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    Badlands: A Cassie Dewell Novel
    Badlands: A Cassie Dewell Novel
    Badlands: A Cassie Dewell Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    Badlands: A Cassie Dewell Novel

    Written by C. J. Box

    Narrated by January LaVoy

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In C.J. Box's Badlands, the town of Grimstad used to be a place people came from but were never headed to. Now it’s the oil capital of North Dakota. With oil comes money, with money comes drugs, and with drugs come the dirtiest criminals Grimstad’s new deputy sheriff Cassie Dewell has ever encountered. . .

    Twelve-year-old Kyle Westergaard dreams of getting out of Grimstad and leading a better life. Even though Kyle has been written off as a “slow” kid, he has dreams deeper than anyone can imagine. One day, while delivering newspapers, he witnesses a car accident and takes a mysterious bundle from the scene. Suddenly he’s in possession of a lot of money—and packets of white powder—and Kyle can’t help but wonder whether his luck has changed…for better or for worse.

    “Suspenseful—you can’t put it down.’’—Library Journal

    When the temperature drops to 30 below and a gang war heats up, it’s up to Cassie to help restore law and order. But is she in over her head? As she is propelled on a collision course with a murderous enemy, she finds that the key to it all might come in the most unlikely form: a boy on a bike named Kyle. He keeps showing up where he doesn’t belong. And he seems to know something that Cassie does not about what lies beneath the surface of this small and troubled town…

    “The unrelenting cold makes this the perfect beach read.”—Kirkus Reviews

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJul 28, 2015
    ISBN9781427260932
    Badlands: A Cassie Dewell Novel
    Author

    C. J. Box

    C.J. Box is the New York Times bestselling author of fifteen novels including the award-winning Joe Pickett series. Box has won the Edgar Award for Best Novel as well as the Anthony, Macavity, Barry, and Le Calibre .38 awards. His novels have been translated into twenty-five languages. Box lives outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

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    Reviews for Badlands

    4/5

    202 ratings18 reviews

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    • 4/5
      It's been two-years since Cassie Dewell went up against a corrupt State Trooper and a serial killer known as The Lizard King. She's never given up her search for the killer, but she's ready for a change of scenery. She leaves Montana behind and takes a new position as a Chief Investigator in Bakken County, North Dakota, home to a booming oil town where drug crimes and prostitution are on the rise. A grisly murder soon points to police corruption and a missing shipment of drugs. Cassie's worries about The Lizard King are soon put on the back burner as she works to save a young special needs boy who has become tangled up in the danger.

      Kyle stole the spotlight from Cassie (IMHO) and my heart broke for him several times. Born with fetal alcohol syndrome, he's a quiet kid and frequently underestimated by most of the adults in his life. After finding a large bag of drugs and cash, he wants to do the right thing by going to the police. Unfortunately, T-Lock (Kyle's mother's boyfriend) has other plans and manipulates the boy. T-Lock eventually takes the choice away from him completely, which places the small family in even more danger. Despite his circumstances, Kyle turned out to be a strong little guy, even when he just couldn't catch a break.

      On a happier note, I like that Cassie's self-confidence is growing. She learned some painful lessons in the last book and it was good to see her develop a take charge attitude. She's a thinker and strives to make the best possible decision, even if that means getting creative with police procedure. I do miss Cody, though. I was just warming up to him! *sniffle*

