Book Blurb:
Anthony Award-winning author William Kent Krueger crafts this riveting tale about a small Minnesota town’s ex-sheriff who is having trouble retiring his badge. Cork O’Connor loses his job after being blamed for a tragedy on the local Anishinaabe Indian reservation. But he must set aside his personal demons when a young boy goes missing on the same day a judge commits suicide—and no one but O’Connor suspects foul play.
My Review:
Cork O’Connor is complicated and conflicted, so much going on in his life following the loss of his job as sheriff, his marriage, and the separation of his kids. Now to add fuel to the fire, a judge is found, said to have committed suicide and a young newspaper boy goes missing the same day. His mother calls Cork for help.
The judge was the last stop the boy was known to have made and to boot, the main proponent of Cork’s recall.
Boy, howdy, nothing like just heaping on the problems, huh? Cork may no longer be sheriff and is not welcome in the investigation, but couldn’t help but notice an inconsistency or two with the pronouncement of suicide. He’s pretty sure it wasn’t.
Cork wears his emotions on his sleeve right now and he’s more than a little concerned regarding the whereabouts of the boy.
It’s Minnesota.
It’s winter!
I can easily get lost in the atmospheric descriptions of the area and the people. Rugged even in good weather, the search is not easy. Lucky he has the support of the nearby tribe of the Anishinaabe. I enjoy the way the author taps into the local native lore.
The characters are well-developed and complex. Cork, a former Chicago cop has his dreams of an idyllic rural family village disintegrate before his eyes. He and his wife grow apart and he is reduced to scraping by. Being estranged from his wife, he begins to see another woman. There are twists and turns, taps into the local’s secrets.
Of course, there are technical issues, not the least of which is that he has no authority to investigate anything and we end up with a high body count—which I’m not always thrilled about. Still, I enjoy his writing style and following The River We Remember that I loved, I went looking for another book and found this series—all nineteen of them. Thought I’d start with the first. A good start.
I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.
Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars 
Book Details:
Genre: Private Investigator Mysteries, Crime Thrillers
Publisher: Recorded Books
ASIN: B003NGXOQ0
Listening Length: 11 hrs 57 mins
Narrator: David Chandler
Publication Date: May 21, 2010
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Iron Lake [Amazon]
The Author: Raised in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, William Kent Krueger briefly attended Stanford University—before being kicked out for radical activities. After that, he logged timber, worked construction, tried his hand at freelance journalism, and eventually ended up researching child development at the University of Minnesota. He currently makes his living as a full-time author. He’s been married for over 40 years to a marvelous woman who is a retired attorney. He makes his home in St. Paul, a city he dearly loves.
Krueger writes a mystery series set in the north woods of Minnesota. His protagonist is Cork O’Connor, the former sheriff of Tamarack County and a man of mixed heritage—part Irish and part Ojibwe. His work has received a number of awards, including the Minnesota Book Award, the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award, and the Friends of American Writers Prize. His last five novels were all New York Times bestsellers.
“Ordinary Grace,” his stand-alone novel published in 2013, received the Edgar Award, given by the Mystery Writers of America in recognition for the best novel published in that year. “Manitou Canyon,” number fifteen in his Cork O’Connor series, was released in September 2016.
Visit his website at http://www.williamkentkrueger.com.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/williamkentkrueger
Twitter: WmKentKrueger
©2024 V Williams
Rosepoint Publishing 