Blood Is the Sky

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 show more 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. show less

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 show more wasn't really that invested in this second wrap up.

Of course, I will be reading the next in the series. show less

Alex McKnight of this series is a hard-luck guy! His promising baseball career is brought to an end by an injury. He joins the Detroit police but this part of his life ends tragically when he gets shot up and his partner is killed. Wouldn't you know it, his wife leaves him! He ends up in the wilds of Michigan where his father has left him some land with a few cabins which he rents out during hunting and snowmobiling seasons. Hamiliton's subtle humor and magnificent descriptions of the land and people held my interest and made the story worth reading.

Former Detroit cop Alex McKnight has moved to Michigan's Upper Peninsula to try to forget his past. Alex doesn’t have many friends, but the few he has are deep. One of these friends is Vinnie LeBlanc who is a member of the Ojibwa Indian tribe. Vinnie’s brother has always been a troublemaker, but now he's out on parole, and is supposed to be getting his life back together. After signing on to be a hunting guide for a group of wealthy men, he has gone missing. The hunting party was heading deep into the northern forests of Canada. The group was last seen flying off to an isolated island. But the owners of the hunting lodge seem very unhelpful when Vinnie and Alex question them, and soon they are swept up in a dark story of vengeance show more for a crime committed long ago.

Edgar-winning author Steve Hamilton takes readers on a gripping, moving adventure with his latest novel. Alex McKnight is a man driven by ghosts from his past who has isolated himself from people. The quiet, remote beauty of the Canadian wilderness is the perfect backdrop for this story of friendship and revenge. Peopled with both eccentric and memorable characters, Blood is the Sky is a powerful and thought-provoking novel.

-Sam M. show less

Alex McKnight is rebuilding the cabin his father built, destroyed by fire, when his neighbor Vinnie, an Ojibwa Indian, lends a hand. As the fall season wanes and winter threatens to halt construction Alex becomes aware of the disappearance of Vinnie's younger brother Tom. Together they set out in search of Tom, and the Detroit businessmen he was guiding for, in northern Ontario's forests only to discover they're following a cold trail. If things weren't already complicated, Vinnie explains that Tom is using Vinnie's identity as parolees aren't allowed to leave the country.

The party of five have already departed the lodge, according to the owners but things are already not adding up. Vinnie argues there should have been six men in show more total, the five businessmen and his brother the guide. Hank Gannon, part lodge owner and pilot, assures them they have their own guide and there were only the five businessmen, who insisted they needed no guide and left the cabin in shambles before departing a few days earlier.

Traveling back home, Vinnie becomes involved in a bar fight and Alex, ever one to stand with a friend, gets his own licks in. Morning rousts the two from their hotel room with a call from the local constabulary in the form of Natalie Reynaud and her soon to retire partner, Claude DeMers. Alex and Vinnie are asked to explain their voice mail on the cell of one of the declared missing persons, followed by a lengthy explanation as to the case of mistaken identity between Vinnie and his brother Tom.

Things get even more tangled from this point onward as Alex is convinced there is a lot more going on and even more secrets that aren't being disclosed. He ignores the advice of DeMers and rather than heading home, continues on with his own investigation. When he and Vinnie discover the abandoned suburban used by the hunting party, they are once more encouraged to go home and forget about the case, letting the police handle the investigation.

Once again the two men ignore the advice and soon find themselves in a nightmarish situation and a fight for their lives, not only against an unknown enemy but mother nature as well. Pieces start falling together, the fate of the hunters is discovered, and still there is something missing.

Steve Hamilton's fifth book in the Alex McKnight series will leave you guessing until the last chapters. Filled with friendships, loss, and personal growth, I found myself thoroughly involved in the story and the characters lives, while still surprised at the ending. Alex understands that healing is an ongoing process and by reaching out to others it allows us to heal ourselves a little.

If your a fan of mystery, this is a series not to be missed. show less