      This book was so engaging that I read it in one setting! It'll be a long wait for the next installment!
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed the story, my family is from North Dakota and has experienced the changes. CJ got a few cultural habits correct.
    • 4/5
      Well worth the read!
    • 5/5
      This is a modern western, fast moving with well defined characters. It has the background of cold whether in a North Dakota boom town rampant with drugs. Suspense builds at a good pace throughout the book and I had trouble putting it down. Cassie Dewell is a determined police woman who wants results even to the point of breaking the law. It wouldn't take much for her to slip to the dark side to get her desired results. She doesn't realize that she may have a kindred soul in her new superior. He knows her background and she may be just the kind of investigator he is looking for. Although in another state, she has not given up on the capture of The Lizard king, setting a trap in her spare time.
    • 5/5
      Really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading another from this series soon. I have no hesitation in recommending this book.
    • 4/5
      Drugs and money and violence go hand in hand in glove in this tight suspenseful thriller. When a developmentally-challenged paperboy sees a car crash and picks up a bundle that had been tossed from the wrecked car, his life becomes irrevocably changed. Because Kyle suffers from a speech impediment, people think him slow of mind, but he is not. He hopes now he will be able to help his mom have a better life. But his mom’s live-in boyfriend thinks Kyle’s found bundle is his ticket to wealth and happiness, and he endangers everyone with his schemes. Newly arrived is Police Chief Cassie Dewell who is thrown into this drug war and she hits the streets running. She must deal with crimes of torture, murder, and dismemberments, along with drug turf fights. The action is fast and furious in this thriller. Some of the characters in this tale are bad beyond belief and others are quite likable, but, at least for a while, you can’t always tell who can be trusted. And just to ratchet up the pain, the author has chose a setting in North Dakota with temps of 30 below zero. A chilling tale, in more than one way.
    • 4/5
      Cassie ends up in a North Dakota boom town in winter. Finds violence and drugs. Rival drug gangs clash and there's a bad cop on the force. Characters are well developed; in particular the sheriff is quite a guy. In the background, the lizard story continues. As characters go, Cassie is well researched and an equal to Joe and Nate. Excellent read.
    • 4/5
      God entry in this tough but entertaining thriller series.
    • 3/5
       I see I read Stone Cold almost three years ago. I can't say my feelings about this author have changed much. Still way too dark and violent ... and yes, unbelievable. A bleak tale about coal fracking in a ND town attracting lowlifes - drug dealers, crooked cops and mobsters and killing each other with abandon. It's disturbing his books are so popular.
    • 4/5
      A violent thriller that takes place in the dead of winter around the North Dakota oil boom. The story revolves around 12 year old Kyle Westergard and the violent incidents that are set in motion when Kyle takes a bundle away from a roll over accident he witnessed. Cassie Dewell is a newly assigned investigator at the Bakken County Sheriffs department..When she and Kyle meet, the unthinkable happens. A very good page turner.
    • 5/5
      How does he do it?? If I could ask C.J. Box one question, that would be it; How does he do it?? How does he consistently produce 5-star rock solid novels every time?? So o.k. I'm a huge fan! I've read every book Box has written, including his latest Badlands and he has not failed to deliver yet. I would say he is at the top of his game but he has never been off of it! I know there have been some critical reviews of his novel, The Highway, but I liked it too. Yes, it was a little different and a little more graphic then his usual novels but it was still excellent, solid writing! Different is good! That's actually one thing I really like about Box- all of the books in each of his series are unique. You know how, when you read a series that some authors have written and by the 5th book you can tell exactly how its going to open, you know exactly what the back-story is going to say and what chapter the murder is going to occur etc. With the exception of a change in a few characters and different plot, everything else is the same. It's like they rehash the same outline for every book in their series. Well that is absolutely NOT the case with C.J. Box! Every book of his, has its own individual style. I don't mean that they are "all" stand-alone. That's not the case. He does have three different series (Joe Pickett, Cody Hoyt & Cassie Dewell) and you should definitely read them in order but you won't find the same stuff rehashed time and time again in each of them. You get a different 5-star experience with each one, which is exactly how it should be. So check out Box today especially if you like your mysteries and thrillers set in the mountains, wilderness and back country! You can't go wrong with whichever series you choose.
    • 5/5
      The first C.J. Box I read, THE HIGHWAY, I found riveting. Naturally, I dashed out to the library and snapped up BADLANDS ©2015, the next in the series.BADLANDS is even better, but don’t start here because the long story (with recurring characters) is much richer.Twelve year old Kyle Westergaard dreams of getting out of Grimstad, but he witnesses something dangerous. Grimstad is having an oil boom, so there’s no housing for love or money. With money comes drugs and criminals, headaches for new Deputy Sheriff Cassie Dewell.I inhaled this story.I built a Cast of Characters for BADLANDS because I often do and it is attached on the page on my website for this review (if you can find it!)A day or two after I’d finished this immensely satisfying story, a copy of BADLANDS ©2015 by C.J. Box arrived in the mail, courtesy of the publisher. So I’m holding another giveaway.
