Red Knife-William Kent Kreuger

Red Knife
Atria, Sep 2008, $24.00
ISBN: 9781416556749

While there is not always harmony in rural Minnesota especially in Tamarack County between the Anglos and the Native Americans who reside on the Ojibwe Reservation, there is respect. Now there is a war coming ever since Alexander Kingbird formed the gang the Red Boyz, who affirm that Anglo law does not apply to them; rumors fly they are part of the illegal drug pipeline. Kristi Reinhardt died from a dose of Meth given to her by the Red Boyz whose name is Thunder. Buck Reinhardt want the leader of the Red Boyz gang dead as Kingbird defies the law hiding Thunder on the Rez.

Alexander asks part Ojibwe former sheriff and current private detective Cork O’Connor to arrange a meeting with Buck so that the Red Boyz leader can assure the grieving angry man that justice will be done. He fears that if he takes matters into his own hands, a heated race war will ignite. However, before that can occur Alexander and his wife Rayette are executed; almost immediately afterward Buck is killed in a drive by shooting. Tensions have boiled over between the two groups with Cork believing only the hidden Thunder is able to ease the rising conflict before an open war explodes.

The Cork O’Connor mysteries are consistently some of the best regional whodunits. Cork has switched from law enforcement to private detective work, but though at times he misses his former job not in this case; he is thankful that he is no longer a sheriff as he has to go outside the law to insure justice occurs and a deadly war prevented. The story line is told from various viewpoints so the reader obtains a deep understanding of the Ojibwe need for the youth to know and cherish their heritage while many of the Anglo sees that as ironically an internal form of immigration. William Kent Kreuger is at his best with this strong thriller as his hero struggles to stop a lethal range war that will only harm everyone.

Harriet Klausner