One of the few mysteries set in the upper peninsula of Michigan, where I grew up. I didn't realize that when I bought it.

Alex McKnight is prevailed upon to find a friend's missing brother, who had taken a group of Detroit businessmen on a hunting trip in the wilds of Canada. The more Alex and his friend, Vinnie LeBlanc, look into this the stranger and more dangerous it appears. Alex and Vinnie find themselves far from any help and sitting ducks as targets.

Complicated, absorbing. And with the bits and pieces that spell the atmosphere of the gray cold upper peninsula. ( )

I feel like I know Paradise, Michigan now and that I'd find Alex living there. Yes, it is a real place. I've been there. Beautiful country. That being said, all of his characters are so beautifully realized and the conversations that they have all feel so natural. He's a fine writer and this book is as good as or better than anything I have read to date. I think the thing I like most about his books is that it doesn't spend two pages or more describing everything. ( )

This is Steve Hamilton's fifth book in the series featuring former Detroit cop Alex McKnight, now 62 and living in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

As the story begins, Alex is trying to rebuild the cabin built by his father but destroyed by fire. His neighbor, Ojibwa Indian Vinnie LeBlanc, begins to help Alex but stops showing up. Alex discovers that Vinnie’s troubled brother Tom has disappeared on a moose hunt he was leading, and Alex offers to help Vinnie go up to Ontario to try to track him down.

The two get stonewalled and worse as they try to uncover what happened to the hunting party, all of whom have gone missing. They are further stymied by the hostile local police force in Canada working on the case, Natalie Reynaud and her partner Claude DeMers.

Although Alex and Vinnie are warned to leave the police to the case and go home, neither one of them are willing to do that. Soon enough, they are in a fight for their lives, with no idea who the enemy is or what the problem is. All they know is that the odds are against their survival.

Discussion: The crime portion of the plot wasn’t all that consistent or convincing, but in any event, it mainly seemed to serve as a foil to explore the relationship between Alex and Vinnie. But there was a moderate amount of tension to keep one reading, and Alex is a likable character. ( )

First book I've read by this author, and it was a good story. Set in upper=peninsula Michigan and northern Canada, the beauty of the setting doesn't distract from the storyline as Alex and Vinnie search for Vinnie's brother.

The story was a bit more convoluted than the previous one in the series and there was a lot of driving back and forth which seemed a bit 'casual' - I think an 8 hour road trip normally would take more thought than just hopping in your truck and heading out.

And there was a bit of a lapse regarding the border crossings into Canada. The main character and his cohort drive across the border without id, with weapons, and all beat up. And nobody stops them or even looks at them funny. Pretty sure you can't get across an international border so easily.

Oh, and after the 'big reveal', there is another little.... hmmm... continuation of the story which I think might have been a bit too much. The tension was all resolved by this point so I wasn't really that invested in this second wrap up.

Of course, I will be reading the next in the series. ( )