Boundary Waters
Page 32
“The Cork O’Connor mysteries are known for their rich characterizations and their complex stories with deep moral and emotional cores. This one is no exception…. If you don’t know Cork O’Connor, get to know him now.” —Booklist
Praise for Thunder Bay
“The deftly plotted seventh Cork O’Connor novel represents a return to top form… [T]he action builds to a violent and satisfying denouement.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Thunder Bay has everything that William Kent Krueger’s longtime fans have come to expect in this lovely series—and everything it needs to entice new readers into the fold. Steeped in place, sweetly melancholic in tone, it braids together multiple stories about love, loss and family. The result is a wholly satisfying novel that is over almost too soon.” —Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author
Praise for Copper River
“Copper River, like each of the previous entries in the Cork O’Connor series, is a riveting thriller rich in character, incident, insight, textured plotting, and evocative prose that captures the lore and rhythms of life—and the pain and sadness of death—in America’s heartland. It’s a novel to be savored, and one that makes the reader eager for the next installment. William Kent Krueger may just be the best pure suspense novelist working today.” —Bill Pronzini, author of the Nameless Detective series and Blue Lonesome
“This series gets darker and more elegantly written with every book. Minnesota has a become a hotbed of hard-boiled crime fiction, and the Cork O’Connor novels are among the best.” —Booklist
Praise for Mercy Falls
“Fast-paced action and William Kent Krueger’s ability to weave multiple plot threads without a tangle make his new novel, Mercy Falls, a page-turner. Crime and complex family dynamics combine to create a novel that will keep the reader guessing through the final pages of the tale.” —Denver Post
“Cork, the sharp-witted small-town sheriff, continues to be an engaging and sympathetic series anchor; likewise, Krueger’s depiction of rural America and the cultural differences among its residents remains compassionate and authentic. Not just for fans of the series, the novel is a smart and satisfying mystery on its own.” —Booklist
Praise for Blood Hollow
“Cork O’Connor… is one of crime fiction’s more interesting series leads, and Krueger’s dead-on depiction of a rural American town is as vivid and realistic as any in the genre.” —Booklist
“Better than merely good, Blood Hollow is a brilliant, layered and moving mystery, one of the better efforts of this or any year…. The prose in Blood Hollow is so good and the plotting so deft that readers will be hard put to stop reading once they begin. Krueger has moved to the head of the crime fiction class with this one.”—Chicago Sun-Times
Praise for Purgatory Ridge
“The kind of work that is all too rare in the suspense genre, a book that combines a first-class plot with excellent writing… A wonderful page-turner.” —The Denver Post
“Krueger’s page-turner… opens with a bang… The plot comes full circle as credibly flawed central characters find resolution… Krueger prolongs suspense to the very end.”—Publishers Weekly
Praise for Boundary Waters
“Krueger follows up his sure-handed debut with an equally effective second thriller featuring former Chicago cop, now former local sheriff Cork O’Connor and his adventures in the warm-spirited little town of Aurora, Minnesota… Krueger’s writing, strong and bold yet with the mature mark of restraint, pulls this exciting search-and-rescue mission through with a hard yank.”—Publishers Weekly
“Cork remains a sprightly, intriguing hero in a world of wolves, portages, heavy weather, and worrisome humans…”—Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Iron Lake
“A fresh take… Krueger makes Cork a real person…. And the author’s deft eye for the details of everyday life brings the town and its peculiar problems to vivid life.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Krueger’s debut offers wonderful characters… realistic details and political deals do not slow a tense, fast pace punctuated with humor and surprise in a book that is sure to appeal to fans of Nevada Barr and Tony Hillerman.”—Booklist (starred review)
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The first book published under the Atria name, The Right Words at the Right Time by Marlo Thomas, became an instant #1 New York Times bestseller, and since then Atria has gone on to publish more than 185 New York Times bestsellers. Atria is the publishing home to many major bestselling authors including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Jude Deveraux, Vince Flynn, T.D. Jakes, Shirley MacLaine, Kate Morton, Jodi Picoult, Sister Souljah, Brad Thor, Jennifer Weiner, Lauren Weisberger, Zane, and Rhonda Byrne, author of the international bestsellers The Secret and The Power.
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Former small-town sheriff Cork O’Connor leads a desperate search-and-rescue mission into the unforgiving Minnesota wilderness in this “gritty, bloody adventure” (Publishers Weekly) from critically acclaimed author William Kent Krueger’s award-winning thriller series.
The Quetico-Superior Wilderness: more than two million acres of forest, white-water rapids, and uncharted islands on the Canadian/American border. Somewhere in the heart of this unforgiving territory, a young woman named Shiloh—a country-western singer at the height of her fame—has disappeared.
Her father arrives in Aurora, Minnesota, to hire former sheriff Cork O’Connor to find his daughter, and Cork joins a search party that includes an ex-con, two FBI agents, and a ten-year-old boy. Others are on Shiloh’s trail as well—men hired not just to find her, but to kill her.
As the expedition ventures deeper into the wilderness, strangers descend on Aurora, threatening to spill blood on the town’s snowy streets. Meanwhile, out on the Boundary Waters, winter falls hard. Cork’s team of searchers loses contact with civilization, and like the brutal winds of a Minnesota blizzard, death—violent and sudden—stalks them.
“Krueger’s writing, strong and bold yet with the mature mark of restraint, pulls this exciting search-and-rescue mission through with a hard yank.” —Publishers Weekly
“Krueger is one of the best mystery writers out there.”
—New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn
Pho
to © Tony Nelson
William Kent Krueger is the award-winning author of eleven Cork O’Connor novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Vermilion Drift and Northwest Angle. All are available from Atria Books. He lives in the Twin Cities with his family.