    • 4/5
      I really do not like it when publishers decide to hide the fact that a book is part of a series. I like it even less when they call a series "standalone novels" in the list of books by the same authors. That's exactly how I ended up reading this book. Not that it cannot be read on its own but there is too much backstory (which is explained but is spoiling the previous books). It is technically a second book in the Cassie Dewell books but the first of those was also a third in another series - so for all intents and purposes this is the 4th book in somewhat of a series. I thought for a moment to stop reading, track back and read the earlier ones but I was enjoying the book too much so decided to finish it instead. I just wish the publisher had not blatantly lied. Cassie Dewell is just moving to Grimstad, Bakken County, North Dakota to take a position as a Chief Investigator. The town is in the middle of an oil fever - with all the problems and challenges that this entails. Add to this the fact that it is the middle of the winter and in North Dakota, this means really cold (as someone that hates snow and the cold, my bones got chilled a few times while reading the descriptions - Box is not shying from showing the brutality of the weather). And while she is getting used to the new job, things get crazy - drugs somehow get lost and all the local (and not so local) gangs show up in force to try to figure out what happened.What happened was Kyle - a 12 years old boy with a golden heart. he is a bit slow - due to his mother drinking too much before he was born and things had not improved much for him at home through the years. He ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time and the bag of drugs end up in his position. He is the invisible boy in the town - everyone sees him, noone notices him. Except Cassie - the new woman in town actually sees him for what he is - not a broken human but a child that needs attention and love. And in the middle of the drug war, one of her old cases, the one she fled Montana for rears its ugly head and the man that had been abducting and killing women for a long time shows up in the vicinity of Grimstad. Add to this the usual case of police corruption (there is no way a new investigator to show up without that becoming a focus for them) and the story should have been too crowded. But it did not.Between Grimstad, the winter, Kyle and Cassie (and the sheriff), the story packs a lot of important topics - and not all of them are crime related. I hope that there will be more stories about them - and I am planning to read the earlier ones - even though I know where they are going and how they are finishing, I really enjoyed the style and the details.
    • 4/5
      A fast-paced, violent thriller set in North Dakota during the oil boom. Big money has brought big problems to Grimstad, not the least of which is an influx of drugs and violence. Detective Cassie Dewell barely starts her new job as deputy sheriff in this new "wild west" when the police department is faced with a fatal accident, a series of disappearances and a gruesome murder. What neither the police nor the bad guys know is that a twelve-year-old boy witnessed the accident and picked up a mysterious bundle at the scene that is the cause of all the trouble. C.J. Box leads readers on a thrilling ride with several storylines destined (or doomed?) to converge - all in the bitter cold of a North Dakota winter. Contains graphic violence. The pacing and characters hold the most appeal, though the setting is also palpable. Cassie is a strong, capable, and brave law enforcer and this "standalone" seems ripe for a sequel.
    • 3/5
      Probably not one of my favorites by CJ Box, but having read everything else he's written there's nothing I haven't liked. This was a great story and I really enjoyed the characters: I could see a new series coming out from this. (But hopefully he never leaves Joe Pickett behind!). My only real issue with this book as I felt that the setting overshadowed the plot. There was so much about how shockingly cold it was, I would find myself thinking about that rather than what was actually taking place. As well as all the chaos involved when a town is taken over by an oil and gas boom. Those things were very interesting and intriguing but I felt like that it took something away from the story itself rather than support it.
    • 4/5
      When twelve year old Kyle picks up a bundle that was ejected from a roll over car accident he witnessed as he was doing his morning paper route he innocently starts a chain of events that will bring him into contact with detective Cassie Dewell and change his life forever. A non stop thrill ride with well realized characters that you will care about and keep you reading on to see what happens to them. I hope to read more about detective Dewell and Kyle in the future.
    • 4/5
      I received a review copy of this book. The setting is western North Dakota, where oil has changed a slow, polite backwater town to a crowded, wealthy boomtown, with hitherto unknown problems. A young boy views a tragic car crash and comes away from it with a package of drugs which end up in the hand of his mother's boyfriend, who is up to no good. The ageing sheriff of the town stuggles with nobility to make things right. The setting is fascinating, and the characters and story line well developed. I'd certainly recommend it.
    • 4/5
      Since I read The Highway by Mr. Box. I have not been able to stop reading his books. I can't get my hands on his books fast enough. His latest one is a good one. I thought however that it was a little bit of a change from his current books. It was not as high pressure intensity with the action or the killer being as prominent. Yet, despite all of this I still liked this book a lot and read it quickly. I was drawn more to Kyle's storyline then I was Cassie. While they are both tied together in the end, I felt that Cassie's side was somewhat lackluster. Kyle was such a sweetheart. I was cheering for him the whole time. I would have to say that this book was more character driven then action paced.