Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the prestigious Loft-McKnight Fiction Award and the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, William Kent Krueger has established himself as a startlingly original voice in thriller fiction. With
Purgatory Ridge he cements his standing as a suspense writer of the highest caliber.
Not far from the small town of Aurora (population 3,752) lies an ancient two-hundred-acre expanse of great white pines, sacred to the Anishinaabe and known to them as Minishoomisag (Our Grandfathers).
Wealthy industrialist Karl Lindstrom does not have a reputation as a sensitive environmentalist, and some members of the Anishinaabe tribe are concerned about the proximity of the trees to his lumber mill. So when an explosion at the mill results in the death of a night watchman, it's obvious whom suspicion will fall upon.
Cork O'Connor, in the throes of straightening out his life and repairing his marriage, is asked by his successor as sheriff to help with the investigation. His sense of community obliges him to accept, but Cork has distinctly mixed feelings about the case. For one thing, he is part Anishinaabe himself. For another, his lawyer wife, Jo, represents the tribe.
Meanwhile, in a secluded house that overlooks the lakeside home of the Lindstrom family, a reclusive shipwreck survivor and his sidekick also seem to be harboring some resentment of their own against the industrialist. And it soon becomes clear to Cork that harmony, both at home and in the town, will be on the back burner for some time.
William Kent Krueger's precise and atmospheric prose, combined with his keen eye for the telling details of small-town life and his vivid sense of the land and seascapes of northern Minnesota, will impress and delight both his old fans and those discovering him for the first time.
Review
"Suspenseful, compelling, and highly readable." -- The Dallas Morning News
Review
"The end of this masterfully plotted novel was such a surprise I'm still trying to figure out how Krueger did it." -- St. Paul Pioneer Press
Review
"A wonderful page-turner." -- The Denver Post
About the Author
William Kent Krueger grew up in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. He briey attended Stanford University before leaving to experience the "real world" -- which included working as a logger, construction worker, freelance journalist, and a researcher in childhood development. For the last twenty years he has made his home in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife and two teenage children. His first two Cork O'Connor novels, Iron Lake -- winner of the Anthony Award for Best First Novel in 1998 and the Barry Award -- and Boundary Waters, are available from Pocket Books.