The Book Series That’s a Soap Opera…
Earlier this year, I started watching Joe Pickett on Paramount+. I liked the show, but I kept reading that the books were better. So, naturally, instead of simply enjoying the television show like a normal person, I decided to commit myself to reading an entire series of novels.
Joe Pickett is the main character in 25 novels by C.J. Box. He starts as a game warden in Wyoming, briefly works as a ranch hand, and eventually becomes a special game warden working for the governor. I’m only on Book 8, so who knows where this goes. Governor? Senator? Secretary of the Interior? Manager of a Bass Pro Shop?
Anything is possible.
It was while reading Book 8 that something finally occurred to me:
Joe Pickett is a soap opera.
A soap opera with elk.
I probably should have figured this out earlier. For one thing, Joe solves an astonishing number of murders. I’m pretty sure the number of homicides Joe Pickett personally encounters over the course of the series approaches the total number of murders committed in Wyoming since it became a state.
If Joe Pickett ever moves into your county, sell your house.
Still, I accepted this. It’s fiction. People have to die, or there isn’t much of a mystery. Nobody wants to read 350 pages of Joe Pickett and the Mysterious Case of the Expired Fishing License.
But then I got to Book 8.
A dead character came back to life.
And that’s when the soap opera smacked me directly in the face. Ohhhh. I see what we’re doing here. Now I’m fully prepared for the future.
Book 9: Joe gets amnesia.
Book 10: Joe discovers he has an evil twin.
Book 11: Marybeth falls into a coma but can still hear everything everyone says around her.
Book 12: Joe learns that his father isn’t actually his father.
Book 13: Someone gets pushed down the stairs at the governor’s mansion.
Book 14: Nate Romanowski marries a mysterious European countess who may or may not be working for the CIA.
Book 15: The entire previous book turns out to have been a dream.
And I’m here for all of it.
Because the funny thing is, I really enjoy these books.
And this isn’t really a criticism unique to C.J. Box. If you’re going to write a series that lasts for decades, eventually there’s going to be a certain soap-opera quality to it. There almost has to be. You can’t write 20 or 25 books about the same group of people without eventually reaching the point where readers say, “Oh, come on.”
I’ve read plenty of Mitch Rapp books, and I’ve said “Oh, come on” out loud more than once. Probably more than once in the same chapter.
That’s part of the deal with a long-running series. You suspend disbelief. Then you suspend it a little more. Eventually disbelief is dangling from the ceiling by a rope while you happily turn the page.
And there are plenty of things about the Joe Pickett books that make me want to keep going.
I like watching Marybeth’s business grow. I like that Joe’s children actually get older instead of remaining conveniently frozen at the same age forever. I like seeing the family change over time. Joe’s mother-in-law is always good for comedy. Nate is a great character. And I love the descriptions of the mountains, small towns and open spaces of Wyoming.
As someone who loves that part of the country, sometimes those descriptions are enough to make me want to pack up the Jeep and head west.
Preferably to a county where Joe Pickett isn’t currently working.
So yes, I’ve realized I’m reading a soap opera. There are just fewer hospital rooms, more horses, and considerably more discussion about elk. And the good news is that I’m only on Book 8. I’ve got 17 more episodes to go.
I can’t wait to find out who has the evil twin. (Though I might get weepy when Sheridan goes to college)