A Stolen Season

Alex McKnight #7

by Steve Hamilton

On a cold, miserable night in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a night that wouldn't feel so unusual if it wasn't the Fourth of July, an antique wooden boat runs full-speed into a line of old railroad pilings in the shallow waters of Waishkey Bay. When Alex McKnight helps rescue the passengers, he finds three men. The driver is out cold, the other two are dazed but conscious. When they're all finally back on dry land and sent away in an ambulance, Alex figures he'll never see them again.


He couldn't be more wrong.


It's not enough that Natalie Reynaud, the woman who has become the center of his life, is five hundred miles away, working a dangerous undercover operation in Toronto. Now Alex has even more problems when the men from the boat get tangled up with his best friend, Vinnie. It's all Alex can do to keep Vinnie from killing them or being killed by them.


With Vinnie in danger on one side of the border, and Natalie in just as much danger on the other, what comes next will be the absolute darkest hour of Alex's life, beyond anything he's ever faced before.


Steve Hamilton surpasses his previous works with this suspenseful page-turner that delves into the darkness and determination of the human spirit. If you thought you knew Alex McKnight and how far he'll go for the people he cares about . . . think again.
 

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook, Detective

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2006

About the author

Two-time Edgar Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of the Nick Mason series, The Lock Artist, and the Alex McKnight series. AN HONORABLE ASSASSIN (Mason #3) coming August 27, 2024!

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summer doesn't seem to be coming to the Upper Peninsula. Alex and some friends rescue some idiots from a boating accident. The idiots come around asking if he's seen a box in the lake.

This leads to investigating a dope ring victimizing a former flame of Alex's sidekick. Things get deeper and deeper.

Better than most in the series.

[Lo9man88 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man Alex is always a magnet for trouble leave to him to find a direct link to his girl whose hundreds of miles away great ending..

[Darwin8u · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best books in the series.

[Michael L Wilkerson (Papa Gray Wolf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel starts off on a cold winter's night when. . . wait, it isn't winter, it's the 4th of July, but it's cold none the less. Not snow cold but with the wet fog it feels like it, or maybe the fact that it's summertime and no summer is to be found, maybe it's worse.

It seems the yoopers (look it up, it's the colloquial term for the denizens, the human ones that is, that live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, or, staying with colloquialisms, the UP) value their summer all the more for its shortness. It comes but once a year and it's fleeting and therefore, precious. And this year it doesn't seem to be coming at all.

Alex McKnight reflects on this as he stands outside, trying his best not to shiver because once he starts he won't stop, looking out over Whishkey Bay.

And so the story of a lost season starts.

Alex has a knack, one that he doesn't wish on his worst enemy. Well, maybe his worst. He attracts trouble. In fact if Professor Harold Hill knew about him he might well revise his popular song about trouble to include McKnight. It would be appropriate were he to do so.

But all is not dark in Alex's life. There is Natalie and Natalie is a beautiful part of his life indeed. As long as he has Natalie. . . ah, but I'm getting ahead of the story and you need to read the book to find out more about that.

Steve Hamilton does something I admire in a writer. He has great characters who have thoughts that I can believe in. Additionally he makes the land around him part of his stories, and as the UP can be quite harsh, then so too. . . but you catch my drift.

Mr. Hamilton has given us a story about love and life and loss. Friendship and danger are quite well represented also. This story doesn't lack for action.

Reading the book, I was uncomfortable at times with the amount of melodrama, or was it that I, too have lost and felt the pain of that loss and reacted with much the same feelings and this book reminded me of that? Maybe that's it.

If you like the things I mentioned, the love the loss, the action, the land and you aren't familiar with Alex McKnight, then let me urge you to pick up a copy of A Cold Day In Paradise, the first of the series. If you are familiar with the works but haven't read this one yet, then the advice remains the same. If you've already read it, aren't you lucky!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was kind of an odd book to review. The plot opens so very slowly it had me almost sending it back to the nightstand pile. However, it does warm up to a very good read before the conclusion kind of conks out. Reading the last couple pages my reaction was: "Really ?" Author Steve Hamilton must have been very conflicted when he wrote this yarn. Published in 2003 it reads as if Alex McKnight is still living in 1999. It holds up okay over the test of time as well. With, "A Stolen Season", McKnight and cohort (Blood brother) Vinnie LeBlanc have some really off the wall adventures with bad guys. Hamilton's supporting characters are so unique and colorful they always make his reads clearly better. Alex also suffers the toughest emotional challenge he's had to face in decades. Vinnie at every turn keeps Alex going. Let's not forget former P.I. partner Leon. Leon steps up for Alex in a pinch every time. The first couple books in this series I thought Leon would just be a throw away character. But not so ! Leon seems to be vital at the weirdest times. Number seven in this series continues to keep this series head and shoulders above a great many series. Number seven is truly flawed at the beginning, and end but it still stands out as a pretty good read. Four stars out of a possible five stars for author Steve Hamilton's, "A Stolen Season". If you're not reading this series you should be. Check it out.

