I am not one for mysteries, but Krueger writes mysteries with substance. So when I get the hankering for something different, it is to Krueger I go. This did not disappoint. I had to read it faster than I might have if I didn't have four other library books here waiting to be read. You have to take them when you can get them right? I like Krueger's characters...they have honor (well, the good guys do--and even some of the "bad" guys. The first half of the book is slow but it picks up considerably in the second half, which takes place six months later. I just wish more of the tension and suspense could have been injected into the story earlier. Even so, I suggest sticking with it because the second half redeems the novel. As always, I enjoyed the look at the lives of Native Americans/Indians, especially those who live on reservations. Cork is only one-quarter Ojibwe and is looked on with suspicion by full-blooded Indians. He straddles both worlds as best as he can, but is usually seen as a white man. This puts him in an awkward situation more often than not. But this book is not primarily about that.The central theme should be about loss and how Cork reacts to it, but there's not that much going on psychologically in this book. We're told that Cork misses his wife desperately but I didn't really feel it. Six months after her disappearance the family seems to be adjusting pretty well, so it's hard to feel that engaged with their plight. The main thing that illustrates the grief Cork must be feeling is his persistence in solving the mystery. Other than that, the emotions just aren't that apparent.I've read two or three of the earlier novels in this series and liked those much better, partly because I got more of a sense of Cork's inner life in them. But the mystery in this book is a good one and the unraveling of it makes the book worth reading.
What do You think about Heaven's Keep (2009)?
unfortunately not one of my favorites in the series
—maggie
