A plane carrying a Senator crashes at Desolation Mountain in William Kent Krueger's novel of that name, 17th of his series featuring detective Cork O'Connor. The crash is a partial fulfillment of a vision that has kept the young man Stephen O'Connor awake, in which he sees an eagle with red-white-and-blue tail shot out of the sky by an arrow. But, then, why does he continue to have the vision after the incident? And what is the presence Stephen senses behind him in the vision, so monstrous that he's afraid to turn and see it?
From that beginning, this story has a strong downward tug into chaos and malevolence. The little Minnesota town of Aurora is overwhelmed with investigators from a half-dozen federal agencies. Good people disappear, and (sad to say) dogs die. There are white nationalist vigilantes and also a para-military group commanded by Gerard, whose allegiance we don't know. Even Cork's adopted grandson Waaboo (Ojibwe "little rabbit") is troubled by a vision of a many-headed monster.
But there's an equally strong tug upwards towards light, even lightness. Cork's grown children are inured to threats and know how to fight back. From the families of everyone who disappears, Cork picks up an array of allies who grow into their roles as ad hoc crimefighters. Cork's old friend Bo Sorenson joins the team. As always in this series, there's also Henry Meloux, a mide or "healer" now over 100 years old, whose hermitage swells with visitors as de facto HQ for the good guys.
The most thrilling part of the story is also slapstick funny. Cork assigns his son to take their least-favorite Ojibwe relative to a safe place. Beulah, a product of the Federal government's efforts to expunge Indian culture out of Ojibwe children, is a Christian of the sour judgmental kind, innocent of both wilderness and physical exertion. It's already funny to see her in a canary-yellow helmet bundled into Stephen's ATV clutching the safety bar; when the bad guys force them off-road, it's fun to see that Stephen -- formerly a frail and needy little boy -- is now an Ojibwe action hero saddled with this prim and panicked sidekick. (Think African Queen.)
Stephen also reaches out to Winston Harmon, a "willowy" young teen of Ojibwe descent, an artist in whom Stephen sees some of his own sensitive nature.
I laughed and, yes, I cried. Great addition to a great series. I'm half way through Lightning Strike; the one after that is still in hardback. Don't look behind, Mr. Krueger: I'm catching up.
[Links to my reflections on other Krueger novels are listed at my Crime Fiction page ]
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