Tag: Reading

Hey, readers. Welcome to my last book review of 2022. I have something different planned for next Tuesday, and then I’m taking a blogging break the last week of December.

I’m getting near the end of the Cork O’Connor books. Sulfur Springs is the sixteenth of the series.

My Review

In this sixteenth Cork O’Connor novel, Cork’s new bride Rainy Bisonette receives a voicemail from her son Peter indicating he’s in trouble. When numerous attempts to return his call go unanswered Cork and Rainy travel to Arizona attempting to learn his fate.

They discover that Peter had been hiding things from his mother, including the fact he was no longer employed at the rehabilitation facility where he once went for help with his drug addiction. Some speculate Peter was using again, while others maintained he was clean.

Cork and Rainy soon learn “to trust no one in Coronado County.” There are drug cartels, border patrol, and DEA agents, illegal immigrants, crooked law enforcement officers, as well as human interest and vigilante groups.

This is the first book of the series written in first person from Cork’s point of view. We also learn more about Rainy’s past and that she’s kept secrets from Cork.

The desert of Arizona is a much different setting from Minnesota. Krueger introduces us to new characters, some likable, others not. I missed the usual cast from Arora—there’s only a short scene with Henry Meloux who, as usual, offers them sage advice. Cork’s children are briefly mentioned.

The plot is well-paced and will keep readers guessing until near the end. There is one thing that kept me from giving this five stars. The author felt the need to interject his political views. I read fiction to escape the madness and I don’t need reminders of how our country is divided. However, this will not keep me from reading the next three books of the series as some reviewers have vowed not to do.

Hey, everyone. I’m back to reading William Kent Kruger’s Cork O’Connor series. Not sure what I’ll do when I finish them all, as I have enjoyed most of the books immensely.

I delayed reading Windigo Island for a few weeks (you’ll see why in my review) but I’m glad I continued the series. If I haven’t said it before, I love the character Henry Meloux. We all could learn something from his wisdom. Somehow, I picture Henry looking like Chief Dan George who appeared in the Clint Eastwood movie The Outlaw Josey Wales, along with several other films.

Once I finished Windigo Island, I was eager to move on to the next in the series, Manitou Canyon. Both reviews follow.

My Review

Windigo Island is the fourteenth installment of the Cork O’Connor series. Tamarack County, the previous book, was such a disappointment I hesitated to start this one. However, I’m committed to finishing the series. And I was pleasantly surprised.

Krueger’s writing talent once again shows. The matter of sex trafficking is a difficult one—another reason I hesitated—but the author handled the subject well. No graphic details, yet he calls the reader’s attention to a problem many parts of our country face.

Cork and his oldest daughter, Jenny, travel to the Ojibwe reservation of Bad Bluff at the request of a missing girl’s family. The body of the friend whom she disappeared with washed up on Windigo Island in Lake Superior.

Cork and Jenny, along with Henry Meloux and a new character, Daniel English set out to find the missing girl and the perpetrators of a sex trafficking ring. What they encounter is evil comparable to the legendary Windigo.

The book was in three parts—first from Cork’s point of view, then Jenny’s, then back to Cork’s. Honestly, there were times I wanted to slap some sense into Jenny. But her character grew as she realizes not everyone’s life is picture perfect like the one she has in Aurora, Minnesota. Henry, as usual, shows his ageless wisdom. Cork also shows a side we don’t often see, but over the course of each book, his character has also grown.

The book wraps up with a satisfying conclusion and a hint of a future romance for Jenny. An easy four stars for this one.

My Review:

November has come to Northern Minnesota and Cork O’Connor has the blues. He lost his father, a good friend, and his wife in the month of November. Is it any wonder he dreads this time of year?

Even his oldest daughter’s upcoming wedding can’t pull him out of his gloom.

When two siblings approach him to continue the investigation into their grandfather’s disappearance in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, he agrees to take the case. He, along with the missing man’s granddaughter, goes into the wilderness area, hoping to find something missed by search and rescue. And Cork finds more than he bargained for.

As his family anxiously awaits his return, they begin to investigate. And when they do, they aren’t sure who to trust.

There are familiar characters, Jenny, Stephen, Rose, Rainy, and my favorite, Henry Meloux. O’Connor introduces us to a new character, Rainy’s Aunt Leah, who adds her own bit of mystery.

I found this book hard to put down. The suspense builds and wraps up in a satisfying ending. In my opinion, this is one of the better books in the Cork O’Connor series.

Needless to say, Krueger has become one of my favorite authors.