A Novel (Cork O'Connor Mystery Series) - Heaven's Keep

I started reading Krueger about 6 months ago and have read 5 or 6 of his books (including his more recent, quite different, but excellent _Ordinary Grace_). Heaven's Keep is not only a mystery with good (unexpected) plot twists, danger, courage, and drama, but it also has a good deal of character development and reflections on the meanings of life and what is worth doing in life. Being a Minnesota native who is now living elsewhere (who still misses Minnesota) I started reading Krueger's books because of the Minnesota settings that I know quite well. His first Cork O'Connor novel is good, but I think that overall, the quality improves with the later novels, and Heaven's Keep is a cut above the previous stories.

I just wish the publisher would not turn off text to speech on Krueger's books! I am mostly now getting Krueger books through the library since the whole point, for me, of buying the Kindle was to be able to listen to books on text-to-speech. I got the audible book as a special deal for only 3 dollars more after buying the Kindle book, otherwise I wouldn't have purchased the book from the store. I didn't think the audible book narrator was that good for this book. I won't buy Kindle books that I can't listen to, and I won't pay 20 plus dollars to listen to an audible book.

I've come to enjoy spending time with Cork Corcoran, a good man struggling to live his values in morally complex times and situations. It was a treat getting to see his son grow up quite a bit. And I always appreciate a visit or two with Henry Meloux. Good stuff!

Opinion Only - No Story Spoilers

This is the ninth novel in the Cork O'Connor series, and wouldn't be the best starting point for new readers into the series. This book takes a different approach than his others do and depends (to a point) on the reader being familiar with the characters already. Having read the series to date, I really enjoyed the story, and read it in two days. The first half of the book has little character development (ninth book in the series), and jumps right into the story of the disappearance of and search for Jo O'Connor and others, and Cork's coming to terms with the situation. The second part of the book is more like the rest of the series. Overall, I found it captivating and an easy read that became hard to put down.

I had the feeling that Thunder Bay would be the last in the Cork O'Connor series after completing it and was pleasantly surprised by the release of the next book, Red Knife, which I really enjoyed as well. This latest turn in Heaven's Keep may mark the end, or it may in fact mark a turning point toward a new direction in a series that might otherwise be limited by geographic location and relative isolation.

William Kent Krueger's Cork O'Connor series was recommended to me by the store about the time that Blood Hollow came out, because I had enjoyed series novels by Steve Hamilton and C.J.Box. After purchasing and enjoying Iron Lake, I ordered the next three novels in the series and enjoyed each book better than the last, and felt that WKK's writing improved with each one. Each story is built slightly off the last one, as series are prone to do, while still remaining fresh and captivating. While sometimes series characters tend towards unbelievability in terms of the number and type of events over the entire series, Krueger stays on the inside of this curve (and we as readers should generally allow a bit of flexibility -who wants to read books about a 32 year veteran cop who never even had cause to unholster his weapon?).

Good to read on their own, but much better to read in order, the Cork O'Connor series is:

Tamarack County - 2013
Trickster's Point - 2012
Northwest Angle - 2011
Vermilion Drift - 2010

Heavens Keep - 2009
Red Knife - 2008
Thunder Bay - 2007
Copper River - 2006
Mercy Falls - 2005
Blood Hollow - 2004
Purgatory Ridge - 2001
Boundary Waters - 1999
Iron Lake - 1998

When William Kent Krueger goes deep, you can feel it in your bones. With “Heaven’s Keep,” he decides to go as deep as it can get with Cork O’Connor. The trouble is, the reader feels it crush the weight of his emotions, and you almost break.

Cork O’Connor isn’t feeling like the greatest husband right about now. In fact, he doesn’t even know if he’s much of a husband at all. Jo took a business trip, and she left with bitter words with Cork. Now it has been discovered that the charter plane that took off could very well have disappeared. If worse comes to worst, Jo is likely to be dead. The question is, is this some kind of accident?

Cork isn’t certain what to believe, but he does know where to go to ask his questions. Once in Wyoming, and in Northern Arapaho territory, people are reluctant to answer his questions or cooperate, including the local Sheriff, who goes by Kosmo. Little by little, Cork begins to get answers, as his son, Stephen, becomes a man, as he is guided by Henry Meloux.

“Heaven’s Keep” is bitter. There’s no other way to describe it. But it is also written quite well by an author who knows his craft. “Vermillion Drift” is next, and I look forward to movin’ on with William Kent Krueger!

There will be no scenes that contain happiness in this book – not a one. What you will read is page after page containing stress, tension, unmitigated sorrow and life-threatening danger. Weaving this all together will be the bold threads of dogged, unrelenting detective work. And on the very last page there will be tears – your own – falling onto the print of the page as Cork O’Connor, with his hand on his wife’s casket, speaks his final words to her.

Now, those words just written do not constitute a heartless spoiler meant to ruin your enjoyment of the book. Just reading the promotional blurb will tell even the most inexperienced of mystery readers that Jo O’Connor has been killed, along with five Indian tribal elders, in a plane crash during a Wyoming snow storm.

The question is why they died. And this is a question unlikely to be answered quickly as not only did the plane disappear off radar, it disappeared off the face of the earth.

Considering that Krueger’s Cork O’Connor series is a combination of the police procedural and private investigator genres, we can safely assume that the disappearance of the plane is not an accident. Perhaps the plane was sabotaged in flight and lies buried in a snow-filled crevasse. Or perhaps the final transmission from the pilot was a fake and the plane has been deliberately flown to a hidden destination.

