Helpful Score: 3
If you enjoy Craig Johnson, then William Kent Krueger is right up you alley. Both write the cold backcountry police procedural with folklore and the surrounding environment being as essential a character as anyone else mentioned in the storyline.
Cork OConnor and his attorney wife Jo are in the middle of a separation due to his downward spiral after losing an election to maintain his position as sheriff. Now out of the house and trying to keep an old run down seasonal restaurant afloat, Cork receives a call from a friend that is panicked over her missing son. Of course, there is more to the story, since Pauls last newspaper delivery was to the local judges home and now the judge has been found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Everyone but Cork is in a hurry to close this case, but there is something nagging at Cork. This suicide is tied up too neat and clean and that is just something that does not settle right with the ex-Sheriff in him.
Then one night it all comes to a boiling point. A Windigo is calling out names, ambitions fuel murder, secrets that should stay hidden are photographed for all to see and Cork is right there in the middle with an unlikely ally and a future that will undoubtedly be even more complicated then what he was bargaining for.
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the series. There were a couple of loose ends left dangling and I am glad that Krueger did not wrap everything up in a neat little bow. This is a book that you have to let sit with you for a little while. You have to let the relationships float around in your brain and wonder aloud, what if or what about, before you can put the whole story to rest.
Good job Mr. Krueger.
Cork OConnor and his attorney wife Jo are in the middle of a separation due to his downward spiral after losing an election to maintain his position as sheriff. Now out of the house and trying to keep an old run down seasonal restaurant afloat, Cork receives a call from a friend that is panicked over her missing son. Of course, there is more to the story, since Pauls last newspaper delivery was to the local judges home and now the judge has been found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Everyone but Cork is in a hurry to close this case, but there is something nagging at Cork. This suicide is tied up too neat and clean and that is just something that does not settle right with the ex-Sheriff in him.
Then one night it all comes to a boiling point. A Windigo is calling out names, ambitions fuel murder, secrets that should stay hidden are photographed for all to see and Cork is right there in the middle with an unlikely ally and a future that will undoubtedly be even more complicated then what he was bargaining for.
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the series. There were a couple of loose ends left dangling and I am glad that Krueger did not wrap everything up in a neat little bow. This is a book that you have to let sit with you for a little while. You have to let the relationships float around in your brain and wonder aloud, what if or what about, before you can put the whole story to rest.
Good job Mr. Krueger.
Helpful Score: 2
My first book by this author and a wonderful debut novel. Once started I couldn't put it down. The start to the Cork O'Connor series and I look forward to reading more by this author.
Helpful Score: 2
This is the first book in the Cork O'Connor series and it fills in all the details of Cork's life in Aurora. What wonderful descriptions he gives of the area and people that set the stage for a suspenseful mystery. what a great start and I can't wait to read the rest of the series.
Helpful Score: 2
Well I think I just found my new favorite author. Chilling run and the plot and pace quickens as you rush to the end of the book! Amazing first book for author William Kent Krueger, you would have thought he had been writing for years! I like the style as he writes-throw in some Indian folklore from MN tribes as he refers to the Windigo-it sends shivers up your back on a cold night like Stephen King might, tangled mystery that makes you want to know who done it-with quirky characters like one of my other favorites Jonathan Kellerman, and a with a style and flair I can't compare to any others. Looking for a new favorite author I think I just found him for you. Kudo's to William Kent Krueger, I can't wait to read the next in the series as I love your main character Cork O'Connor, former sheriff of Aurora, he has flaws, faults, and hidden skeletons in his closet, but throughout the book I found myself liking him and rooting for him right to the very end!!!!
Helpful Score: 1
A really well written novel. I loved every minute of it!