[Furnison · Rating 3 out of 5]

The series is becoming quite formulaic. I doubt I will continue.

[Matt Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steve Hamilton, you slick, dazzling creature. A Stolen Season is another outing where Hamilton not only doesn't waste a word, he won't throw around a spare syllable.

It is no small feat or wonder that Hamilton has created a world so rich, alive, vivid as he has in this McKnight series with so few words. Season shows this world fully matured and it's almost a shame that new readers to the series might not understand how fully realized it is if they're showing up here for the first time. Either way, the reader is in for a brisk, frenzied trip of danger with plenty of emotional payoff. Hamilton somehow puts the reader through that emotional wringer as fast as he tells a complete story.

There is a measure of bull-in-a-china shop tactics here by more than one character, and while that does speed the action along, it also exposes the sloppiness of charging into a situation headlong and somehow getting results. If this story has a flaw, that's certainly a nominee.

Still, especially for long-time readers of the series, Season is a flight in-progress that carries all the weight of previous outings and breaks new ground as well. It's a story (and series) you can gobble up in quick bites and before you know it, this tasty meal is over.

Recommended for all crime fiction fans, for every Hamilton reader, and those readers who maybe don't have time for long, meaty fiction but still want a story that will feel like they've eaten til full and enjoyed every bite.

[Brian Clapper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I put this series in the category of "television substitutes," and the books are all thoroughly enjoyable examples of that category. The main character, Alex McKnight, is a former minor league baseball player; a former Detroit cop (who took three bullets during the shooting that killed his partner); and an uninterested, but licensed, private investigator. He considers himself a failure at all three. He lives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where he ends up sticking his nose into problems that, inevitably, result in personal injury. While the main character gets beaten up far more than is realistic, he, and the other characters, are quirky and enjoyable to follow.

My only regret is that I've exhausted the entire series in just about a week.

[Kristen Freiburger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truth be told, I was getting a little bored with the series but this book...wowza! This book reenergized the series and characters for me. I NEVER saw it coming. The fast and exhilarating ride just kept going, full speed ahead. Well done!

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely my favorite Alex McKnight book so far. I was on the edge of my seat (okay, mattress) for the better part of two days as Alex stumbled across a smuggling operation between Canada and Michigan's Upper Peninsula during one of those years when summer never quite arrives.

[Maureen DeLuca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of the Alex McKnight series - but this book to me dragged on and on - not to mention I found it dull and boring - The only reason why I gave it 3 stars is because 2 stars doesn't seem fit for a series that I like - CrAzY - I know - this is not stop me from picking up book number 8 -

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first, this book didn't seem up to par with previous books. About half way through, I thought, "Wow. I didn't see that coming."

[Felecia Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally hooked on the Alex McKnight series. Enjoy the small town community and simple life.. with a little dash of non-stop excitement!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read, love Alex Mcnight, always a lot of action, and help from his friends, but he tries to go it alone this time, not a good plan Alex.

[Russell Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read all the Alex McKnight books, and loved them all. The pace of this one is a big slower, but it still has one of the most shocking moments of the entire series.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series gets better with each book. I enjoyed it very much.

[Eliz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soft-boiled crime thriller based in the Paradise/Brimley/Sault area, with some trips to Hessel, Detroit, and Toronto. Lots of ennui, punching, shooting, etc. Strong male friendships, at least, but a Bechdel test fail. Good to read during a visit to the Upper Peninsula, so that a commonplace vacation feels like it could turn sinister at any moment.