For us, the readers, it would seem that the natural progression of the novel at this point would be to find the plane, find the bodies, let the evidence onsite lead to the who and why of the matter, and have Cork pursue the perpetrators from that point. But Krueger’s Cork O’Connor is convinced, after 6 days of fruitless searching in the snow-driven mountains, that it will take ferreting out the “who” and the “why” in order to determine the “where.” And, on that point, the novel proceeds.

Actually, knowing that Jo is already dead makes reading this entry far easier. You quickly find yourself totally wrapped up in trying to solve the mystery right along with Cork and his temporary partner, Hugh Parmer. And it’s not until all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, and you feel mentally safe again, that the last page sneaks up on you and lays you out.

When an author kills off a major secondary character, the purpose is usually to allow that author to turn the series in a different direction. Jo O’Connor’s death certainly opens the way, eventually, to a new romantic interest for Cork. However, this series has never placed much focus on sex, rather centering itself around family values and personal responsibility, particularly in the light of First Nation culture. Frankly, I do not believe we will have to worry about Krueger spinning us off to the romantic suspense or chick lit genre any time soon.

of alienating his loyal readers in this, his tenth entry in the Cork O'Connor series. He does it by putting a recurring character in mortal danger. That he has the guts to follow through is both reasonable and, in a way, predictable. Cork is no longer sheriff and his and Jo's children are growing up, soon to leave the nest. Although he supplements his income from Sam's Place with work provided by his PI license, his life could easily become stagnant. So Krueger reboots him (a favorite term used by the apparently non-techie writer) by forcing drastic changes in his life. As new possibilities and characters become available to Cork, many readers will, no doubt, be eager to see where they lead. Others may be so outraged (as some were by the ending of Mercy Falls) that they will swear to read--and buy--no more of Krueger's books.

Heaven's Keep, if it really exists, is in Wyoming, where most of this story takes place. Cork travels there first to search for a missing plane and second to search for answers to a carefully orchestrated conspiracy involving the plane and its passengers, an Arapaho Reservation and its people, and local law enforcement. Some of the characters seem so obvious that we, as readers, surely wonder how Cork can be so slow to catch on; on the other hand, Krueger provides enough red herrings that one is never completely sure that a good guy will not turn out to be a bad guy and vice versa. Something I've noticed about Krueger's handling of the denouement in the O'Connor series, though: Cork almost never has to take out the ultimate bad guy himself; a companion or someone who has trailed Cork without his knowledge uusally dispatches the villain, saving Cork from having two many kills on his conscience. The reasons for this, I assume, are: 1) to allow his hero to remain as unsullied as possible, and 2) to promote Krueger's own apparent position on gun control and violence (which he's passed on to Cork, though often unsuccessfully).

I was amused during Heaven's Keep when Cork, investigating a character's disappearance, sees on the man's bedside table, a book entitled STAGGERFORD. The existence of the book is not important, merely a minor bit of character development dropped into the story. But STAGGERFORD is a real book, by Jon Hassler, who was writer in residence at Mankato University in Minnesota a few years ago. I appreciated Krueger's nod to the very talented Hassler and to the excellent STAGGERFORD, which I once described as a "sweet dagger" of a novel.

I'm guessing that Krueger writes fairly rapidly, without agonizing too much over syntax and semantics, and the writing sometimes shows it. He often repeats himself in giving the reader information and in his use of favorite words, such as "slipped," which appears altogether too much. But while his writing can be uneven and he occasionally bogs down in dull description, Krueger manages to keep the narrative flowing well enough to keep the reader involved. His greatest asset is the character of Corcoran O'Connor. We feel we know Cork the way you know someone you admire and respect and want to know better; he appears to have depths unplumbed, so that we take up the next book in the series with the anticipation of visiting an old friend.

Admittedly, this is less a review of Heaven's Keep (others have done that already and better) than of the Cork O'Connor series, and in that vein, I say this: Thunder Bay is, in my opinion, Krueger's best yet. While improbable in many respects, the story of Thunder Bay provides background for another great character, Cork's old Indian friend, Henry Meloux, whose story is both moving and tragic. The story also reveals some of the heartbreaking history of our government's management of northern native American tribes in the early part of the 20th century. And the writing is better, as well--tighter, smoother, more economical (I suspect a better editor).

I predict that most readers who become involved with William Kent Krueger's Cork O'Connor series will be more than satisfied. Although I am sometimes annoyed enough to mentally edit while reading, I know I'm hooked by his characters and that I will be sad when Mr. Krueger finally decides Cork O'Connor has reached retirement age.

I have read all the previous books. The willingness for Krueger to subject his characters to harrowing experiences, terrible lapses in moral judgement and mind-numbing pain is only trumped in this one by kiliing off Jo O'Connor. What a dumb thing to do. If this is good fiction, I can't see it. The all-too-modern 'smash mouth' ending bringing extraordianry grief to a man and his children was uncalled for. He says he rewrote the final chapters from her being saved from death, to killing her off. How tender.

The more I think of his books there is a sadistic streak that runs through them, the constant inflicing of piercing hurt, with very little grace of recovery and celebration. To put it bluntly, I won't read anymore and wish I had not invested so much time in the first 9 books.

She left him angry. And when her flight went down somewhere over Wyoming, all private detective Cork O'Connor could think was that he should have apologized, said something...anything but let their last words be those of love.

