Desolation Mountain

March 1, 2018

Cork O'Connor's vision-plagued son Stephen suddenly pictures a plunging bird, after which a private plane crashes on Desolation Mountain, killing a U.S. Senator and most of her family. The FBI quickly takes over the investigation, but Cork quietly digs in, encountering--and soon mistrusting--private security consultant Bo Thorson. Fans have seen Bo before. From the New York Times best-selling author.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 25, 2018
A fatal plane crash drives Edgar-winner Krueger’s haunting, supernaturally tinged 17th mystery to feature Aurora, Minn., former sheriff Cork O’Connor (after 2017’s Sulfur Springs). Cork has been worried about his grown son, Stephen, who’s been having a disturbing vision. When a plane carrying controversial Senator Olympia McCarthy and her family goes down in the Iron Lake Reservation, near Desolation Mountain, it eerily echoes Stephen’s vision. As a member of the Tamarack County Search and Rescue Team, Cork offers his help, but soon the reservation is swarming with government officials. Not one to stand on the sidelines, Cork soon discovers that an old acquaintance, former Secret Service agent Bo Thorson, is involved. When people that were first on the scene go missing, Cork and Bo must trust each other to find them before it’s too late and hopefully discover what caused the crash. Krueger skillfully combines the otherworldly setting of the Minnesota wilds with Native American lore to create a winning mystery with more than a few surprises. 16-city author tour. Agent: Danielle Egan-Miller, Browne & Miller Literary Assoc.

July 1, 2018
Krueger's Cork O'Connor mystery series centers on a former Chicago cop who returns to his native Minnesota, running a backwoods bar and sometimes serving as a private eye. The main thing about O'Connor, though, is his deep connection to the North Woods and to his half-Anishinabe (an indigenous American grouping that includes the Ojibwa) heritage. Krueger is adept at fusing shocks with setting (Cork's investigations often turn into survival stories). He also gives fascinating details about Ojibwa culture. His prose style, however, is a bit one-toned, the unvarying rhythm of many of his sentences suggesting Longfellow's Evangeline. In this eighteenth series entry, a plane carrying a Minnesota senator and her family crashes into Desolation Mountain, killing all. A number of the first responders to the accident disappear, leaving O'Connor; his son, Stephen; and an old crony, Bo Thorsen, who appeared in Krueger's The Devil's Bed (2003), to sort things out. Great atmosphere, both physical and cultural.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)