Purgatory Ridge: a novel

In Krueger's third novel about former Chicago detective and rural Minnesota sheriff Cork O'Connor, Cork lost his bid for reelection after using excessive force against the murderer of his closest friend. Now he's running a hamburger stand on the shores of Iron Lake while his attorney wife represents a local Indian group in their lawsuit against a huge logging operation. The fight turns deadly when an Indian elder is killed in a bombing at the controversial sawmill. Wanting to take advantage of Cork's contacts within the Indian community, the new sheriff asks Cork for help in the investigation. He agrees, putting added strain on his already shaky marriage. The initial murder leads to kidnapping and extortion, as the situation grows increasingly violent. Krueger, a former logger himself, understands both the subtle complexities of the struggle between environmentalists and developers and the continuing dilemma of the relationship between Indians and whites. The key villain isn't hard to pinpoint, but this character-driven novel should please readers who place thematic substance over a tricky puzzle. --George Needham

Krueger's page-turner revisits Cork O'Connor, the part-Irish, part-Anishinaabe/Ojibwe ex-sheriff of Aurora, Minn., a tiny lumber town on the edge of the Superior National Forest, whose exploits were depicted in Boundary Waters. This narrative opens with a bang, as Karl Lindstrom's lumber mill explodes in the early morning hours, killing Ojibwe elder Charlie Warren. The local Native Americans are up in arms over Lindstrom's plan to cut down Our Grandfathers, a grove of old-growth white pines sacred to tribal lore. Outside conservationists have also descended on the town, eager to save the 300-year-old trees. When a person identifying himself as the Eco-Warrior, soldier of the Army of the Earth, claims responsibility for the bombing, the Native Americans are suspected of collusion as Cork's wife, Jo, attorney for the tribe, protests their innocence. Cork had lost his job as sheriff two years before, largely because of inflammatory editorials by Helm Hanover, publisher of the local newspaper, but he cannot stay uninvolved in this case. The quest to identify the Eco-Warrior bomber ultimately focuses on a young outsider, Brent Hamilton, and his zealous mother, who was crippled in a similar bombing. But the number of suspects widens to include Hanover, rumored to be the commander of the secret militant Minnesota Civilian Brigade, and John LePere, lone survivor of the Alfred M. Teasdale, a freighter that sank on Lake Superior six years earlier, drowning his brother, whose body has never been found. Two kidnappings occur. Karl Lindstrom's wife, Grace Fitzgerald, novelist and daughter of the man who owned the freighter, is abducted, and Cork's wife and six-year-old son are also taken as the Eco-Warrior demands $2 million for their safe return. The plot comes full circle as credibly flawed central characters find resolution. Despite some histrionic plot devices, Krueger prolongs suspense to the very end. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Third suspenser set in hardscrabble Aurora, Minnesota, featuring ex-sheriff Cork O’Connor (Iron Lake, 1998; Boundary Waters, 1999), whose lawyer wife represents the Anishinaabe tribe. The tribe holds sacred a great white pine woods they call Minishoomisag, or Our Grandfathers. Lumberman Karl Lindstrom’s mill lies close by the sacred wood—too close, say the Anishinaabe. The area becomes as feverish as the red sun through smoke arising from the sawmill following a mysterious explosion that kills a night watchman. Many locals want Cork to run for sheriff again and take on the case. Trouble is, Cork is part Anishinaabe himself and with the Anishinaabe under suspicion, and with his wife as their lawyer, the wiser course isn’t easily chosen. Krueger’s stripped storytelling wins no prize for fine prose but does move straight down the track toward purgative vengeance and devastation.

In Krueger's third novel about former Chicago detective and rural Minnesota sheriff Cork O'Connor, Cork lost his bid for reelection after using excessive force against the murderer of his closest friend. Now he's running a hamburger stand on the shores of Iron Lake while his attorney wife represents a local Indian group in their lawsuit against a huge logging operation. The fight turns deadly when an Indian elder is killed in a bombing at the controversial sawmill. Wanting to take advantage of Cork's contacts within the Indian community, the new sheriff asks Cork for help in the investigation. He agrees, putting added strain on his already shaky marriage. The initial murder leads to kidnapping and extortion, as the situation grows increasingly violent. Krueger, a former logger himself, understands both the subtle complexities of the struggle between environmentalists and developers and the continuing dilemma of the relationship between Indians and whites. The key villain isn't hard to pinpoint, but this character-driven novel should please readers who place thematic substance over a tricky puzzle. --George Needham Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews

Krueger's page-turner revisits Cork O'Connor, the part-Irish, part-Anishinaabe/Ojibwe ex-sheriff of Aurora, Minn., a tiny lumber town on the edge of the Superior National Forest, whose exploits were depicted in Boundary Waters. This narrative opens with a bang, as Karl Lindstrom's lumber mill explodes in the early morning hours, killing Ojibwe elder Charlie Warren. The local Native Americans are up in arms over Lindstrom's plan to cut down Our Grandfathers, a grove of old-growth white pines sacred to tribal lore. Outside conservationists have also descended on the town, eager to save the 300-year-old trees. When a person identifying himself as the Eco-Warrior, soldier of the Army of the Earth, claims responsibility for the bombing, the Native Americans are suspected of collusion as Cork's wife, Jo, attorney for the tribe, protests their innocence. Cork had lost his job as sheriff two years before, largely because of inflammatory editorials by Helm Hanover, publisher of the local newspaper, but he cannot stay uninvolved in this case. The quest to identify the Eco-Warrior bomber ultimately focuses on a young outsider, Brent Hamilton, and his zealous mother, who was crippled in a similar bombing. But the number of suspects widens to include Hanover, rumored to be the commander of the secretmilitant Minnesota Civilian Brigade, and John LePere, lone survivor of the Alfred M. Teasdale, a freighter that sank on Lake Superior six years earlier, drowning his brother, whose body has never been found. Two kidnappings occur. Karl Lindstrom's wife, Grace Fitzgerald, novelist and daughter of the man who owned the freighter, is abducted, and Cork's wife and six-year-old son are also taken as the Eco-Warrior demands $2 million for their safe return. The plot comes full circle as credibly flawed central characters find resolution. Despite some histrionic plot devices, Krueger prolongs suspense to the very end. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.