In the days immediately following the plane's disappearance, Cork and his teenage son, Stephen, head up to the desolation of Heaven's Keep, Wyoming where the FAA received the doomed plane's last message. With storms coming, and with the huge desolation of snow-covered mountain and Indian reservation, their effort to find Jo is practically hopeless. Still, they're encouraged by the word that a group of snowmobilers had heard a low-flying plane, and that a sometimes drunk Indian had a vision of the plane landing in what looked like a baby's crib.

Cork's hopes fade as more storms set in. Even if Jo had survived the landing, Wyoming's brutal winter would certainly have been fatal. But when he learns that the supposed pilot might not have been the man he was supposed to be, Cork wonders if bad weather and bad luck really explained his wife's disappearance. Could some darker cause related to human greed be responsible? He swears he'll find out, but in a world of brutal poverty, finding anyone to trust becomes dangerous indeed.

Author William Kent Krueger writes convincingly of the desolation of Indian country, of the poverty that afflicts reservation Indians, and of the mixed blessing that gambling casinos, with their addictions and connections to organized crimes, can bring. The story really takes two parts connected only by Cork's ongoing search for his wife--first the hunt for the plane and second, the search for the truth about the substitute pilot. From a mystery perspective, the first half is all setup. We meet the key players, learn about Cork and his problems, and stay with him as he gradually loses hope for his wife's survival. In the second half, Cork goes into detective mode, and faces threats to his life, gradually unraveling the secrets behind the loss of the small plane on which his wife, along with a group of tribal leaders, were flying.

I thought the first half went too slowly, and gave us a few too-obvious clues. In the second half, Krueger picks up the pace, delivering plenty of action. Krueger's writing is smooth and enjoyable, drawing me into the story at the same time as it played off Indian visions with modern forensic science.

Private Investigator Corcoran "Cork" O'Connor and his attorney wife, Jo, have survived bad times in their long marriage. Surely their latest disagreement, over Cork's applying to replace a retiring deputy in the Tamarack County Sheriff's Department, won't turn out to be more than a quarrel. "Cork" faces the loss of land that means a great deal to him, as a development company buys up the lakefront surrounding that land and tries to gate him out of even its access road; and an expensive lawsuit looks like the only way he can hope to keep what he inherited from the Ojibwe man who was his second father. Even more important to Cork is stopping the development company, somehow, from destroying Iron Lake by building condominiums up to its very shore. Jo O'Connor has advised her husband to compromise. Cork is determined to pursue that lawsuit, even if it means taking a salaried job again. Even a salaried job working for Sheriff Marsha Dross, whom he trained when she was a rookie and Cork was sheriff.

Jo has set off from Aurora, Minnesota to Seattle, to represent the Objibwe at a tribal gathering. After a night spent in Hot Springs, Wyoming, she and several leaders from different tribes have boarded a charter plane to finish their trip - and that plane has lost radio contact over rugged mountains, with a blizzard closing in. Cork wishes now that either he or Jo had said, "I'm sorry and I love you," in parting. He has to live with that for six months, as the search that follows the blizzard fails to find Jo's plane; and as he negotiates with the development company's owner, a man who came up from nothing and who forms a surprising friendship with the former sheriff. Then, with Cork's 14-year-old son and two college student daughters finally reconciling themselves to their mother's death - and with Cork himself reaching some sort of acceptance - two visitors arrive in Aurora. What they tell Cork makes him hope again, and it also makes him powerfully curious and very angry. For other people have been looking into that plane's disappearance, and those other people have been dying in conveniently timed accidents.

I started reading this book in late afternoon, and I finished it before midnight. I couldn't put it down except for necessities. It's a sad story, but a very human one that accurately depicts people dealing with grief, frustration, and love that refuses to let go. For once I was wrong about the villain's identity, and that pleased me because I didn't want my suspicions to prove true. I am not sure how this one would read to someone unfamiliar with the characters, but I've read other Cork O'Connor books; and I tore my way through it. Ambiguous in all the right ways, for those of us who greatly prefer our heroes and villains both to have shades of gray!

--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of 2005 science fiction EPPIE winner "Regs"

With "Heaven's Keep", William Kent Krueger makes a critical decision that every series novelist faces: to kill off a main character. Always risky, because if it's not handled well, if the readers perceive it was done just to shake things up, readers will revolt and the series will suffer, and likely end pretty soon. In the opening chapter, we see that this will happen. Cork O'Connor, former sheriff and now PI and burger stand owner in northern Minnesota, says goodbye to his attorney wife Jo, but they're not on the best of terms as she flies to Wyoming en route to Seattle.
We first met the O'Connors in the series debut, "Iron Lake". After some 15 years of marriage and three kids, Cork and Jo are separated. Despondent after losing his job as sheriff, Cork is further depressed by being tossed out of the house by his angry wife. He has taken up with a waitress, a woman who cares for him but for whom Cork appears to have little regard outside the bedroom of her cabin. It appears at first that Jo's desire for divorce is entirely due to Cork's professional and personal slide. But then we find out that there's more to the story. Cork finds out, in the worst way possible, that his wife has been carrying on an affair with a local politician, and when he confronts Jo, she admits that it has been going on for awhile, even before they separated. But by the novel's end Cork is starting to regain his self-respect, Jo has discovered that her lover wasn't nearly as terrific as she thought, and they move toward reconciliation. Subsequent novels find them back together, raising their children and facing challenges that few small-town couples ever have to face.
But at the beginning of "Heaven's Keep", they're at odds again. Cork has been offered seven figures for Sam's Place, his beloved burger stand. The prospective buyer, a deep-pocketed out-of-state corporation, has cut off public road access to Cork's business, leaving Cork little option but to engage in costly litigation that will almost certainly be futile. Jo urges him to settle but his stubborn refusal sends a deep chill through their marriage. She leaves on her trip without either of them making an attempt to smooth things over. When her plane goes down in a mountain blizzard, Cork faces the reality that his last words to his wife were not "I love you." After participating in a desperate and fruitless search to locate the lost plane before another blizzard hits, Cork tries to put his life back together. Six months later, information comes to him that indicates the plane's disappearance may not be what it seemed, and he begins the most important and gut-wrenching investigation of his career.
The O'Connor marriage comes full circle in the first 9 novels of the series. This novel takes Cork out of his comfort zone in more ways than one. Not only is he deeply invested emotionally in the case, he has to accept the help of the man who wanted to shut Sam's Place down, and he has to search for the truth in the barren foothills of the Wyoming Rockies, rather than in his comfortable north Minnesota woods. A lot could've gone wrong for Krueger in the writing of this novel, but he gets it right.