[CT · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since the very first book in the series, A Cold Day in Paradise, I have been a huge fan of the Alex McKnight series. Part of the reason is Steve Hamilton’s excellent, terse writing. However, it’s the character of Alex McKnight that really intrigues me. McKnight isn’t like all those “smart” P.I.s out there. He often makes stupid decisions, reacts impulsively, and uses brute force. Unfortunately, he always seems to think with his fists first.

This latest McKnight adventure sees Alex as happy as he’s ever been, and the reason is his girlfriend, Natalie Reynaud. As she goes undercover in Toronto to take down a gun smuggling ring, he constantly worries about her, even though they talk every night on the phone. When a boat collides at full-speed with some old bridge pilings, McKnight manages to save the occupants. However, they’re not as grateful as one would think. Then Natalie shows up in Paradise to surprise McKnight, only to be caught in the same web with the shady characters from the boat accident.

There’s raw emotion in the pages of this novel, and McKnight’s travels all over Michigan’s Upper Peninsula keep the plot moving along. There’s something about a cold, wintry mystery that I just love, and Hamilton delivers better than most. (If you’ve never read an Alex McKnight novel, start at the beginning with A Cold Day in Paradise. You won’t be disappointed.)

[Dave Weller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again I thoroughly enjoyed an Alex McKnight book. A Stolen Season was number seven in the series, and Alex continued his unorthodox ways in pursuit of justice for his friends and loved ones. Initially I thought that the title, A Stolen Season, meant that the book revolved around a baseball season in Alex's minor league career, but I eventually found out that summer was the stolen season. Apparently summers in the UP can be quite chilly. In this installment Alex conveniently happens to be present when a wooden cruiser boat crashes into some old bridge pilings, and Alex and friends rescue three boat occupants. Ironically the characters in the boat end up being connected to a criminal bartering ring, whereby the U.S. is exchanging guns for Canadian drugs. Simultaneously Alex's love interest, Natalie, is an undercover operative investigating the drug side of the illegal dealing. I won't reveal anymore for fear of giving away the conclusion. Alex remains a devoted yet impulsive friend, who seems to never follow a long term plan. Since I am a planner and risk averse person, he drives me crazy. All the other McKnight characters are present in this book, including Natalie, Vinnie, Jackie, and Leon; and they help Alex along the way. Steve Hamilton makes the bad guys easy to imagine. I am ready for book eight, and my one regret is that I am getting close to the end of the series.

[Dan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

On a cold, miserable night in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a night that wouldn't feel so unusual if it wasn't the Fourth of July, an antique wooden boat runs full-speed into a line of old railroad pilings in the shallow waters of Waishkey Bay. When Alex McKnight helps rescue the passengers, he finds three men. The driver is out cold, the other two are dazed but conscious. When they're all finally back on dry land and sent away in an ambulance, Alex figures he'll never see them again.
He couldn't be more wrong.

It's not enough that Natalie Reynaud, the woman who has become the center of his life, is five hundred miles away, working a dangerous undercover operation in Toronto. Now Alex has even more problems when the men from the boat get tangled up with his best friend, Vinnie. It's all Alex can do to keep Vinnie from killing them or being killed by them.

With Vinnie in danger on one side of the border, and Natalie in just as much danger on the other, what comes next will be the absolute darkest hour of Alex's life, beyond anything he's ever faced before.

[Holly McIntyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of the Steve Hamilton novels I've read and I really like it -- as good as a Sue Grafton, maybe better, not quite as good as a Jeffrey Deaver. I'm going back now and starting the series at the beginning.

It doesn't have the edge of your seat suspense and unexpected twists of a Deaver mystery, but does have solid plot development and characters with whom I would enjoy sitting down at the Glasgow and cracking a cold Canadian. It was the U.P. setting that caught my eye in the first place, since I am enchanted by the idea of living on this cold, watery, tip of the continental U.S.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The U. P. is known for wild weather, but this summer is so cold, it feels like summer forgot to come. Alex and his friends rescue 3 men in a vintage chris craft boat who run into a dock and almost kill themselves. The next day the men find them and demand a box from the boat. Alex doesn't have it and neither do the others. Alex thinks that he and Natalie Reynaud have a chance a love. He thinks his life will finally change. Natalie is undercover in Toronto and is afraid to return because the man she is trying to arrest is very scary. Alex is lucky to have Jackie and Vinnie for support in this book because he needs help and support after a death.

