Purgatory Ridge: A Novel (Volume 3)

How disappointing. Gave as a gift . The person I gave it to told me that lines are skipped, pages are skipped or missing and the fonts are messed up. So do not buy from this imprint. Go to the library instead!!! I would give it no stars if I could.

"Purgatory Ridge" is one of those books that grabs you at the outset and doesn't let go till the end. And you won't be disappointed. Krueger writes a gripping novel, set along Minnesota's rugged shores of Lake Superior. Not only will you get a sound reading of the local environment, you'll also learn a lot about the modern Indian culture of the region. Krueger's characters are vividly drawn and he doesn't allow for too much nuance. The good guys are very good; the bad, very bad. The plot has a lot of twists and surprises, especially at the end. And for the most part, Krueger eschews serendipitous coincidences to move his plot forward. This is my first Krueger book and I found it surprisingly engaging and compelling.

I am a great fan of WKK's Cork O'Connor novels. Characteristically, they involve great characters, interesting mysteries, Ojibwe lore and northwoods atmospherics. In an ethos that is both vast (the lakes, woods, etc.) and small and enclosed (a Minnesota town, the Ojibwe reservation nearby) WKK takes his compromised but engaging hero, who is half white and half Ojibwe into the darkness of the past and into the darkness of the human soul to probe the mysteries that await him there.Purgatory Ridge is different. While the other elements of a WKK story are all in place here, this book is much more of a suspense/thriller than a mystery or crime novel. There are mysteries, of course, but the novel's two plots (an explosion at a lumber mill which is threatening to harvest a stand of pines that are sacred to the Ojibwe; the broodings of a half Ojibwe half white man whose brother was lost in a ship which collapsed in a storm on Lake Superior) come together in an elaborate kidnap/murder plot which threatens the families of the industrialist whose property has been destroyed and, as well, the wife and son of Cork O'Connor.Who are the kidnappers? And is there an additional individual behind the kidnap plot? The suspense is protracted, the saving of the kidnappees an apparent impossibility. There are knives, broken glass, duct tape and blood aplenty and the ending is a sixty page crescendo of death, revenge, and--the reader hopes--last-minute escapes.The result is one of the very best of the WKK novels, a novel that is faster in its pace and more urgent in its plotting than the other stories in the series. Enjoy.

This is the fifth book by William Kent Krueger I have read. He is my new favorite author. He keeps the reader guessing. The character development is a cut above most other authors. He makes the rugged country of Minnesota one of his book's characters. I will not review the other Krueger books I have read because the above is appropriate for all of them.

If you are looking for fun reading about Cork solving crimes, this dud ain't it. This book was at best disappointing. The author threw in a forest fire to jazz the plot some, but it's a stinker. Look elsewhere to entertainment.