First Sentence: In the weeks after the tragedy, as he accumulates pieces of information, he continues to replay that morning in his mind.

Cork O'Connor and his wife, Jo, parted in anger as she left on a business. He learns her plane has disappeared from radar over the Wyoming Rockies and, with his son, travels West to be part of the search, but to no avail. Months later, the wife of the pilot, who was said to have been drunk while flying, turns upon Cork's doorstep saying it wasn't her husband flying the plane. His investigation causes him to think the accidental wasn't accidental. So where is Jo?

There were things I loved and things I didn't love about this book.

Krueger creates interesting characters that seem very real. However, I don't always feel he uses them to full advantage. Cork's friend, Henry Meloux, is one of the most interesting recurring characters. Here, he had almost a cameo role. We see Cork's son Stephen growing up. Henry sends him on a vision quest, but we have no idea what happened as it was all off-stage. At the same time, Krueger's incorporation of the metaphysical is both interesting and well done, never overpowering the story.

This descriptions are wonderfully evocative and his dialogue true to the ear. I would not have been appropriate to the story, but I missed the wry humor usually apparent in this books.

What I didn't love was the plot. Killing off the protagonist's mate seems to be a popular theme these days and one that, to me, seems easier than keeping the relationship realistic and progressing; of which I felt Krueger had done a good job until now. I was, however, impressed by Krueger's ability to convey emotion. The motives didn't work for me. It seemed a bit over the top and lacking the usual suspense.

Most of the book I felt was very good, but it did fall apart toward the end. Krueger is still an author whose style I very much enjoy. By no means is he off my buy list. I'll be there for the next book as soon as it comes out.

HEAVEN'S KEEP (Unl Invest-Cork O'Connor-Minnesota/Wyoming-Cont) - G+
Krueger, William Kent - 9th in series
Atria Books, 2009, US Hardcover - ISBN: 9781416556763

It was there in Casper, Wyoming, that Jo O'Connor started to regret that she hadn't called her husband to say, "I'm sorry." But she proceeded to get on the small plane that would take her and her party--a committee tasked with drafting recommendations for oversight of Indian gaming casinos--to present to the annual conference of the National Congress of American Indians in Seattle.

She should have called, and she did, but he wasn't there to answer, "I'll call you later" was her only message.

William Kent Krueger, in Heaven's Keep, tells the drama of a man whose wife left on a business trip, after they'd had a quarrel that had not been resolved. When the plane goes down somewhere around Heaven's Keep, he is haunted because their last words had not been expressions of their love.

Cork O'Connor had been Sheriff of the Tamarack County Sheriff's Department in Minnesota and had since become a PI; however, his main gig was as the owner of Sam's Place, a small restaurant in an old Quonset hut built on the shore of Iron Lake. He loved that place! So much so that he was willing to fight a major builder, the Parmer Corporation, who wanted to purchase the shoreline to build a large condominium resort community.

In the process of fighting off a major legal battle, Hugh Parmer came to visit and meet the man who was opposing him. The exchange between he and Cork O'Connor resulted in immediate friendship and it was Hugh Parmer who stood with Cork as the long and dangerous search for the plane took place.

Another heartwarming, and closer relationship that developed during the search was between Cork and his son, Stephen.

But, most importantly, the long search involved so many rescue staff that, for Cork, he couldn't figure out why they weren't finding the plane. And then Stephen shared his dreams of his mother with him. And they added visions and guidance from other respected wise men, one of whom, Will Pope, unfortunately was also known for his fondness for alcohol and therefore was being totally discounted by those leading the search activities.

But Stephen wanted to follow their guidance. Cork supported his son's wishes.

Soon they realized that the plane going down was not an accident. Soon they found that the assumed pilot had not even been on the plane. Soon they knew that those on the plane had been murdered.

Mystery, suspense, and just a touch or so of the supernatural makes this a fascinating drama that highlights the ancient ways of the Native American, as well as the greed and reach for power that we all possess to a small or greater amount. Believe me, this is not the usual novel surrounding the greed of those who build and run casinos. The people involved are uniquely developed to reveal the potential of friendship and love and what it makes possible, but with great suspense. Very highly recommended--easily 5+!

G. A. Bixler

Heaven's Keep is the first of William Kent Krueger's Cork O'Connor mysteries that I've read. In some series this might be a handicap, but as Krueger introduces the characters in the opening scenes he provides just enough back story to get the reader up to speed. I didn't feel like I was missing anything by not having read the previous entries in the series -- and based on the caliber of writing in this installment, I'd like to check them out.

