William Kent Krueger Copper River

Copper River

William Kent Krueger

Atria, Aug 2006, $24.00

ISBN 0743278402

They were professionals hired by a man who believes that former Sheriff Cork O'Connor killed his son. Cork's efforts to reason with this man and prove he is not the culprit land on deaf ears. Thee hit men actually shoot him in the leg, but he escapes barely. Cork knows he needs a place to hide away and heal, but he fears bringing these paid killers to the only possible safe house, his cousin's ranch in remote Bodine, Michigan overlooking the spot where the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in Lake Superior.

Cork manages to reach Jewell DuBois' spread where the widow veterinarian and single mother of thirteen years old Renoir fixes his leg. While Cork is a poor patient worried what he may bring to his cousin and her son, his friends seek to prove his innocence. Meanwhile Ren, his best friend tomboy Charlie, and Stash see the corpse of a teenage girl floating in the Copper River. Unable to resist, Cork investigates what seems a homicide rather than an accident, but his efforts endanger those he cares about especially Ren.

In his latest Upper Peninsular Michigan thriller, William Kent Krueger displays his love for the area with his vivid descriptions that enable the audience to feel they are actually looking out at Lake Superior. The story line is fast-paced though the hero is not due to his leg injury; however, the crime caper lacks some of the freshness, one of the prime strengths of the previous O'Connor Corkers (see MERCY FALLS) as the teens in trouble seems overkill with Cork already bringing peril with him as his companion. Still Mr. Kreuger provides a solid whodunit that showcases the stark beauty of Northern Michigan contrasted with the ugliness of a killer.

Harriet Klausner