Open Season, by C. J. Box

Open Season is a pretty good first novel, but I didn't enjoy it as much as C. J. Box's later effort, Blue Heaven.  One problem I had with it is that the hero wasn't heroic enough.  He didn't seem to know what he wanted and for most of the book he just reacted to the actions of the other characters.

Another thing I didn't like was the theme, which is that endangered species should be protected regardless of the consequences to humans, including having their land and homes taken away from them.  This last criticism is political, not literary, so it doesn't count against the book for the purposes of this blog.

C. J. Box has a good style and he did a good job of letting the reader into the characters' minds.  He also excels at the conclusion to ramp up the consequences and tie everything together neatly.  Even though the middle was somewhat boring because of the timidness of the hero, the well-planned and executed ending makes the book worth reading.