Cork O'Connor, a former sheriff and current private detective, is part Irish and part Ojibwe Indian. Native American culture plays a large role in the story, and although I'm no expert on the subject, it seemed to be portrayed realistically. The Native American characters were neither lampooned nor idealized. There's a good bit of Indian mysticism in the story, though, so if that sort of thing rubs you the wrong way, be forewarned.

The characters in the story are sympathetic and deeper than most. I especially liked the character of Stephen, Cork's young teen son. He's a typical teen in some ways, but he's not a sullen jerk, just a good honest kid on the cusp of manhood. His reaction to his mother's disappearance is very moving and felt true.

The first part of the story, relating the agonizing search for the missing plane that was carrying Cork's wife Jo, seemed to drag on a bit too long, but as soon as it becomes clear that all is not as it seems the pace picks up and keeps gaining momentum. There's plenty of action along the way with clues and plot twists aplenty, but the author never loses sight of the human emotion of the story, and it's this depth of feeling that set the book apart for me.

The only caveat I'll give in recommending the book was that the Lord's name was used as a four-letter word quite a lot, something that always makes me wince. Aside from that, Heaven's Keep is a first-rate tale.

William Kent Krueger's Cork O'Conner series isn't the type of book that would normally be on top of my reading list, but I have really grown to enjoy this series. Krueger has really managed to keep the series fresh by taking the setting to a different location to suit the story and has carefully changed the cast of characters a bit over time. He has done this so skillfully that when a character has gone, you almost morn along with those in the book. In Heaven's Keep, a group of Indian leaders have chartered a plane to take them to a pow wow to began to examine the ethics of casino gambling. The only non-indian and only woman on the flight is Cork's wife Jo, who represents the local tribe as their attorney. (Cork is half indian and cherishes his heritage). The plane disappears over rough territory just before blizzards are to hit. Cork and newly matured son Steven, formerly Stevie, go to help in the search efforts as they discover more and more indications that the plane didn't just go done by accident. Hoping that they will find Jo and other survivors before the blizzards hit. As he always does, Krueger describes the north country so well you feel that you're there. Never completely sure just who the bad guys are and who he can trust, Cork keeps on searching for his true love. I fell that the Kreuger conveys the nature of the people he writes about, the politics not only of the region but also of the reservations and of the politics between the reservations and the local governments. All in all, you are left with a love story, an adventury story that makes you feel you've actually spent time in this special part of the country.

This is a dense, emotionally packed novel that fully illuminates the author's talent and command of his material. Krueger frequently remarks that he writes about family relationships and about Northern Minnesota. In Heaven's Keep readers get both in spades. But there's more.

Here, Cork O'Conner is forced to go out of his comfort zone, the mythical Aurora, Minnesota and journey to Wyoming, to a forbidding and lonely part of the state at the edge of the Rocky Mountains during a stormy time of year. The catalyst is that Cork's wife Jo, an attorney, is flying by private charter to Seattle for a conference of Native American leaders. The plane disappears and the early part of the novel deals with the agony and frustration of not knowing the fate of the passengers. Krueger's intelligent and intriguing twist on the plot is that Cork and Jo parted on testy terms at the Aurora airport. They were arguing about O'Connor's future, and the future of Sam's Place, Cork's burger shack on the shores of Iron Lake.

Thus, O'Connor's grief over Jo's loss is compounded and when, much later new and unsettling information about the pilot of the plane surfaces, the O'Connor family is thrown into new emotional turmoil. Throughout this book, Krueger's control of the plot, the character changes, and the family relationships, is sure handed and, for the most part will be satisfying to the reader. This is a novel that deserves a wide readership. It is one that is satisfying in all its elements, and will stay with readers well after the final page.

This is the ninth story to feature Cork O'Connor. This time out, O'Connor is devastated by the alleged death of his beloved wife, Jo. She is lost in a plane crash in Wyoming, and Cork travels from his home in Minnesota to Wyoming to try to assist in the search for the plane. As time and the elements work against the searchers, Cork must come to the realization that Jo is gone for good.

There are actually two sections to this novel. The fiorst centers on the search for the pklane, the second on the search fro justice.

Six months after the crash, O'Connor receives visitors that set him on the path to find out exactly what happened to Jo and the other people on the plane. From here, he throws in his lot with a rich Texan. The two travel back to Wyoming and track the path of the plane and uncover a conspiracy of greed, money, and murder.

The usually easy going O'Connor, who doesn't ever carry a gun, becomes a man on a mission to find his wife, or her remains. The story is littered with Native American lore and visions. In addition, there are those who have much to lose and will go to any lengths to stop O'Connor on his quest.

The ending is not what one would expect. It leaves us to wonder if Cork will recover and continue with another novel in the future.

This is the ninth story to feature Cork O'Connor. This time out, O'Connor is devastated by the alleged death of his beloved wife, Jo. She is lost in a plane crash in Wyoming, and Cork travels from his home in Minnesota to Wyoming to try to assist in the search for the plane. As time and the elements work against the searchers, Cork must come to the realization that Jo is gone for good.

There are actually two sections to this novel. The fiorst centers on the search for the pklane, the second on the search fro justice.

Six months after the crash, O'Connor receives visitors that set him on the path to find out exactly what happened to Jo and the other people on the plane. From here, he throws in his lot with a rich Texan. The two travel back to Wyoming and track the path of the plane and uncover a conspiracy of greed, money, and murder.

