Three Weeks to Say Goodbye
C.J. Box turns out a compulsively readable thriller about an adoptive father fighting to keep his baby girl safe.
While I was reading C.J. Box鈥檚 new book, Three Weeks to Say Goodbye, the NFL season was entering its final week. This made football analogies just way too easy.
Without overdoing it, you could liken Box to a general manager for an NFL club. He knows he can assemble an award-winning team of players.
He鈥檚 been very successful with his Joe Pickett team (eight novels). These stories about a Wyoming game warden have provided Box with bestseller after bestseller after bestseller and lavish reviews.
So, last year when he introduced a new team to the reading world with the release of 鈥淏lue Heaven,鈥� there was worry and skepticism.聽Why change a good thing?
Was he turning into the literary equivalent of REO Speedwagon?
(At one time, REO was selling out arenas.聽Then they cheesed out and produced those awful sugary pop ballads in the 鈥�80s instead of sticking to their hard rock 鈥淩idin鈥� the Storm Out鈥� roots.聽Had they stayed true, some speculate they would have remained on top of the old school rock world like Aerosmith.聽Instead, now you can catch them at your local Holiday Inn.聽Tip your waitresses and try the veal.聽We鈥檙e here all week.)
But thankfully for fans of Box, 鈥淏lue Heaven鈥� was an outstanding read and became a runaway hit and, now, a soon-to-be movie.
The better news is that there doesn鈥檛 appear to be a sophomore jinx for聽Box.
He鈥檚 changed teams yet again and his latest book, 鈥淭hree Weeks to Say Goodbye,鈥� is a big-time winner.聽This book is solid.
But who are we kidding? Do you think Box would put together something like a collection of unicorn haikus?聽He鈥檚 demonstrated that he鈥檚 a master storyteller.
And 鈥淭hree Weeks鈥� doesn鈥檛 stray far from the familiar.
As in Box鈥檚 other books, the story takes place in the Rocky Mountain West.聽But unlike the remote mountain town settings of his earlier books, this time Box chooses suburban Denver for the backdrop.
There are brief trips to Montana and his home state of Wyoming in the novel, but for the most part the action takes place in Colorado.
The main character 鈥� Jack McGuane 鈥� is a good guy.
Happily married to wife Melissa, the only problem they鈥檝e had is not being able to have a family.聽The problem is solved when they adopt a baby girl named Angelina.
But trouble begins when the deeply deranged birth father, a 17-year-old named Garrett Moreland, wants the child back.
It鈥檚 not as if the kid realizes he made a mistake and wants to provide the child a happy and healthy home 鈥� not at all.
After meeting Garrett, it becomes obvious that he couldn鈥檛 care less about the baby.
In fact, you find out that Garrett couldn鈥檛 care less about anything.聽He鈥檚 dead inside.聽No conscience.聽No soul.聽Someone you really, really don鈥檛 want to meet.
And now he wants a baby girl?
It turns out that it鈥檚 his father, the rich and powerful John Moreland 鈥� a sitting federal judge 鈥� who really wants the child.聽But why?
Initially, the judge says his son must learn responsibility as there are consequences for actions.
Later we鈥檙e told the judge wants a second chance at raising a child.聽You know, a do-over.
It鈥檚 obvious that his first attempt at fatherhood is a failure (that is, if you consider raising a sociopath to be a bad thing).
But sometimes you shouldn鈥檛 give second chances. Mulligans on the golf course are fine. The more of them, the better.
But when it comes to parenthood, perhaps 鈥渙ne and done鈥� is fine.
The law is on the side of the Morelands. The McGuanes don鈥檛 have any money.
Furthermore, what attorney wants to battle Judge Moreland?
It鈥檚 apparent that this judge has the connections, money, and power to get he wants 鈥� always.
Not to mention that his son has the other side of the law covered. He prefers the company of Sur-13 鈥� a powerful gang affiliated with the Mexican Mafia.
You don鈥檛 want to cross either Moreland. They seem to be bulletproof.
As the title suggests, Jack has three weeks until he must turn over his daughter.
Box cleverly walks you through each of those days. Nary a one is mundane or typical.聽And during this time you are introduced to a lot of questionable characters.
Some are repulsive, like the suspected pedophile who works as a campsite host on federal lands 鈥� the same federal lands where children have gone missing.
Some are borderline, like Uncle Jeter Hoyt,聽a recluse from Montana who may have the right intentions but just as easily could put together a Unabomber-like manifesto.
Others are almost likable despite their faults, like Jack鈥檚 friend, Cody 鈥� a cop who sees laws as rough guidelines. Cody thinks most people should follow the law, even though he doesn鈥檛 need to.
He鈥檚 only dirty for the 鈥渞ight reasons.鈥�
Box takes you on a classic 鈥渕an against the machine鈥� ride. And the machine doesn鈥檛 flinch.
The odds are stacked against Jack. If he were a football team, he鈥檇 be the 2008 Detroit Lions 鈥� mismatched at every level.
He鈥檚 helpless.
And as the story progresses, it becomes apparent that Jack cannot win.聽Every strategy he pursues is wrongheaded.
But the guy鈥檚 desperate. Who wouldn鈥檛 be, knowing that handing over his baby girl to her legal father could mean her horrific demise?
Does Jack end up like the 0-16 Lions? Or is he able to snatch a victory at the last minute?
I鈥檓 not going to tell you. But I will say that just when you think you鈥檝e figured it out 鈥� you haven鈥檛.
And then聽when you think you鈥檝e got it right a second time 鈥� nope, you鈥檙e wrong again. It鈥檒l keep you guessing.
I read 鈥淭hree Weeks to Say Goodbye鈥� during what could have been a miserable flying experience, complete with many delays and cancellations.
Thanks to C.J. Box, I didn鈥檛 mind the flights 鈥� not even the guy behind me who used his tray table as a drum set and my head as a cymbal.
When I hit the last page, I wanted more.
Bravo, Mr. Box. You did it again.
Jimmy Orr is the Monitor鈥檚 online editor.