I borrowed both audiobooks from the library.
I have long been a fan of William Kent Krueger’s stand-alones – This Tender Land and The River We Remember are two of my favorite books – but until now, I have not given his Cork O’Connor books a go. This is a series that he is still writing – at present, 20 books have been released and book 21 is due out next year. Of course, me being me, I needed to go back to the beginning even though I have been sent a few of the more recent books…so over the course of the next year, I hope to fit these books in a few each month so that just maybe I’ll be caught up when that next book comes out…or at least I’ll be close!
IRON LAKE by William Kent Krueger
Book 1, Cork O’Connor Series
PUBLISHED: June 11, 2019 (First Published 1998), Atria Books / Recorded Books
Summary:
Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Cork is having difficulty dealing with the marital meltdown that has separated him from his children, getting by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt.
Once a cop on Chicago’s South Side, there’s not much that can shock him. But when the town’s judge is brutally murdered, and a young Eagle Scout is reported missing, Cork takes on this complicated and perplexing case of conspiracy, corruption, and a small-town secret that hits painfully close to home.
My thoughts:
I can already tell I’m going to love this series! Not only is the writing fantastic, just what I expected after reading some of WKK’s other books, but our MC, Cork O’Connor, is a deeply flawed character – my favorite kind! While we do get quite an introduction to who he is in this first book, I just know there is so much more to him that we have yet to learn, and that is what I love about series, that character development we get over time.
This book oozes atmosphere and gives us a foundation for what we are to find in the series. Cork is dealing with the breakdown of his marriage, trying to figure out how to make time for his kids and find his way now that he has left his job as sheriff. It still has a strong sense of procedural to it because that job is ingrained in him and when murder happens in his town, he can’t not seek justice. I also love the strong sense of place we find here…and being familiar with the author’s previous work, this is something I expect to carry through throughout the series.
Audio thoughts:
Because I am late to the party with this series and there are already a lot of books out – 20 so far – I’ve decided to listen to them because I know I will get to them faster that way, and most of them are available at my library on audio…I don’t have physical copies of every book but I can borrow all the audios!
The books are all narrated by David Chandler, a new-to-me narrator. I thought he did a great job bringing the story to life and I’m glad to see he will be narrating all the books. I love when there is consistency with narrators in series – when it makes sense.
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BOUNDARY WATERS by William Kent Krueger
Book 2, Cork O’Connor Series
Published: June 9, 2009 (First published 1999), Atria Books / Recorded Books
Summary:
Former small-town sheriff Cork O’Connor leads a desperate search-and-rescue mission into the unforgiving Minnesota wilderness in this “gritty, bloody adventure” ( Publishers Weekly ) from critically acclaimed author William Kent Krueger’s award-winning mystery series.
The Quetico-Superior Wilderness: more than two million acres of forest, white-water rapids, and uncharted islands on the Canadian/American border. Somewhere in the heart of this unforgiving territory, a young woman named Shiloh—a country-western singer at the height of her fame—has disappeared.
Her father arrives in Aurora, Minnesota, to hire Cork O’Connor to find his daughter. Cork joins a search party that includes an ex-con, two FBI agents, and a ten-year-old boy. Others are on Shiloh’s trail as well—men hired not just to find her, but to kill her.
As the expedition ventures deeper into the wilderness, strangers descend on Aurora, threatening to spill blood on the town’s snowy streets. Meanwhile, out on the Boundary Waters, winter falls hard. Cork’s team of searchers loses contact with civilization, and like the brutal winds of a Minnesota blizzard, death—violent and sudden—stalks them.
My thoughts:
I was quite eager to get to the 2nd book in the Cork O’Connor series, and it did not disappoint. Again with the strong sense of place, we head out of the small town and into the remote wildness to look for a missing person. I loved how WKK really leans into the Ojibwe. characters and elders, bringing in community wisdom and spiritual guidance alongside the police procedural.
This book really brings out the intensity and anxiety of the isolation one can feel being in the wilderness. Completely atmospheric, you feel the tension – from not knowing who to trust to wondering who is going to get out alive. There are a lot of characters here and a lot of deaths…it’s just the way of life in situations like these. Some were due to nature – there was a blizzard, conditions were harsh – but there were also attacks of the humankind. It’s a hostile environment with many causes.
I am loving this series so far and cannot wait to pick up the next book!
Audio thoughts:
David Chandler once again handled the voices with ease. I love the way he brings Cork O’Connor to life.
Have you started this series yet? What’s your latest obsession, in terms of books/author(s)?
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