Purgatory Ridge

The third in his Cork O’Connor series, Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger continues the excellence of this series. His setting of Northern Minnesota is a major draw to this well written series. The author obviously has a familiarity and a love for this area and he is able to draw the reader in as he paints the scene.

In Purgatory Ridge, Cork and his lawyer wife, Jo are still slowly working their way back to each other. Both are involved in a logging dispute and it soon becomes clear that Cork longs to be sheriff once again. The opportunity to run for that office soon presents itself, and Cork is pondering his future. Meanwhile there is a plot developing that will involve Cork’s family when a kidnapping plan goes awry. show more Resentments, revenge, and obsession are bubbling away as Cork battles to save his family.

Purgatory Ridge is a well written suspenseful mystery. The author, a former logger himself, describes the conflicts between the logging company, the local economy, the environmentalists and the native culture intelligently. This mystery with it’s high suspense and twisted plot made for a terrific read. show less

No longer sheriff, Cork O'Connor and his family run Sam's Place. Environmentalists unhappy with tree damage by a logging company show up in town. After a big explosion, searchers uncover a body. John LaPere lost his brother twelve years earlier in an explosion on Lake Superior. He blames the company for the boat's tragedy and his brother's death. He alone survived the disaster. The shipping company executive's wife asks to see Jo professionally, but the meeting results in both women and their sons being kidnapped. Will Cork, the FBI, and the sheriff's department outwit the kidnappers? This strong installment kept me spellbound as I listened to the audio version narrated by David Chandler.

There are great characters, a strong sense of place, a lot of good Native American lore and the midwestern small town feel. Krueger does a great job of misdirection keeping you away from the final solution until near the end. Author also places at least one FBI mistake in the middle of the book--this one is true to his promise. Good book.

One of the ladies in my little mystery group mentioned that she'd like to read this author. This is my first (but by no means the last) experience with William Kent Krueger and DAMN. He writes one hell of a good mystery. The plot is like Mohammed Ali at the top of his boxing career. It ducks, it weaves, it entertains and then it packs a wallop that knocks you off your feet and leaves you seeing stars and gasping for breath. The twists and turns in this story were masterful. The characters are realistic and very well written.

I am so heading to the store to pick up the first in the series. I definitely want more.

In this third book in the Cork O'Connor series, the former sheriff finds himself in the midst of town politics when someone bombs the lumber mill. The owner, Karl Lindstrom, had been in conflict with the Ojibwe over a stand of trees known as Our Grandfathers, so suspicion immediately is on the Iron Lake tribe. Meanwhile, Cork and his wife Jo are slowly feeling their way back into marriage and trying to make it work after their infidelities. What starts out as a seemingly straightforward case of environmentalists versus the logging company soon becomes complicated - and personal - as Cork's family is drawn in to the melee.

The first half of the book read as a police procedural, despite the fact that Cork is no longer in law enforcement show more (though there's some hint that he may be in the future); the second half reads as a twisty thriller whose ending left me reading late at night to find out what would happen. The relationships between the characters are my favorite parts, seeing how Cork and Jo are working out, their interactions with their kids, Jo's sister Rose, and secondary characters like the actual sheriff, Wally Schanno, and the Ojibwe healer, Henry Meloux. When the plot took center stage for the second half of the book, I was reading fast but I wasn't quite as invested in the story. There were several threads to the story, too, which made it a little confusing. When describing politics and groups in a small town, Krueger does a nice job of presenting various sides and conflicts. These stories have a great sense of place in northern Minnesota. I enjoy getting to know the characters and seeing them develop, and I look forward to seeing where they are headed next. show less

Summary: A murder investigation becomes far more when a kidnapping plot involves Cork’s own family as well as that of a prominent mill owner.

Slowly, the wounds of the past are healing. Cork O’Connor is back at home with Jo. He’s enjoying slinging burgers with his kids at Sam’s. Then an explosion changes everything in a moment. The explosion at Karl Lindstrom’s mill not only caused extensive damage. It took a life of a tribal elder, Charlie Warren. And the sheriff asks Cork to assist with the investigation because he is part Anishinaabe. Also, the sheriff is not running for office again. There are many, including the sheriff, who are encouraging Cork to run again.

Lindstrom’s mill is at the center of controversy. He’s wants show more to log a sacred stand of white pines. Not only the tribe is protesting. So is a figure known as the “Eco-Warrior” as well as a mother and son team, which could be one and the same. Attention focuses on them. As Cork is drawn into the investigation, tension arises with Jo, who fears what will happen if Cork becomes sheriff.

Meanwhile, across the lake from Lindstrom’s grand home, John La Pere nurses a grievance. Fourteen years earlier, he took his brother Billy on the final voyage of a lake freighter before it was to be decommissioned. Storms hit Superior that night and the freighter broke up. Only John survived of all on board. He suspects the breakup wasn’t due to the storm. What makes matters worse is that Lindstrom’s wife Grace is the daughter of the freighter owner.

He teams up with Wes Bridger, a gambler at the casino with some special skills, locating the freighter only to have their efforts sabotaged. He agrees to a plot Bridger has proposed that will give him the money to investigate the sinking and get the evidence against the company. While Cork is protecting Lindstrom at a speaking event, Bridger and La Pere kidnap Grace and her son. There’s one complication. Grace had invited Jo O’Connor and her son Stevie for a confidential conversation. The kidnappers take them as well.

Krueger has given us another page-turning thriller as Cork and Lindstrom, along with law enforcement try to rescue their families. Meanwhile, the women and their sons are doing what they can to survive and escape. Jo’s sister Rose exercises a faithful presence that steadies the family. She believes in God when Cork and Jo cannot. Henry Meloux offers insight that enables Cork to step back and get perspective. We also get intimations that young Stevie will someday be a force to reckon with. When Karl Lindstrom cannot raise the ransom, the casino owner, a tribal member offers him a no interest loan. Krueger weaves the fabric of a moral universe deeper and richer than treacherous actors. He draws characters for whom we care deeply as well as evil actors, and one tragic figure. This novel has all the elements just right. show less

Terrorism. Blackmail. Assault. Kidnapping. Murder.
Regret. Honor. Betrayal. Endurance. Sacrifice. Love.

I hardly know where I should start to tell you about Purgatory Ridge. There's a lot going down in Aurora, a town on the north shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. It's a community conflicted in so many ways. There's the Lake and the National Forest. White men and the Ojibwe. Casino money and lumber money and folks with no money at all. Small town power-plays. Activists out for the big-time spotlight. Men who don't know love, men who know that love left them a long time ago and men who are finding love again. And then there's Mother Nature herself, who is thickly weaved in the middle of it all.

I have always loved small-town dramas where show more the players are tied together in enumerable, interesting ways and they all know each other's business. It's a beautifully told tale and the pacing lets you know that Krueger's been at this awhile. I should mention that this the third book in the Cork O'Connor series. Since when do I ever read anything in the correct order? I didn't feel I was missing much, some history on Cork, obviously, but the book functioned fine as a stand-alone. I enjoyed it and I plan to come back to this series. show less