Revenge is a dish best served cold.
C.J. Box never disappoints. Treasure State is another tense, tightly written Cassie Dewell novel, and I loved every page of it. Five out of five stars, hands down.
The pacing was perfect. It wasn’t one of those books that kept me up all night, but the urgency stayed with me long after I put it down. The danger felt real. Montana has a lot of wide-open nothing, and when the sheriff’s department is corrupt, “help” can be hours away. I kept hoping Cassie wouldn’t end up tossed down an abandoned mine before she could find anyone to trust.
I actually knew who the bad guys were pretty early, but I had no clue about the treasure. I kept thinking it was a ruse. It never occurred to me it could be in another state. That twist was brilliant.
One of the things I love about Box’s writing is how true he stays to time. Cassie is older now, and so is Kyle, who reappears from a previous book. I love that sense of continuity. Cassie feels like a real person, aging, learning, still fighting the good fight. And Kyle is one of my favorites. Guileless, big-hearted, and a little too trusting for his own good. I was glad Cassie got the chance to help him again.
The undersheriff, on the other hand, was Evil with a capital E. Throwing people into abandoned mines as a problem-solving technique is not just “villain energy”. That’s “padded room with a cute self-hugging jacket” territory.
Cassie, as always, walks that line between using the system and working outside of it. If she can find someone honest, she’ll team up. If not, she’ll handle it herself. Either way, justice gets served.
Box’s straightforward writing style and small cast of characters make the story clean and easy to follow, something I really appreciate as a middle school teacher who already deals with enough confusion in a day. I can read in short stretches and still keep my place, which is not always the case with twisty thrillers.
The setting is Absolutely Perfect. Box clearly knows the Midwest and Montana. Having taken a train through the state myself, I could easily picture the mountains, the cold, the endless space ... and that just adds to the tension. Help is hours away. What will Cassie do if she runs into trouble?
If I were in her shoes, I’d have taken the case too. It started as a simple missing-person investigation and ended up a tale of corruption and murder. Who knew? Loved it.