The usually easy going O'Connor, who doesn't ever carry a gun, becomes a man on a mission to find his wife, or her remains. The story is littered with Native American lore and visions. In addition, there are those who have much to lose and will go to any lengths to stop O'Connor on his quest.

The ending is not what one would expect. It leaves us to wonder if Cork will recover and continue with another novel in the future.

I have never read anything by Krueger before and picked this book just because it sounded like a good mystery. I liked the book and the main character, Cork, very much. I also did not realize that this was just the latest installment in a series. But enough tidbits were dropped about Cork and his family that I intend to start the series from the beginning.

The story has many twists and turns (maybe too many?), and kept me guessing until the end. It was also very interesting to learn a little about Native American culture.

I thought the author did a good job developing the story: the events leading up to and right after the crash, and then 6 months later- when the mystery starts to deepen.

I will be interesting to see if the earlier books develop the main characters a bit more- I definitely felt like I was jumping right in but longtime readers may feel like they are meeting with old friends. since this is a page turner and not necessary a "novel" I did not mind so much, but I get a felling there is a lit of back story to Cork and his family.

"Heaven's Keep" opens one morning as Jo Corcoran, near Casper, Wyoming, prepares to and does board a charter plane which will take her and her fellow passengers to Seattle, Washington. Other than Jo, the others are all Native Americans. They are all "part of a committee tasked with drafting recommendations for oversight of Indian gaming casinos, recommendations they've scheduled to present at the annual conference of the National Congress of American Indians." Except for Jo, all those aboard have a tribal affiliation: Eastern Shoshone, Northern Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ojibwe. They are told that stormy weather is due and snow is moving into the Rockies.

In the North Country of Aurora, Minnesota, Corcoran ("Cork") O'Connor, no longer County Sheriff, is now considering seeking employment as Deputy Sheriff, but his replacement, Sheriff Marsha Dross, is unsure how he would like taking orders from an officer he himself had trained. [The other woman unsure of the wisdom of the move is Cork's beloved wife, Jo, and they had a bit of an argument on the subject just as she was above to leave on her mission.] Cork has been building a good reputation as a PI, but there is pending litigation that he fears will drain him and he wants the security of a regular job again. The litigation involved deals with, as do so many things in the "rez" areas, development of the land: how much and what kind, and to what end, and to say there is controversy is to understate the matter, especially where the gaming casinos come into the picture.

All those thoughts fly right out of Cork's mind when he finds that the chartered plane with Jo aboard has disappeared from radar over the Wyoming mountains, and no contact has been made with the pilot. Cork and, of course, his thirteen-year-old son, Stevie [now, insistently, "Stephen"], are devastated, and they soon join the search-and-rescue efforts determined to find the plane and, especially, Jo. Cork, part Ojibwe, should have no problem working with members of the tribal police as well as the County Sheriff's Department, with the help of an unlikely and unexpected colleague. They go into the mountains, in an area called Heaven's Keep: "The mountains became deep blue in the twilight, and the canyons between were like dark, poisoned veins. Though the sun had dropped below the rest of the range, it hadn't yet set on Heaven's Keep, which towered above everything else." In trying to determine how it got its name, Cork said: "I always figured it's because it's so high that it feels connected to heaven. That's my explanation anyway. Now the Arapaho take a whole different approach. They call it "honoocooniinit. Basically means they consider it the devil." When Cork actually sees it, "Its walls burned with the angry red of sunset, and it looked more like the gate to hell than anything to do with heaven."

The writing is absolutely elegant, and frequently poignant, with understated emotion; the novel is no less heart-tugging for that. Well-plotted, and filled with secondary characters about whom small vignettes are woven, such as pilot Jon Rude [pronounced "Roo-day"] and his wife and young daughter, and well as those known to Mr. Krueger's readers from past books, such as Henry Meloux, now in his nineties and the oldest man Cork knew, to whom Cork often turns for his insight and wisdom.
Meloux was an Ojibwe Mide, a member of the Grand Medicine Society, frequently just called "the old Mide" by Cork. But more than anything he is a dear and a trusted friend. Cork tells him than an old Indian man, an Arapaho spirit walker, has had a vision that can be interpreted as showing the crash site: "I seen an eagle come out of a cloud. Not like any eagle I ever seen before. Wings spread, all stiff, like it was frozen. It circled and glided into something looked like a bed only with sides to it. It landed and a white blanket floated down and covered it. That's pretty much it. Except that as it faded away, I heard a scream . . . it sounded to me like a woman." As well, there are visions that have visited Stephen for years that seemed to be about his mother being behind a white door, but how to explain what they mean is another matter. Meloux tells him: "A vision is never seen with eyes, Stephen. Your heart is the only witness, and only your heart understands."

Throughout, the magnificent countryside comes alive in the author's words. As the book approaches its denouement I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding, as Cork, and the reader, must put all emotions on hold for a moment, or three, till all becomes clear.

When asked, as I have been numerous times, what make a good book great, I always say something to the effect that of course it always fine writing but, more than that, a fine storyteller, and the two don't often meet in the same person. But in this book, all the ingredients are there.

Not to be repetitious, but I have to conclude this review with the words I used after reading Mr. Krueger's last book, "Thunder Bay": The beauty, elegance, and lyricism of the writing makes this a novel not to be missed, and it is, obviously, highly recommended.