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THE SOURCE FOR READING GROUPS
COVER DESIGN BY JOHN VAIRO JR. • PHOTOGRAPH OF LAKE © JACK HOLLINGSWORTH/PHOTODISC/GETTY IMAGES
PHOTOGRAPH OF MAN © ROY BISHOP/TREVILLION IMAGES
REVIEWERS LOVE WILLIAM KENT KRUEGER’S
AWARD-WINNING CORK O’CONNOR THRILLERS
“The Cork O’Connor mysteries are known for their rich characterizations and their complex stories with deep moral and emotional cores. If you don’t know Cork O’Connor, get to know him now.”
—Booklist
“William Kent Krueger has one of the most fresh and authentic voices in crime fiction.”
—Edgar Award–winning author S. J. Rozan
“Superior series. Like sweet corn and the state fair, William Kent Krueger’s novels are an annual summer highlight.”
—Minnesota Monthly
CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR BOUNDARY WATERS
“Krueger follows up his sure-handed debut with an equally effective second thriller featuring Cork O’Connor and his adventures in the warm-spirited little town of Aurora, Minnesota. . . . Krueger’s writing, strong and bold yet with the mature mark of restraint, pulls this exciting search-and-rescue mission through with a hard yank.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Cork remains a sprightly, intriguing hero in a world of wolves, portages, heavy weather, and worrisome humans.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Krueger is quickly attaining star status with his O’Connor series.”
—Midwest Book Review
This title is also available as an eBook
“Page-turning. . . . Any reader with an affection for the North Woods will appreciate Krueger’s vivid imagery, which blends Indian culture and lore, backwoods and adventuring, fish-out-of-water outsiders, and hearty locals whose yokel quotient is kept refreshingly in check.”
—City Pages (Minneapolis, MN)
MORE PRAISE FOR WILLIAM KENT KRUEGER’S CORK O’CONNOR NOVELS
RED KNIFE
“One of those hometown heroes you rarely see . . . someone so decent and true, he might restore his town’s battered faith in the old values.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“The atmosphere is as explosive as tinder. . . . A talented writer, Krueger tells his story from wide-ranging viewpoints.”
—The Boston Globe
“Outstanding. . . . Simply and elegantly told, this sad story of loyalty and honor, corruption and hatred, hauntingly carves utterly convincing characters into the consciousness.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“You can smell the north woods in every chapter.”
—St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
“Krueger keeps readers guessing in this page-turner, and it’s a joy to read his easy prose.”
—Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
“Colorful characters, spot-on sense of place.”
—Kirkus Reviews
THUNDER BAY
“The deftly plotted seventh Cork O’Connor novel represents a return to top form for Anthony-winner Krueger. . . . The action builds to a violent and satisfying denouement.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“The cast of characters is vivid, the plotting is strong, and O’Connor’s retirement gets off to the kind of start that usually marks the launching of a career. It’s great fun.”
—Washington Times
“[Krueger] has a knack for taking us into the woods and losing us in a good story.”
—Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, SD)
“Exciting and gripping. . . . You will burn through this book, relishing the twists and turns.”
—Bookreporter.com
“Krueger’s clean writing and deeply felt sense of place make this novel a standout. Read it for the American Indian lore and a trip to the deep woods that requires no mosquito repellent.”
—Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
“Thunder Bay is William Kent Krueger’s finest work. A strong story with a fast-beating heart, this is the kind of novel that will bring many new readers knocking on Cork O’Connor’s door. Count me as one of them.”
—New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly
Also by William Kent Krueger
Northwest Angle
Vermilion Drift
Heaven’s Keep
Red Knife
Thunder Bay
Mercy Falls
Blood Hollow
The Devil’s Bed
Purgatory Ridge
Boundary Waters
Iron Lake
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ATRIA PAPERBACK
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1999 by William Kent Krueger
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
This Atria Paperback edition June 2009
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ISBN 978-1-4391-5777-0
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My thanks first and foremost to the Anishinaabeg. In this book, I have relied heavily on their rich storytelling tradition, if not the stories themselves. The Iron Lake Band of Ojibwe is not real. However, I hope that the spirit with which I rendered these people captures respectfully the courage and integrity of the real Anishinaabeg.
As always, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the members of the mystery writing group that calls itself Crème de la Crime: Carl Brookins, Julie Fasciana, Betty James, Michael Kac, Joan Loshek, Jean Miriam Paul, Betsey Rhame, Susan Runholt, and Anne B. Webb. Without their suggestions and their blessing, this book would not be.
In the course of writing this manuscript, I had the very good fortune of stumbling on Steve Masten, an attorney for the state of Minnesota, whose client is the Department of Natural Resources. I’ve never known anyone more knowledgeable in the ways of the wilderness. From knife blades to ballistics, from wolves to the watershed of the Boundary Waters, he has been generous with his expertise. His editorial comments hit the bull’s-eye every time. “Up to Green River,” Steve. And thanks.
For their guidance in the ways of a county sheriff’s office and of search-and-rescue operations in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, I am grateful to Chief Deputy Mark Falk and Judy Sivertson of the Cook County Sheriff’s Department.
&
nbsp; Because anonymity was requested, I will refrain from identifying the helpful source of much of the information concerning the reality of the policies and procedures of the FBI.
In that clean, well-lighted place called the St. Clair Broiler, in the early hours before dawn, this book was written. If you’re ever in St. Paul, drop by for a cup of coffee and an earful from the regulars and to say hello to Jimmy Theros and Elena and the staff. They’ll treat you well, I promise, even if you don’t tell them Kent sent you.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27