I have really enjoyed reading novels by Krueger. His This Tender Land and Ordinary Grace are quite extraordinary and are on a par with Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead series in terms of the prose and their evocative characters and themes. But Krueger has also written a series about a former sheriff of Tamarack County, Minnesota, Cork O’Connor, who is part Irish and part Anishinaabe Indian. Cork is a complicated character who sees the value of both sides of his ethnicity but that also means he never quite fits with either side especially in a world where boundary lines are clear and sides have been drawn, Lighting Strike is book number eighteen in the series but it is actually a prequel and gives the back story of Cork’s childhood and his relationship with his father who was a sheriff in Tamarack County.

It is summer, 1963. Cork is twelve years old, and he is doing all the things one does in Aurora, Minnesota in the summer: biking around town, swimming in the lake, hanging out with friends. So when Cork and his friends decided to go camping at the old logging site called Lightning Strike, it seems like a great plan. But when they get to there they see something they should never have had to see- a dead man hanging from a tree. Even worse it was someone Cork and his friends knew, a Native American who was greatly admired and respected by the local Anishinaabe tribe.

Cork’s father, Sheriff Liam O’Connor, is called into investigate the death, but soon there are rifts between the White townspeople and the local Native Americans as to how the investigation should be conducted. Cork’s father is caught in the middle, even at home, where his wife and his mother-in-law, who are Anishinaabe, begin to question whether he is unbiased. On top of that a Native American girl goes missing leaving Liam short staffed and open to even more criticism. As Cork follows the investigation, he begins to see connections that his father seems to have missed and begins to investigate on his own, leading him and his friends into even more danger as they begin to expose the real reason behind the killing. 

Krueger weaves Native American myths, culture and spirituality throughout the book and his characters are well developed-even the supporting characters have interesting back stories which adds richness and depth to the narrative.  Like Louise Penny’s Gamache, Liam O’Connor and Cork are driven to find the truth, no matter where it might lead or how hurtful the truth might be and yet even they cannot remain unaffected by the truth they find. 

Brenda’s Rating: **** (4 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian and keith

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in e-book format.