If you’ve ever walked into a bookstore and seen those covers with the vast, snowy Wyoming landscapes and a lone man in a green uniform, you’ve met Joe Pickett. He’s not your typical "super-cop" protagonist. He’s a guy who worries about his daughters' college tuition, fumbles with his GPS, and somehow manages to get his state-issued truck totaled in almost every book.
Basically, he’s human.
But here’s the thing: because C.J. Box has been writing these since 2001, there is a massive backlog. As of early 2026, we are looking at 26 mainline novels. If you pick up a random one—say, Storm Watch or the brand-new The Crossroads—without knowing the history, you’re going to be hopelessly lost. Not because of the mystery, but because the Joe Pickett novel series order is one of the few in the thriller genre where characters actually age, change, and—sometimes—stay dead.
The Chronological List (Don't Mess This Up)
Honestly, you should read these in the order they were written. C.J. Box writes in real-time. When it’s 2001 in the real world, it’s 2001 in Saddlestring, Wyoming. When the pandemic hit us, it hit the Pickett family too.
Here is the definitive list of the novels in order.
- Open Season (2001) – The one that started it all. Joe finds a body in his woodpile.
- Savage Run (2002)
- Winterkill (2003) – This is where the series gets "dark" for the first time.
- Trophy Hunt (2004)
- Out of Range (2005)
- In Plain Sight (2006)
- Free Fire (2007) – Joe heads to Yellowstone. Highly recommended for the "legal loophole" plot.
- Blood Trail (2008)
- Below Zero (2009)
- Nowhere to Run (2010)
- Cold Wind (2011)
- Force of Nature (2012) – The Nate Romanowski backstory we all wanted.
- Breaking Point (2013)
- Stone Cold (2014)
- Endangered (2015)
- Off the Grid (2016)
- Vicious Circle (2017)
- The Disappeared (2018)
- Wolf Pack (2019)
- Long Range (2020)
- Dark Sky (2021) – Joe takes a Silicon Valley CEO hunting. It goes poorly.
- Shadows Reel (2022)
- Storm Watch (2023)
- Three-Inch Teeth (2024) – A rogue grizzly bear and a rogue killer. Brutal.
- Battle Mountain (2025)
- The Crossroads (Released Feb 2026) – The latest entry where Joe's daughters have to take the lead.
Wait, What About the Short Stories?
You’ve probably seen titles like Dull Knife or Honor &... floating around. These are "point-five" entries. You don't need them to understand the main plot, but they fill in some gaps. Dull Knife takes place around book 4, and The Master Falconer is a great bridge if you’re a fan of Nate Romanowski (which, let’s be real, everyone is).
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If you want the "full" experience, pick up the collection titled Shots Fired. It gathers most of these smaller stories in one place so you aren't hunting down individual digital singles like a crazy person.
Why the Order Actually Matters
Most thriller series—think Jack Reacher or James Bond—are "reset" series. Reacher wanders into a town, beats everyone up, and leaves. In the next book, he’s exactly the same.
Joe Pickett is the opposite.
In Open Season, his daughter Sheridan is a little girl. By the time you get to The Crossroads in 2026, she’s a grown woman with her own life and a very specific set of skills she learned from her father's "associate," Nate. If you skip from book 1 to book 20, you’ll be asking, "Wait, who are these adults and why does Joe have so many scars?"
Also, the villains in this series have long memories. The Cates family, for instance, isn't just a "villain of the week." They are a multi-book nightmare that haunts the Picketts for years.
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The "Nate Romanowski" Factor
You can't talk about the Joe Pickett novel series order without talking about Nate. He’s the falconry-obsessed, outlaw-adjacent best friend Joe shouldn't have. Their relationship is the spine of the series.
Nate evolves from a mysterious, dangerous guy Joe arrests in the Bighorn Mountains to a man trying to find some semblance of a normal life. If you read the books out of order, Nate’s legal status—which changes from "wanted by the feds" to "pardon-seeker" to "living off the grid"—will make zero sense.
Common Misconceptions
People often ask if they should watch the TV show (the one on Paramount+ or Spectrum) before reading.
Look, the show is fine. Michael Dorman is a great Joe. But the show mixes and matches plots from different books. Season 1 is mostly Open Season, but it pulls in elements that didn't happen until later. If you want the "real" story, stick to the publication order of the books.
Another thing: Don't confuse the Joe Pickett series with C.J. Box’s "The Highway" (Cassie Dewell) series. They exist in the same universe, and there are some minor crossovers, but you don't need to read Big Sky to understand what's happening with Joe’s elk poaching investigation.
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What Most People Get Wrong
New readers often think Trophy Hunt is a sci-fi book because it deals with animal mutilations. It’s not. Box is a master of taking "weird" rural legends and giving them a grounded, often terrifyingly human explanation.
How to Start in 2026
If you are just now discovering this series, don't feel pressured to buy all 26 books at once.
Start with Open Season. If you don't like Joe by the end of that book, the series isn't for you. But if you find yourself rooting for the guy who keeps getting his hat stepped on but refuses to take a bribe, you've got a long, wonderful road ahead of you.
Next Steps for Readers:
Check your local library for the "Joe Pickett: Books 1-10" omnibus editions; they are the most cost-effective way to catch up on the early era. Once you hit Force of Nature (Book 12), slow down and savor the Nate Romanowski subplots, as they pay off heavily in the 2024-2026 releases.