Like a good mystery? This is worth reading. It truly captures the grief and horror when a spouse dies unexpectedly. And worse, when you have had a rather normal day when petty little things kept your goodbye from being as loving as it might have been. A good wake up call for us all. The main character is well portrayed as human with normal frailties and behaviors. As he tries to adapt to the loss of his wife and to help his children through the tragedy, he is suddenly confronted with the fact that it might easily have been murder. Perhaps worse, it might not even have been just because of who she was but because of who was on the plane at the time. When the wife of the alleged pilot of the plane that crashed comes to him with an improbably story about that it was NOT her husband who piloted that plane but that he is missing, the story goes in a totally different direction. Plots and subplots abound and make the story one you won't want to put down. Be sure to read this.

Cork O'Connor --- half Irish, half Ojibwe Indian --- is a private investigator in his Northern Minnesota birthplace. The former sheriff knows his neighbors and his people, and he and Jo, his attorney wife and mother of their three children, enjoy wide respect in the community. When Jo accompanies a delegation of Northern American Indian tribal officials to an important meeting in Seattle, Cork sees her off on the chartered plane at the local airport. It is the last he will see of her as the plane takes off under darkening skies and then vanishes hours later in a blinding blizzard over the Northern Rockies.

Cork and his 13-year-old son, Stephen, fly out to Western Wyoming to search in the region where the plane vanished from radar. Reports from snowmobilers of hearing a low-flying plane during the storm seemed to pinpoint the area in which searchers were gathering. Cork and Stephen join with the Owl Creek Sheriff's Department and volunteers in an air search to try to spot any sign of a downed plane. After nearly a week of flying over thousands of miles of the rugged wilderness, searchers give up as winter settles in and hopes of finding any clues dwindle. The sheriff's department is very accommodating, even flying Cork and Stephen over an area seen in a vision by a local Indian shaman.

As another heavy storm moves in, heralding the beginning of winter in the Rockies, Cork and Stephen head back home, saddened by the fact that not only their beloved Jo is dead, but that the other six passengers and pilot, some of them friends, may not be found until spring, if ever.

They start to pick up the pieces of their lives, but rumors begin that the pilot and owner of the small plane had been seen drinking heavily the night before at a local bar. By March, a lawsuit against the pilot is launched by the families of two of the men on the missing plane. The pilot's widow comes to Cork with what she thinks is evidence that the man who flew her husband's plane was not him, even though he's seen on a surveillance camera from the bar appearing to imbibe several straight shots of whiskey the night before the flight. If the pilot was not her husband, then where is he and why did he go missing that day? The investigator she hired went out to Wyoming and failed to return after asking questions of local officials.

Cork carefully examines the grainy surveillance tape the pilot's widow produces and discovers something not previously seen on there. It is enough for him to take on her case and perhaps bring some closure to what really happened to Jo and her fellow passengers on that fateful flight. The possibility that the plane didn't crash is raised along with Cork and Stephen's hopes that Jo is being held captive somewhere. They discover that some of the local Wyoming people hold title to land overlying rich oil deposits, and perhaps one of the passengers of the plane was entangled in a land deal.

Upon returning to Owl Creek, Cork finds the local sheriff's office less than cordial than their prior encounter and reluctant to expend any more manpower on the hunt for the downed plane. They vaguely remember the prior private investigator who asked a few questions, but do not know where he went after he left Owl Creek. Cork now must rely on an offer from his new business partner to put his resources to work to launch a new search for the missing plane and learn the fate of its passengers. This becomes a game of "who do you trust" as Cork looks to former acquaintances and friends for help.

HEAVEN'S KEEP is William Kent Krueger's 10th book and the ninth to feature Cork O'Connor. These novels blend a close-knit family and American Indian traditions with good old-fashioned sleuthing. Those who have followed Cork since his introduction in 1998's IRON LAKE will not be disappointed with Krueger's latest effort, and undoubtedly will look forward to a continuation of this award-winning series.

--- Reviewed by Roz Shea

"Heaven's Keep" is William Kent Krueger's ninth novel centered around his signature character, Cork O'Connor. In this effort, Cork is thrown into a maelstrom of emotions and personal loss that make this the best of the series in my opinion. Cork must deal with possibly a great personal loss while continuing to raise a young son and ultimately, employing his significant investigatory skills to solve the most personal case of his life.

Cork's wife Jo, an attorney working with indian groups, is aboard a chartered plane that is reported to have crashed somewhere over the impenetrable and forboding Wyoming Rockies. Cork eventually goes to Wyoming with Stephen, his 13 year-old son, to witness participate in the search and rescue efforts. New friends are made, hopes rise and fall, and through it all, Cork deals with his personal demons while providing paternal support for his grieving son. The first third of the novel, dealing with the suspected loss and the personal effect it has on Cork and his family is both poignant and sensitively constructed.

Finally accepting the inevitable loss of the plane somewhere in the snow covered mountains, Cork returns home to begin a new phase in his life. Six months later, he is visited by two women, one of whom, Becca Bodine, is the wife of the pilot of the lost plane who was much maligned for being drunk the night before the flight. Becca has evidence that convinces Cork that Becca's husband, Sandy Bodine, may not have been at the controls during that ill-fated flight. Then who was? And why was the pilot replaced--and where is he now? Even more intriguing, could the others, including Jo, still be alive? And what happened to the private investigator Becca hired to seek out the truth only to seemingly have fallen off the face of the earth?

