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The newest book in William Kent Krueger's award-winning Corcoran O'Connor series finds the charismatic private investigator caught in the middle of a racial gang war that's turning picturesque Tamarack County, Minnesota, into a bloody battlefield.
When the daughter of a powerful businessman dies as a result of her meth addiction, her father, strong-willed and brutal Buck Reinhardt, vows revenge. His target is the Red Boyz, a gang of Ojibwe youths accused of supplying the girl's fatal drug dose. When the head of the Red Boyz and his wife are murdered in a way that suggests execution, the Ojibwe gang mobilizes, and the citizens of Tamarack County brace themselves for war, white against red.
Both sides look to Cork O'Connor, a man of mixed heritage, to uncover the truth behind the murders. A former sheriff, Cork has lived, fought, and nearly died to keep the small-town streets and his family safe from harm. He knows that violence is never a virtue, but he believes that it's sometimes a necessary response to the evil that men do. Racing to find answers before the bloodshed spreads, Cork himself becomes involved in the darkest of deeds. As the unspeakable unfolds in the remote and beautiful place he calls home, Cork is forced to confront the horrific truth: Violence is a beast that cannot be contained.
__In Red Knife , Krueger gives his readers a vivid picture of racial conflict in small-town America, as well as a sensitive look at the secrets we keep from even those closest to us and the destructive nature of all that is left unsaid between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, friends and lovers. __
From Publishers Weekly
__Buck Schirner, an actor with a deep, full-bodied voice, narrates Krueger's ninth novel about Minnesota private detective Cork O'Connor with a blunt, no-frills delivery. His voice is a perfect match for a cleanly written, robust adventure featuring an honorable hero of Caucasian-Ojibwe Indian heritage who keeps his human faults and strengths under wraps. As the sleuth is drawn into a series of violent events triggered by the death of a local power broker's meth-addicted daughter-including a brutal double murder, a potential race war, a looming north woods drug infestation and a school takeover by an armed student-Schirner subtly shifts his narration to fit the situation. He softens it a bit for O'Connor's sensitive probing of his suspects, but toughens up when necessary, as in the detective's violent confrontation with a group of drug dealers determined to kill or be killed. An Atria hardcover (Reviews, July 14).
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Review
__"If you don't know Cork O'Connor, get to know him now." --Booklist
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__"Cork O'Connor...is one of those hometown heroes you rarely see...someone so decent and true, he might restore his town's battered faith in the old values." --The New York Times Book Review
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"William Kent Krueger is one of the best mystery writers out there. Any reader who has yet to pick up one of his Cork O'Connor suspense novels is in for a rare treat." -- Vince Flynn