2008-11-06 Not the best of the series, but still very good

First Sentence: It was not yet dawn and already he could smell death.

A young woman has died from her Meth addiction and her father vows revenge. He blames the Red Boyz, a group of young Ojibwe men, and their leader. When the leader and his wife are found brutally murdered, there is fear of a war breaking out between the whites and the reds.

Cork O'Conner, former sheriff and part Ojibwe, is asked to help find the killer and keep things calm between the two factions.

Krueger once again displays his writing talent. His characters come to life, added by his dialogue. They are real people with real relationships, good and bad. There is poignancy to them and you see their growth, not only through the series but in this particular book. Krueger's sense of place takes you to the location. He invites you to share in the sights, sounds and smells.

My one small complaint is that the introduction to the characters in a confrontational scene seemed very abrupt. It felt as though Kruger needed to get past that point in order to get to the final scenes in the book. It wasn't terrible but left me with a feel of "where did they come from?". But that could just be me.

From reading this, I suspect it is the last in the Cork O'Connor series. I appreciated Krueger tying up the ends with the family through and after the final climatic scene. While I understand an author wanting to move on, I shall miss Cork, his family and friends. [Note: It appears there will be more books in this series.]