Staff Reviews

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Where has WK Krueger been all my life?! Cork, the central character in this and many other Krueger books, lives in a small town in northern Minnesota near a large reservation, doing double duty as owner of a burger joint and as a private investigator. A popular, liberal Minnesota Senator is on her way to meet with locals about a controversial mining proposal when her plane goes down on the reservation. Rez occupants, including Cork, are among the first to arrive on the scene to search for survivors, but they are chased away as officials quickly cordon off the crash area. By the next day, the town is besieged by the media as well as a variety of investigative groups, some with obvious affiliations (FBI), but others not readily identifiable. There are no survivors, and pilot error is officially ruled as cause of the crash. Despite the ruling, secretive investigations continue, and soon several of the rez folks who were first to arrive at the crash site disappear. Cork, of course, has his own investigation underway. Great pacing, a venerable setting, puzzling motives, and soulfully crafted characters who I’d love to meet make for fantastic reading, and a firm plan to read the first book in Krueger’s series starring Cork.

— Kay Wosewick

Desolation Mountain is an entertaining mystery, the 17th book in Kent Krueger's series featuring Cork O'Connor, a former sheriff and private investigator in northern Minnesota. O'Connor's Irish and Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) ancestry is an interesting aspect of the novel because he works and has family in and around the Ojibwa Iron Lake Reservation. Many of the locals are eagerly waiting to meet with U.S. Senator Olympia McCarthy, who opposes a new mining operation which could potentially poison the land. She doesn't survive her trip to the meeting, which launches a complicated, frightening investigation by a web of government agencies and outside interests. Many people close to O'Connor are in danger. I enjoyed the descriptions of the autumn forest and how the land is woven into an engaging plot. The book has me interested in Kent Krueger and how he might be connected to Anishinaabe culture.

— Tim McCarthy