[Patti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alex McKnight now has a significant other, Natalie Reynaud. Natalie has been asked to work undercover in a risky operation in Toronto. The weather is cool and miserable on the Fourth of July in
the Upper Peninsula, but Alex is out that evening with his friend Vinnie. A boat crashes into pilings on the lake and they assist in rescuing three men before the coast guard can arrive. It seems that the men lost something of value to them during the boat accident and they believe that Alex and Vinnie
may have it. This is a sad book the agony that Alex goes through, the errors that make him doubt himself. I'll give no detail other than this book will give you pause.

[Dan Darragh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best of the Alex McKnight series by Steve Hamilton that I have read so far. Then again, it's only the third. Although you know Alex isn't going to meet his demise (there are more books in the series), this one still keeps you awake at night, turning pages to not only check on him but all his friends that are drawn into a particularly vicious crime ring in the UP and Canada. I'm very familiar with the locale where the McKnight adventures are set, which adds, to the enjoyment, but I'd still rate this one near the top of the crime thrillers I've read even if it was somewhere else.

[John Cain · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a fan of Hamilton, but this is not one of his best. McKnight's ennui and the cold of the UP are overstated more and more and less interesting each time. Misery Bay a book the follows is much better as are earlier ones.

[Tim Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book seven of the Alex McKnight series, I need to remind myself that the stories always seem comforting and familiar at the start, almost cozy, with Alex and his small circle of friends, Vinnie, Jackie, and Leon, his days spent rebuilding his father’s burned down cabin (still not finished), his evenings at the Glasgow Inn drinking cold a Canadian beer, trying to stay away from police chief Roy Maven, his comments on the beauty and frustrations of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, then become dark, often as with this book and the last two very dark indeed, with lots of violence and several tragic deaths. This I think is the darkest one yet.

The book has a rare summer time opening, though the living isn't easy as even for the Upper Peninsula it is a cold, misty, rainy summer, a “stolen season” that is depriving the Yoopers of their treasured all-too-short summers. At what might turn out to be a new friend’s house in Brimley, Michigan, not too far away on the UP, Alex, Leon, and their new friend Tyler watch with their disbelieving eyes a vintage wooden speedboat crash at full speed into the pilings of an old railroad bridge on Waishkey Bay on the evening of the Fourth of July. The three of them rescue the boat’s three occupants, setting in motion a chain of events that leads to much misery and death.

The story also ties in with the life of Natalie Reynaud, Alex’s girlfriend, working an undercover case in Toronto that eventually intersects with the happenings in the UP as she pursues criminals guilty of a cross-border smuggling operation.

Pacing as always was excellent, his circle of friends vivid and distinct, there continued to be some character growth with several characters, notably, again to my surprise, Chief Maven, once again great use of the Michigan setting and showing the reader new areas of Michigan not previously explored in the series. I appreciated also the continued development of the Canadian part of the setting. I do think the author can maybe step away some from reminding the reader that Alex has a bullet lodged near his heart, but I don’t think that will ever go away and it is still a small thing I guess. I did like a call back to Alex’s days in the Detroit Police Department, not integral to the plot but good character development. I think some of the bad guys could have been fleshed out a bit, but what we got worked. A solid entry in the series.

It's a dark tale though! I am interesting to see in book eight how Alex goes on with his life after what happened in this one.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this audiobook. I enjoy the Alex McKnight series very much. I missed books 5 and 6 and do want to go find them. That's because the author does refer back to events in his previous books quite frequently. I can still follow the story just fine, but since I am familiar with the recurring characters I like to keep up with them. Alex is a former Detroit cop who was shot in the line of duty. He carries a bullet near his heart that couldn't be removed. Now he lives in remote Paradise, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. In this book he is struggling emotionally. His girlfriend, an Ontario cop has been assigned to Toronto, some 500 miles away. Alex is feeling at loose ends. Then he learns that she has been tapped for a dangerous undercover operation with gun dealers. He is worried. He goes to shore to listen to his hapless friend Leon play in a band on the 4th of July. It is unseasonably cold and foggy, so there isn't much to see when fireworks go off, but then he and his friends hear the sound of a boat coming at high speed. The boat doesn't see the pilings in the water from an old bridge and there is a tremendous crash. Alex and friends rescue the 3 men onboard. That is when the trouble begins. These aren't easy going tourists. They are dangerous criminals and soon Alex and his best friend Vinny are tangled with the men who believe that Alex has found something important in the boat wreckage. The danger and violence increases. Meanwhile, things are also heating up in Toronto for Natalie and she confesses to Alex that the gun op is making her nervous. When the op goes sideways she comes back to Paradise as her task force regroups. That's when real tragedy occurs. Natalie is murdered and Alex becomes if not suicidal, fatalistic. He wants to get revenge for her and if he dies in the process, well, that's okay. As he pieces together what happened to her he realizes the trouble he and Vinny are having with the bad guys with the wrecked boat are dovetailing. Solving one solves the other. But will Alex perish in the pursuit? Alex's state of mind is quite dark in this book. Usually sprinkled with humor, this is a more serious book. Still, I always enjoy the action and the characters

