Purgatory Ridge

Purgatory Ridge

Winner of the prestigious Loft-McKnight Fiction Award and the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, William Kent Krueger has established himself as a startlingly original voice in thriller fiction. With Purgatory Ridge he cements his standing as a suspense writer of the highest caliber. Not far from the small town of Aurora (population 3,752) lies an ancient two-hundred-acre expanse of great white pines, sacred to the Anishinaabe and known to them as Minishoomisag (Our Grandfathers). Wealthy industrialist Karl Lindstrom does not have a reputation as a sensitive environmentalist, and some members of the Anishinaabe tribe are concerned about the proximity of the trees to his lumber mill. So when an explosion at the mill results in the death of a night watchman, it's obvious whom suspicion will fall upon. Cork O'Connor, in the throes of straightening out his life and repairing his marriage, is asked by his successor as sheriff to help with the investigation. His sense of community obliges him to accept, but Cork has distinctly mixed feelings about the case. For one thing, he is part Anishinaabe himself. For another, his lawyer wife, Jo, represents the tribe. Meanwhile, in a secluded house that overlooks the lakeside home of the Lindstrom family, a reclusive shipwreck survivor and his sidekick also seem to be harboring some resentment of their own against the industrialist. And it soon becomes clear to Cork that harmony, both at home and in the town, will be on the back burner for some time. William Kent Krueger's precise and atmospheric prose, combined with his keen eye for the telling details of small-town life and his vivid sense of the land and seascapes of northern Minnesota, will impress and delight both his old fans and those discovering him for the first time.
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Reviews

Photo of Jeremy Anderberg
Jeremy Anderberg@jeremyanderberg
4 stars
Nov 18, 2021

I love a good series I can get behind that features a strong lead throughout. Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt, Tom Clancy and Jack Ryan, and my favorite duo of late, WKK and Cork O'Connor. O'Connor is a sheriff/ex-sheriff up in Northern Minnesota who solves crimes. The local Native American community often plays a central role, as does the harsh environment and landscape. As a native Minnesotan, I just can't get enough of the series. Purgatory Ridge is the third of seventeen O'Connor mysteries, and fully lived up to how much I loved the first two: Iron Lake and Boundary Waters. When you think "mystery" you might think empty and formulaic, which is honestly often true. But that's not the case with WKK's books. The characters have incredible depth and the relational aspects — between husband and wife, between sheriff and community, between neighbors — are often explored as much as the main plotlines. Frankly, I don't really even need to tell you what Purgatory Ridge is about, other than saying there's a bomb, a kidnapping, and an eventual plot twist and resolution. Of course there's plenty more, but you don't need to know the specific plot before just picking up the series and getting started. You won't be disappointed. It's perfect nighttime reading for me (I do my intellectual heaving lifting in the early hours and relax with this stuff).

Photo of Jan Talkington
Jan Talkington@jantalking
5 stars
Sep 25, 2021

Cork O'Connor just gets better and better. And William Kent Krueger is a great storyteller that will draw you in. Looking forward to the next.

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