enforcement, her business conducting investigations for insurance companies and car dealerships feels like a breath of fresh air. As she heads into the Bitterroot mountains, where a fire is raging, that fresh air disappears both literally and metaphorically. The family of the accused is the worst kind of dysfunctional, and there’s a trucker who seems bent on killing Cassie and her family, harkening back to her stressful days chasing a serial rapist and murdering trucker. After a slow start filling in Cassie’s history, Box shifts into high gear, pulling the plot lines together while writing lyrically of the western landscape.

This is the 2nd C.J. Box book I’ve read and I am loving this author. Box’s descriptions of the Northwest, Montana and the surrounding valleys and mountains with the backdrop of fires burning through timbered areas are simply stunning.

Cassie, a former cop, now a private detective, is uncomfortable working for aggressive defense attorneys. She is investigating an assault/rape in a small town where one family is in control of the entire valley. Cassie still sees things from the perspective of a police officer and wants to validate investigative due diligence and that evidence is properly obtained. There are unscrupulous people trying to intimidate and force her to back down. Many twists and turns and a great plot.

*I will post to online venues closer to publication. LOVED this book!

This was my first C.J. Box title - and I loved it! I found differing information on whether or not this title is part of a series. If it is though - I didn't have any issues with not having read any of the other Cassie Dewell titles. I decided to give this genre a try after getting hooked on the TV show 'Yellowstone". It was definitely worth it!

C.J.Box is a truly gifted author and every book just gets better. The writing is fantastic. The characters are well developed and the storyline is entertaining.

Bozeman-based PI Cassie Dewell is hired by a defense attorney to mostly verify the facts turned over during discovery. Dewell, being a former cop, doesn't really care for defense lawyers but takes on the job for a variety of reasons. She still doesn't like it, though. And that that corner of the state is in the midst of its largest wildfire in recent memory.

Blake Kleinsasser, the oldest of 3 sons born into a family that controls a small county up near the Bitterroot mountains. He's accused of abduction and rape of his niece and the evidence against him is formidable. Blake was in a blackout drunk when the alleged rape occurred. The lawyer wants the evidence verified so she can talk Blake into a plea deal. Family issues and the line of succession for the 70,000 acres of the Iron Cross ranch mean that should Blake be convicted, he would be cut out of any passing along of family assets.

When Cassie arrives to essentially dot i's and cross t's, but runs into wall after wall after wall. She's getting fed up with being stonewalled, was even tossed into jail for a night, her Jeep was burned, her motel room bugged, and threatened most every day. Only once she tracks down a former employee of the ranch does this morass of dominoes start to organize and fall into place, which also has a tentacle to her son's interest in a new student in school back in Bozeman.

While CJ Box is well known for his Joe Pickett novels, this, his 4th Cassie Dewell book, is equal to the task. Box is more than just Joe Pickett. It's his stories and how he develops them that sets Box apart from the rest of the numerous pretenders. So go ahead and start reading CJ Box for Joe Pickett, but stick with him as he develops Cassie Dewell. You will not be disappointed.

This was a really good book. I read the prequel, Badlands, and I have always felt that that book was one of Box's best efforts and his finest of all. The protagonist, Cassie Sewell, a deputy in an oil-boom town of North Dakota, battles the "lizard king," a trucker who kidnaps, rapes, and murders truck stop prostitutes. It's a particularly good book because of the richness of Cassie's character; a female cop in a man's world, widowed, struggling to bring up her son with her mother's help.

The Biitteroots shows us Cassie a year or two later after she quit her job and moved to Bozeman, Montana. She becomes a private investigator and the beginning of the book shows us her in action against a bail-jumper. She is called in by a fierce woman lawyer who has to defend an accused rapist. Cassie is disgusted with the man who appears obviously guilty, yet she agrees to investigate the case. Once she arrives in the mountainous backwater of Western Montana she runs afoul of the local rancher and his family who more or less dominate the politics and economy of the area. I won't go into detail, but Cassie is clearly abused by these ranchers in an effort to hide the truth of the case from her. She has too overcome and find the truth of the crime.

C. J. Box is a well-known writer with a lot of fans, but I don't think he has written a better book than The Bitterroots. I could not put this book down as I was fascinated and generally fearful for Cassie even up to the end of the book. There are a number of excellent plot twists and salty Montana characters to hold the reader's interest. I highly recommend this book; read it you won't be sorry. 5/5 Stars. Read this and other book reviews on bookgeist.blogspot.com.