Cork launches his own investigation, accompanied by new friend and business associate, Hugh Parmer. Back in Wyoming, they are confronted with shady law enforcement officers, hostile indian leaders with secrets to hide, and assassins intent on eliminating anyone seeking the truth. Cork and Hugh Parmer are drawn deeper and deeper into a mystery that includes the mob, indian casinos, inter-tribal politics, oil and gas exploration, and misguided love. There is much to enjoy in the indian culture and lifestyle described in "Heaven's Keep" and certainly indian "visions" have a prominent place in the storyline.

There is much to like in this fine effort by Krueger. There are startling revelations, double crosses, loyal sacrifices, and a great mystery that always includes the unspoken question, "Can Jo still be alive?" The delicate yet spot-on depiction of Cork's grief, personal fears, and his family interactions all tend to highlight and focus the nail chewing suspense as the story unfolds. A highly recommended read.

The day before Jo O'Connor boards the charter flight to Wyoming with seven other people, she and her husband Cork get into a fight. The small plane flies through a wintry storm and suddenly vies off course; no longer tracked by radar, the assumption by officials is the plane crashed into the Wyoming mountains. Cork joins the search into the wintry Rockies but after days of fruitless searching hampered by bad weather making a harsh mountainous terrain that much more difficult, the party gives up as there is no sign of the plane; no one could have lived through the cold if they made it past the assumed crash.

Six months later, Rebecca Bodine and her friend Liz Burns show up at Cork's place in Minnesota. Rebecca claims the pilot of that charter was not her husband as everyone else assumes especially with a wrongful death suit claiming Sandy was drunk when he flew that fatal flight. A reporter digs up what Sandy was doing before the flight: getting drunk in a bar. Cork looks at a video of the pilot and concludes he did not drink but instead poured the liquor into something under his shirt while pretending to imbibe. Although he still believes his wife died, Cork knows something is off about the official conclusion so goes to Wyoming to investigate. The closer he comes to the truth, law enforcement officers, other government officials and drug lords are watching him to see if they have to take action against him.

Readers will sympathize with Cork who feels remorse that he and Jo went to bed angry with one another instead of making up while his fuming good bye was his last words to her. As Cork investigates, he and the audience begin to wonder whether Jo is alive but if so how. Filled with action and vivid descriptions of the Wyoming Rockies, William Kent Kreuger has somehow made this strong thriller a personal drama as well in what may be the best O'Connor tale to date.

Harriet Klausner

The new Cork O'Connor tale finds Cork investigating the disappearance of a plane in the mountains of Wyoming, a plane on which his wife was a passenger. Like many top novels, this one concerns a public mystery and a private tragedy. The first third of the book reads like a mainstream novel. A man searches a dangerous but beautiful landscape, hoping it will give up its secrets. Months later, as the rest of the novel unfolds, Cork is informed that the fate of his wife and her fellow passengers was no accident. The pilot's wife and her friend bring Cork evidence that sets in motion the remainder of the novel. Now we are in the world of crime fiction, with mysteries to unravel and scores to settle.

It is a dangerous and difficult thing to risk the loss of a series character's spouse, but that adds poignancy and weight to the narrative. It deepens our sense of the protagonist and his son, Stephen. The results are powerful. William Kent Krueger is a master of his craft and all of the elements here are handled with a master's hand--plot, character, setting, theme, local color and the legion of details that one must handle in describing the life, language and land of several tribes of native Americans.

This was my first William Kent Krueger novel, but it will not be my last. If you have not yet discovered him, this would be a great time to do so. This is very, very fine work--a beautifully written narrative that seizes the attention and refuses to let go.

This was my first taste of a William Kent Krueger novel, and I found it a pretty tender morsel. Heaven's Keep had an intricate plot, interesting characters, and good pacing. The protagonist, Cork O'Connor, part Native American, lost his wife in an apparent airplane accident. The first portion of the story tells of the search for the plane and any remains. The second half of the novel is set months later, when suspicion is thrown on the original plane trip, and Cork starts investigating. This wasn't perfect by any means, but it is a fast, entertaining book, and a bonus was the glimpse of Ojibwe culture. I take it there is a series of books featuring Cork O'Connor, and reading them in order might have been an advantage, but this one stood alone just fine.

In his last two books (this and "Red Knife") Krueger has gotten more and more spiritual. Yes, it's true that there has always been Henry Meleoux as the indian spiritual guide, but it's always had it's place as something relating to the way that the Shinnob (Ojibwe) see the world. Now it seems to be taking over more characters in every book.

In the last ten years of his life, ACD became involved in spiritualism after loosing his oldest son and many relatives and friend in the Great War. For many years he spent all kinds of time and money (not to mention his reputation) in trying to contact 'those beyond the pale'. Most of the books he wrote during this time are the worst kind of drivel and when he died he wasn't exactly missed because of how low his reputation had fallen. Is this happening to Krueger?

SPOILER
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At the end of "Red Knife", the 'Columbine' type shooting and then the little epitaph about Annie were almost like a throw in at the end. But in "Heaven's Keep", the dreams of Stephen and the Arapaho dreamwalker are mentioned too many times and become too important at the end of the story. With Jo dead, Jenny going to college in Iowa (where she will become a writer) and Anne destined to be a nun, Krueger leaves only Cork and Stephen in the picture.

The whole spirit guide for Stephen becoming a man seemed like and indian bar mitvah (Stephen of course was thirteen) and wasn't a good use of the Mide Henry. Having received a million dollars for most of his property around 'Sam's Place' is Cork going to continue to run the hamburger joint? Think not. Is he going to continue working with Parmer? Maybe the series has finished it's run. Sometimes it's best to leave well enough alone.

Zeb Kantrowitz