| Name | Charles James Box Jr. |
| Pen Name | NA |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | November 9, 1958 |
| Died | NA |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Education | Mass communication |
| Genre | Mystery novels, thrillers |
| Notable Works | Nowhere to Run, Blue Heaven, Open Season, and The Highway |
| Notable Awards | Anthony Award, Macavity Award, Barry Award, Gumshoe Award |
| Height | NA |
| Spouses | Laurie Box |
| Children | Molly, Becky, Roxanne |
| Official Website | cjbox.net |
C. J. Box is a resident of Wyoming, a state located in Western United States. The city of Casper is where he grew up. The author attended the University of Denver and graduated with a Mass Communications degree.
Apart from being a writer, he has also taken on different roles, such as an editor, a small-town newspaper reporter, a fishing guide, a surveyor, and a ranch hand. He also once owned an international tourism marketing firm, which was run by him and his wife, Laurie.
The couple have three children, but not much else is known about the author’s personal life. Box enjoys hiking, hunting, and fishing when he is not busy crafting his next novel.
Box’s career as a published author officially started with the novel Open Season, the very first Joe Pickett novel published in July 2001. Thirty-two of his novels have been published so far, and the author has no intention of stopping anytime soon.
Open Season made it to the Notable Books List by the New York Times in 2001, and since then, there has been no looking back for Box.
Shadows Reel, the 22nd Joe Pickett book, came out in March 2021 and reached the 2nd spot in the New York Times Bestseller list. It also debuted as number one on the Wall Street Journal Bestseller list.
Box has always felt that lovers of mysteries and crime fiction don’t pick up a book hoping to be lectured regarding political and social issues. However, he still peppers his novels with the issues of today in a way that’s both interesting and evocative.
One of the main reasons why Joe Pickett became such a hit among readers everywhere is because he isn’t a traditional Western hero. Instead, he has a family, is not a lone wolf, and isn’t shown as being immensely wealthy.
The combination of these traits sets him apart from the other heroes commonly seen in this category.
Box has skillfully created a life that maintains a safe distance from the media while also remaining in the limelight when required. The author was once a part of the Board of Directors for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo and is currently associated with the Wyoming Office of Tourism.
Writing Style And Approach
The first thing Box does when he begins to work on a novel is conduct thorough research and develop as comprehensive an outline as possible. He then begins the writing process, which takes up about five days of his life every week, during which he pens down at least 1000 words every day.
His daily word count often doubles or triples, depending on the day. The writer says that he is a morning person and prefers to get plenty of work done while the sun is still shining bright. After having his breakfast and finishing his workout, he takes a walk from his home to a barn on his ranch.
The author’s office can be found above the barn, giving him a clear view of the mountains along with the birds and animals. He says that if he finds himself noticing the landscape, that’s when he knows that he needs to put his head down and focus on writing instead.
A spectacular ability that Box possesses is that he can very easily transport his readers to a spot in Wyoming through his books.
Reading his novels is like witnessing the perfect blend of fact and fiction, which he does by giving us real locations while also subtly blurring the edges and letting a bit of magic slip in.
The writer believes that just because the genre is crime fiction, the villain doesn’t necessarily have to be completely bad. It’s due to this belief that he always provides a backstory to his evil characters, which proves the motivation behind their vile or questionable actions.
When it comes to his approach to developing grey characters, he believes in giving them their own chaos of emotions so that the readers can empathize with them in some manner. This in itself, he feels, is slightly scary to think about, which adds to the thrill of the story.
Box sees his books as contemporary Western novels, which explains the themes he incorporates in most of his books. Since he was raised in Wyoming and continues to live there, he wished to portray the traditional values of Wyoming while also conveying its cultural setting and beliefs.
In several of his stories, you will notice the characters wearing cowboy hats, relishing traditional activities, and living on ranches. This is because Box himself witnesses this scenario in his daily life.
However, this Western setting doesn’t just form the only theme of his novel since Wyoming itself is involved in other social issues and topics, such as environmentalism, wilderness preservation, and energy development. All of these are issues that the writer deftly slips into his novels.
Revenge is a recurring theme in many of the author’s books. While it’s a common Western theme, it’s also widely seen in the thriller and crime fiction genres. The good thing is that Box gives his own sweet twist to the theme of revenge.
The theme of adventure is vividly present throughout the creations of this Wyoming writer. This is evident in the Joe Pickett novels as well, which are an entertaining potpourri of westerns, thrillers, and tales of adventure.
The biggest influence for C. J. Box was the act of reading itself, which is why the author always stresses how vital it is for writers to be voracious readers. He says that the first book he ever read was Encyclopaedia Brown, which was a book series based on a boy detective.
The series completely left him spellbound as a young kid, and he continued to remain a bookworm, unlike the rest of his family. For Box, the mystery genre was initially all about Agatha Christie’s books till he discovered several other authors and novels in the given genre.
While Box’s legacy includes the wide range of novels he has written in the last 20 years, he has also been immortalized by the adaptations of his books.
Big Sky is one such example, a TV series for the ABC network based on the writer’s Cassie Dewell novels. The series premiered in 2020 and stars Katheryn Winnick, Kylie Bunbury, and Brian Geraghty.
Joe Pickett is another such example. It’s a TV show developed for the Spectrum network and is based on Box’s very famous Joe Pickett books. The first season of the show came out in December 2021 and was renewed for a second season in February 2022.
C. J. Box has been felicitated with multiple awards and honors in this career. Some of the awards that adorn his shelves are:
- Anthony Award for Open Season
- Macavity Award for Open Season
- Gumshoe Award for Open Season
- Barry Award for Open Season
- Prix Calibre 38 Award
- Edgar Award for Blue Heaven
- Wyoming Tourism’s BIG WYO Award (2008)
- Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Award (2010)
- National Cowboy Museum’s Western Heritage Award for Literature (2016)
- Falcon Award (2021) for Breaking Point