[Shuriu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even the name is a problem. "Kewadin" is the Ojibwa word for "north" -- although in their language, it's more than just a point on the compass. It's everything you associate with the north. The winter, the cold, the very spirit of northernness. I heard Vinnie's cousin Buck complaining about this once. When you give something a real Ojibwa name, it's like you're calling forth the power behind that name. To him, and to a lot of other Bay Mills members, giving a casino a real Ojibwa name was almost unthinkable. (p. 65-66)

I had seen it so clearly while I was waiting to die. Things hadn't changed one bit just because I'd managed to live. I was holding on to her, trying to convince her that we could make this thing work across all this distance. This fantasy. This make-believe gave between two very lonely people. Natalie working so hard to restart her career in a new city. Me back in Michigan, cleaning out my cabins, waiting by my phone . . .
Real couples wake up together and eat breakfast and make plans and get in each other's way. They might be apart for a few hours at a time, but they always find each other again, every night. Natalie and I never had a day like that. Not once, every, and sitting there on that cliff getting soaked to the bone I realized that we probably never would. (p. 134-135)

When I came back out of the sweat lodge into the sudden shock of the cold air, I felt like I had been plugged into something powerful and been recharged. My heart didn't hurt any less, but at least I had some life in me now. I felt like I was ready to face anything. Or anybody. (p. 210-211)

I woke up in a strange bed again, everything coming back to me at once like it probably would every morning for the rest of my life. I couldn't imagine how it could ever feel normal. I didn't want it to feel normal, because that would mean I had accepted things the way they were, had even gotten over it as well as I was going to and had moved on with the rest of my life.
They thought was an obscenity to me. I promised myself that morning that I'd never let it slip away from me. As much as it hurt, I never wanted to stop feeling like her death had just happened. (p. 213)

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A STOLEN SEASON is my first book by Steve Hamilton. Although it comes in the middle of his Alex McKnight series, it is also my first book in the series. So I can say this for Hamilton upfront: it takes skill to write a book in a series as if it is a standalone. That's how it was for me, no confusion.

But I wasn't entirely happy with A STOLEN SEASON. First, the two main crimes in this novel seem like too much of a coincidence to each other. Even though I decided to just go with this storyline, I still had some problems with it.

Sometimes the story drags. I found myself skipping through some paragraphs, as a result, especially when he describes McKnight unloading boxes of guns.

More than anything, though, McKnight is a terribly frustrating main character. Over and over, he butts in, insists on taking things into his own hands when he should be leaving it to the police. I think Hamilton means for the reader to sympathize with McKnight, and I mostly did. But because he is always looking for trouble, I just wanted to clobber him sometimes. If I were one of his three friends, especially Vinnie, I would steer clear of him.

If you enjoy reading about Michigan, that's a good reason to try a Steve Hamilton book. I liked that about A STOLEN SEASON, although I wish Hamilton concentrated more on the Lower Peninsula, which I am more familiar with.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book (just under 300 pages) was #6 in a series of 11. Again, I did not know it was a series. It was not a page turner, but kept my interest. It is probably a weak rather than strong 3 star book. It took place in rural areas of Michigan with some action across the lake into Canada. The action seemed fitting with the slow pace of the area, where one ex-cop (main character, Alex) seems to attract trouble and wants to take care of everything himself. I will have to read another of his books to see if other characters (he says he only has three friends) show up in other books and if the action all takes place in the same locale.