For years I've been looking at new titles accumulate under the name Krueger, and have wanted to see how mysteries unfurl in the midwest. Only this week have I had the chance. This is the first in a series, and sadly, I didn't feel that well-aligned emotionally or intellectually with the main character Corcoran O'Connor. I know this is not because he is a man, nor because he is clearly of Irish descent. I think it may have something to do with the dark history of the midwest, and the way people interact there. It seems so foreign and unfriendly to me--me, who has spent much of my adult life overseas. A year ago summer I spent some time in Minnesota, just passing through, and I got another glimpse of that darkness. Although all my life I'd heard about the open and friendly way of midwesterners, I was positively spooked by the weird vibe of the northern woods to say nothing of the unfriendly way people play on the lakes in loud motor launches in summer and skidoos in winter. If I were a fish, living on a midwestern lake of any size would be hell on earth.

The author speaks to this manner of living in his book, and doesn't reassure outsiders that being new, and white (non-Indian) is a good thing in the northern woods. He spends some time outlining the alignments of the tribes, and I should have found this more fascinating than I did. It didn't integrate as well as I would have liked with the story, which wasn't as compelling as I would have liked, either. My guess is that it will be some time before I venture in the Minnesotan northwoods again, though I may, just to see if I can be less of an outsider.