ŷ������

5 of 5 stars

This is another outstanding read by the author who is fast becoming my all-time favorite. William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor series is nothing short of superb. True, part of the appeal to this Minnesotan reader may be the fact that the setting is northern Minnesota, but this is definitely not the only reason. Mr. Krueger is a master of atmospheric prose. I always feel pulled into the scene, appreciating it with all my senses. His characters are extremely well-developed, and the lives of the recurring players progress as the series moves along. The main protagonist, Cork O’Connor is a former sheriff of small town Aurora, Minnesota; the reader learns more about what makes him tick with each book. He is certainly not flawless, but is immensely likeable. I often have trouble with books where the main character is not terribly appealing. O’Connor is part native American and lives near a reservation. Because of this, I have learned a great deal about the Ojibwe (Chippewa) Anishinaabeg people and their culture, a bonus sidelight that infuses all the O’Connor books. Another strong point of Mr. Krueger’s writing is that his stories are consistently filled with twists, turns and surprises galore. I have yet to figure out the bad guy in the books I have read thus far.

Purgatory Ridge is even better than Boundary Waters, which I recently gave 5 stars. The story is 2-pronged and I was immersed in how the 2 angles were going to merge. The setup moved along nicely. The last 150 pages literally demanded no interruptions. My usual Saturday afternoon routine was sacrificed without a thought as I raced to the end (I missed watching two World Series games because of this book, and that’s saying a lot). As Cork faced what looked like unsurmontable odds with very few pages remaining, I actually started to cry. These tears came even though I knew Cork would somehow survive; afterall, there are 11 more books to this series!! This just illustrates how this book totally commanded my attention and involved me emotionally.

This book gets 5 big stars. I recommend it to every mystery/thriller fan looking for a terrific read. Though it can be read as a stand-alone novel, I do advise starting with Iron Lake, book 1 of the set, just so one can fully enjoy the outstanding character-development feature of this book series.