Blood Hollow

January 26, 2004
In his fourth Cork O'Connor mystery (after 2001's Purgatory Ridge
), Krueger tells a chilling story with a warm heart. O'Connor, the prickly ex-sheriff of the small town of Aurora, Minn., finds himself in conflict with the new, politically motivated sheriff, Arne Soderberg, when Charlotte Kane, a beautiful but reckless teen, disappears on a drunken snowmobile ride during a New Year's Eve party. A Minnesota blizzard thwarts the search, and decidedly unspiritual O'Connor returns to civilization troubled by supernatural visions in the blinding snowfall. Kane's body doesn't surface until the spring thaw, and then questions about her death arise: the autopsy and evidence at the scene point to murder, and the most likely suspect is Solemn Winter Moon, her brooding, rebellious ex-boyfriend, a lothario from the Ojibwe reservation who has a bad reputation with the citizens of Aurora. Anti-Native prejudice gives way to spiritual controversy when Winter Moon turns himself in after claiming to have seen Christ while seeking a vision from Kitchimanidoo, the Great Spirit. Skeptical of Winter Moon's religious claims but determined to prove his innocence, O'Connor uncovers twisted family drama, frightening religious fervor and suspicious infidelities. Krueger skillfully crafts enough plot twists to keep everybody guessing through the bloody climax to the thrilling end. (Feb. 3)

FYI:
Krueger's most recent novel is a political thriller
, Devil's Bed (2003).

January 1, 2004
The Corcoran O'Connor series deserves a larger audience. Cork O'Connor, former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota (he now owns a burger joint called Sam's Place), is one of crime fiction's more interesting series leads, and Krueger's dead-on depiction of a rural American town is as vivid and realistic as any in the genre. This time out, Cork gets involved in the investigation of a young woman's murder and, as usual, must rely on his own investigative experience to do what the authorities can't: solve the case. But the mystery is only part of the draw here. What sets the novel (and the series) apart from the rank-and-file is the way Krueger tells the story, layering on the details, slowly revealing the relationships between characters, parceling out information a piece at a time. In this first-rate entry in an underappreciated series, Krueger does for rural Minnesota what Steven Havill does, in his Posadas County novels, for small-town New Mexico.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)