Iron Lake

The book kept me awake until I finished it. I read with a movie unfolding in my mind and this one was colorful and educational for a person who has never been to that area. A good new author for me. And ranks high in my wish list for a next book. I will recommend for a book club read. The Native American influence in that area was unknown to me.

I have to jump on the O'Connor band wagon. This was a great one. Couldn't put it down. Krueger has proven he can compete with the big boys. This takes place in a small Minnesota town on the fringe of a reservation. Cork is trying to get over losing his job as sheriff. Some strange murders are happening in Aurora and he is lured to the investigation. In the mean time, he is also trying to figure out his personal life. He is attracted to a younger woman but is also trying to figure out what to do with his crumbling marriage. I liked the way Krueger developed the characters while keeping the reader hooked on the mystery. Not many authors have mastered this. Krueger is working on becoming the master...

The murder?/suicide? of a corrupt judge in far northern Aurora Minnesota sets the momentum of this well written first novel. The mysteries pile up, a whiteout type blizzard sets in, the Windigo is afoot, and a crackerjack story ensues. The central character, Cork O'Conner is a straightforward man beset by complexities. He was fired from his post as sheriff and, wonder of wonders, deserved it. The usual mystery ploy is the hero was wrongfully used and was in fact a total hero, if only he had been understood. Cork is invested with real human frailties. His marriage is spiraling toward a divorce, and he can't get a handle on what to do about it. The sheriff who took his place, far from being an illiterate, crooked nincompoop, is actually a competent, honest man-much to Cork's discomfort. The story is well paced with excellent plotting and characterization. The interplay between the characters, both verbally and emotionally, is exceptionally strong. There is a whiff of the supernatural (see Windigo above) that the author lightly touches upon and leaves to the reader whether to accept or not. What is extremely encouraging that as strong a book as "Iron Lake" is, I feel his latest, "Boundary Waters" is even better. Mr. Krueger is an evolving author in the best sense.This highly enjoyable book is highly recommended.

We need to welcome a new mystery writer to our midst. Krueger has it all: great characters, good plots, informative background settings and realistic human relationships. So glad I picked up Purgatory Ridge - then read Iron Lake and Boundary Waters. Hope Kruger keeps his heroes Cork O'Connor, his wife Jo, and the Windigo busily entertaining us for years to come.

Ex-sheriff Cork and his perfectly wonderful illicit love, Molly, have an affair following Cork's separation from his lawyer-wife. Cork's half-Irish, half-Anishinaabe Indian, which makes his election to local office hard to believe. But even after he is voted out in a nasty recall election, he can't stop sleuthing. A series of unlikely deaths, some steamy saunas, and I was hooked. I sort of knew who the bad guy was, but I kept reading anyway. Its been 24 hours and I'm still cold. Like Nevada Barr's A Superior Death, this novel makes you wonder about those long winters on that deep lake. People get into all sorts of trouble up there. Brrrr!!!! I'm looking forward to Cork's next adventure.

When a prominent and infamous man-about-town is found dead and a local Native American boy turns up missing, suspects, alibis, and racial tensions pile up as high as snow banks. Cork probably shouldn't get involved. The last time he stepped in the middle, people got hurt. Himself included. And now he's lost his badge and his wife and maybe his way. But whether he likes it or not, he's caught again, like his blood, like his past, half in the white man's world, half on the reservation. Now a man is dead and a boy is missing and it's snowing really hard outside. And Cork's sense of duty and justice didn't disappear with his badge.Krueger's ability to marry true edge-of-your-seat mystery and suspense with a lyrical and literary style and sensibility is unmatched. Iron Lake succeeds famously both as a tale of murder and mystery and as a rich and vivid portrait of an unusual town and it's divided citizens.Read this book. It's fantastic.