I used to be a voracious mystery/suspense reader some years back. But it seemed like too many writers were focused on creating incredible plot twists instead of creating interesting, multidimensional characters and generally beautiful, solid writing. Bad guys were cliched. Setting was almost nonexistent. Dialogue, likewise cliched and so transparently used as a device to deliver back story and information. I think the genre has suffered for that trend. But I was so excited to find that William Kent Krueger is as literary as he is ingenious. As a writer, I appreciated how he used setting to create a mood and set the tone. And the characters are brilliant--no one, not even our hero, is perfect or 100% good. No one is 100% evil. Life is just as complicated and complex in Krueger's fictional world as it is in the real one. I really loved reading this book and am looking forward to catching up on his previous ones.