Book Review: A Wounded Sheriff In Hiding Catches A Case

Copper River is my first sampling of William Kent Krueger’s writing and is unlikely to be my last since I enjoyed this novel quite a bit.

Krueger has a protagonist named Cork O’Conner, a sheriff in Minnesota. O’Conner has apparently had quite a difficult time in the previous novels that I have yet to read. He starts off this story with a bullet in his leg and in hiding from a crime family who believe that he had killed one of their members. He ends up in Bodine, Michigan where he has a cousin that is able to meet some of his medical needs. The cousin, Jewell, is a widow with a young son, who is able to help with the bullet wound.

Cork’s investigative instincts awaken when a body is discovered in the river. A young girl has been murdered, and Cork needs some help when it appears that there is a conspiracy involving runaway teens. The killing doesn’t stop with one girl in the river. Cork has his own troubles and needs to get back to his wife and children, however he is not going to leave his cousin and her to face their threats without him.

Krueger is a pretty good writer and is not afraid to put his main character through the wringer. O’Conner is a typically pragmatic and likeable law enforcement officer. Of course, I am meeting this character in the middle of the series, but Krueger does a decent job of catching up the reader on events in the more recent novels without it seeming too clunky.

Apparently, Krueger also has some interest in Native American culture and history which he peppers in quite effectively.

Anyway, Krueger is a writer I am going to revisit in the not-too-distant future.

Next up, I haven’t read a Mickey Spillane novel in a while, but I do happen to have “Vengeance is Mine” in my stack of books on the dresser.