Books: "Off the Grid", by C.J. Box, Joe Pickett novel #16

Joe and Nate, the dual heroes of this long-running series, foil libertarian terrorists who plan to destroy the electrical grid, a dystopian scenario I haven't encountered yet in my leisure spy-thriller novel reading.

This plot broadens the more usual narrative scope of Joe Pickett-World.  It certainly calls up stereotypes about remote western locations where extreme libertarians attempt to carve out lifestyles free of the obligations of democratic citizenship. (Cliven Bundy remains free after a mistrial.) 

To my mind, Box seems to advocate for vigilante militia attempts to preserve civil liberties, but that's hanging a PC dismissal over an entertaining novel.  If anything, I'd say it's a bit chilling to think about the level of surveillance existing in the U.S., and equally troubling to think of quasi-fascist, covert attempts to control it.  

That said, this is an exciting read in which the characters confront the opposing rigors of remote western terrain and hi-tech danger.  This novel is really about why getting off the grid is really a futile, socially divisive and dangerous fantasy.