Known Dead

If you want to learn what it's like to be a cop in a small midwestern town, read this book. The story and characters are engrossing, and you get the real feeling of what it's like to try and run an in-depth murder investigation with a limited budget, and the involvement of a whole myriad of outside law enforcement agencies.Both "Known Dead" and "Eleven Days" get my enthusiastic approval for stories that keep you up turning pages late into the night!

Funnest book I've read in some time. I was a bit concerned about Harstad saying on pg 162 that Melissa's parents had been killed in a car wreck and then coming back on pg 211 with Melissa visiting the jail with her Mother in tow. I can always put up with a little inconsistency for a fun read. I'll be getting his other two books. Try it. So much better than some others I've read lately. I hope he writes lots of books before he retires.

You will be hard pressed to find a better police procedural novelist then Donald Harstad. With only his second novel he shows that he can write in a great narrative voice able of invoking all ranges of emotions in a reader. With his main character Carl Houseman, Harstad takes the reader on the exact same rollercoster his likeable sheriff is on.The storyline for "Known Dead" revolves around the killing of a DEA agent who was investgating a marijjuna field in an Iowa state park. Also killed is a lowly local drug dealer. The killings look like an ambush and Houseman starts to investigate the drug angle, only to find more than he bargined for. The tale leads down the road of right wing milita groups and this is were Harstad's use of narative makes the reader almost parnoid.Harstad brings back great characters from "Eleven Days" such as Hester, Sally and Lamar, and adds the new character FBI agent Volont who I hope will appear in more novels in the future. Harstad does get a little more technical in this one and cuts down on the gore from "Eleven Days" Still it is a quick interesting read that trully makes you wonder about America's Heartland.

Both "11 Days" and "Known Dead" have the authentic touch of a writer who knows police work. The plotting is exciting and intricate, humor is plain old Iowa. Carl Houseman is Iowa's answer to Boston's Spencer. I love reading both books. This Harstad is a real writer.

How often does it happen that a major-league rookie hits two out of the park his first two at- bats? Not very darn often! But Harstad has managed to do just that with his second hang-on- for-your-life ride through the hills of Nation County. And he really knows how to drive! As a resident of Maitland in Nation County, Iowa (really!), on the banks of the mighty Sparrow River, it was more than just fun to see where he was taking us. It was a trip into the mind of one entertaining and lay-it-on-the-line-when-you-have-to cop. "Eleven Days" woke us up to Don Harstad's prowess as a wordsmith. I'll be surprised if you don't enjoy "Known Dead" with your morning donuts and coffee! In fact, when my wife and I finished reading it (together) I leaned back and thought about how nice a cigarette would taste just then.Just one fine-toothed-comb comment for the folks at Doubleday. Make sure you know when the sun rises and sets in the summer in Iowa. Us rural folks KNOW these things!