Copper River [Paperback]

William Kent Krueger (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Atria Books, New York (2006)
• ASIN: B000MMPTF2
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

More About the Author

For more than two decades, William Kent Krueger has made his home in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife and two children. His Cork O'Connor novels, Iron Lake (winner of the 1998 Anthony Award for Best First Novel and the Barry Award), Boundary Waters, Purgatory Ridge, Blood Hollow (winner of the 2004 Anthony Award for Best Novel), Mercy Falls (winner of the 2005 Anthony Award for Best Novel), Copper River (winner of a 2006 Minnesota Book Award) and Thunder Bay (winner of the 2007 Minnesota Book Award for Best Genre Fiction), as well as the political thriller The Devil's Bed, are available from Atria Books. Visit his website at www.williamkentkrueger.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling conclusion to Mercy Falls, August 24, 2006

By 

carl brookins "Carl Brookins" (St. Paul, Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Copper River: A Cork O'Connor Mystery (Cork O'Connor Mysteries) (Hardcover)

In the spirit of full disclosure, I report that Kent is a fellow member of the Minnesota Crime Wave, as well as the critique group I belong to, and we are friends. Having said that, let me assure you that this is a dynamite book. Another in the fine Cork O'Connor series. Those who have read Mercy Falls will naturally want this book since it completes the arc that begins with the previous book. Nevertheless, Copper River is complete within its own covers.

But there is considerably more here than resolution to the turmoil conjured up in Mercy Falls. O'Connor, wounded by a professional killer, goes to ground in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with distant relatives in an uncomfortable situation. Family relationships are always an important part of Krueger's novels. This book also explores some horrific circumstances that effectively demonstrate that our often common view of bucolic small-town life is sometimes at serious odds with reality.

O'Connor, fearing for his family, has taken refuge with the widow of a man he once arrested. While he heals he is drawn inexorably into the life of his nephew and the boy's interesting teen aged companions. That life finally leads to the uncovering of crimes first revealed in one of the most moving open scenes I have ever read in a novel in this or any genre.

Krueger is a fine writer and he knows how to build suspense while telling a good story. But his real strength is in the characters he develops and their interactions. But don't just take the word of this reviewer. Pick up a copy and read the first page. Just the first page. Not the cover copy, or that on the flaps. Just page one. Then decide.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Different, October 5, 2006

By 

John Bowes (Oxford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Copper River: A Cork O'Connor Mystery (Cork O'Connor Mysteries) (Hardcover)

A continuation of the last book, that for a while felt like the second of three, until a less than satisfactory conclusion ended that notion. Good page turning action, but less well thought out than usual. Is the author getting tired of Cork?

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars His Best Written Book. But is it his Best?, August 30, 2006

By 

John E. Mack (New London, Minnesota United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Copper River: A Cork O'Connor Mystery (Cork O'Connor Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This is Krueger's best written "Cork" Corcoran mystery. His plot has fewer distractions than his previous efforts and the writing is quite taut. I am not sure it is his best book because the sheer vigor of his good first novel is hard to top, even if it tended to ramble a bit. But there is no wasted writing at all in the current novel, and if there are no "red herrings," neither are there any irrelevant side trips.

The pot finds Corcoran on the run from an aging paterfamilias who has put a price on his head for (as he erroneously believes) killing his son. Corcoran winds up hiding at the Upper Michigan home of a relative who has a young son who comes to idolize him. Some murders occur and the child and his semi-girl friend become targets. Depite his serious injury, Corcoran, with the help of his Wonder-woman ex-FBI agent friend, protect the kids and solve the mystery in a satisfactory way.

The weakest part of the book involves the resolution of the "hit" on Corcoran, particularly the confrontation between him and the Godfather-like senior. Obviously, Krueger wants to get Corcoran back to Minnesota in the worst way, and is willing to use some pretty thin plotting to do it. But overall, it is a fine addition to the Corcoran corpus. It will be good to get him back to his home turf.